Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Classical antiquity
Ryūzuka Kofun
Datedc. 400–500 CE
Photo Sakaori ( talk ) · CC BY 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
Ryūzuka Kofun (竜塚古墳) is a square burial mound of the Kofun period, dated to the early 5th century, located in the Yonekura, Yatsushiro-cho neighborhood of Fuefuki, Yamanashi, in the Tōkai region of Japan. It was designated a Yamanashi Prefecture Historic Site in 1979.
It is one of the largest square tumuli in eastern Japan, with sides of approximately 52 meters.
Read on Wikipedia2 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Age sources
How old this site is, and who says so.
Range across all claimsc. 400–500 CE
EstimatedWhat this badge means
A reading of this site: what its style says, or a statement published about it.
- 400–500 CEStylistic datingThe period is based on the mound's identification as Kofun-period.Source: en.wikipedia.org
- 401–500 CEWikipedia: Ryūzuka Kofun (infobox)Source: en.wikipedia.org
Where it sits in time
The site's dated range, placed against world reference points.
The scale is logarithmic: each step to the left is about ten times older than the last.
Article
Ryūzuka Kofun
5 meters wide on the edges of the tumulus on three sides, excluding the north side, suggest that a moat surrounded it.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ryūzuka KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ryūzuka KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
The Ryūzuka Kofun is a hōfun (方墳) square tumulus, with each side approximately 52 meters wide. It has a height of 12 meters on the north side and six meters on the south side. The mound was constructed in two tiers and was faced with fukiishi revetment stones. Depressions 4.5 meters wide on the edges of the tumulus on three sides, excluding the north side, suggest that a moat surrounded it.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ryūzuka KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ryūzuka KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
The mound lies at an elevation of 365 meters on the edge of a hill called Ryūanjiyama, on the left bank of the Fuefuki River at the southeastern edge of the Kōfu Basin, in the Sone Hills, an area densely populated with large tumuli. Similar square tumuli are rare in Yamanashi Prefecture, the only others named being the Toriihara Kitsunezuka Kofun in Otsuka, Ichikawamisato, and the Imonoshiya Kofun in Shimoichinose, Minamialps.
ExcavationsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ryūzuka KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ryūzuka KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
Archaeological excavations were conducted over four years from 2000 for preservation and maintenance. The burial facility does not use a stone burial chamber. Partial excavations suggest that a vertical shaft approximately 1.5 meters deep was dug in the center of the top of the tumulus, with a wooden coffin placed at its bottom on a clay floor.
DatingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ryūzuka KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ryūzuka KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
The excavations also uncovered a Haji ware pedestaled bowl of the mid-5th century. From it, the date of the tumulus is inferred to lie between that of the Kai Chōshizuka Kofun and that of the Maruyamazuka Kofun.
Tradition and region
About this kind of monument
Japanese kofun tumuli
Kofun are the great burial mounds of ancient Japan, built mainly between the middle of the third century and the early seventh century CE. The period takes its name from them. The most distinctive form is the keyhole-shaped mound (zempō-kōen-fun), with one square end and one round end seen from above, but there are also plain round mounds, double-rectangle mounds and square mounds. Orientation is not fixed: in the Mozu group at Sakai, some round parts face north and others east.
The largest is Daisenryō kofun at Sakai in Osaka, the biggest kofun in Japan, thought to have been built over some twenty years in the middle of the fifth century. By common acceptance it is the tomb of Emperor Nintoku, and the Imperial Household Agency treats it as such, but this cannot be confirmed because the mound has not been excavated. It stands in the Mozu group, which once had more than a hundred tombs of which fewer than half remain; the group and the neighbouring Furuichi cluster were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2019. The mounds were built on a plateau overlooking Osaka Bay, near the ancient coastline.
Dating rests on mound shape, pottery and grave goods. Haniwa, which means "clay circle", are terracotta cylinders and figures of houses, animals and people that were arranged in rings and rows around and on top of the mounds. Smaller kofun are very numerous and sit in groups in every region of Japan.
When visiting, look for the moat that surrounds the larger mounds, for the stepped outline of terraces, and for reconstructed haniwa in museums and parks beside the tombs.
Paraphrased from Wikipedia: Kofun, Wikipedia: Daisen Kofun, Wikipedia: Haniwa, Wikipedia: Mozu Tombs · CC BY-SA 4.0
From the article
Dated moments in the story
- 1979
The tumulus was designated a Yamanashi Prefecture Historic Site in 1979.
Source - 2000
As a result of archaeological excavations conducted over four years from 2000 for preservation and maintenance, a middle section approximately three meters wide was found around the middle of the mound's slope.
Source
See it in 3D
An interpretive reconstruction of the monument, standing on the real ground at its exact point, under the sun for that place and season. Drag to look around it.
The reconstruction is ours, not a survey: it shows what a monument of this type looks like, at the size the record gives for this one.
Photographs
3 photographs, each with its author and licence
More photographs
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
400–500 CEHow this date was established: Artefact styleThe period is based on the mound's identification as Kofun-period.Source for this date
Measured facts
- Location
- Yonekura, Yatsushiro-chō, Fuefuki, Yamanashi, JapanSource: Location
- Region
- TōkaiSource: Region
- Heritage designation
- Yamanashi Prefecture Historic SiteSource: Heritage designation
- Designation year
- 1979Source: Designation year
Where it stands
Japan
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 35°36′05″ N, 138°38′15″ EFor a GPS or map app: 35.60128, 138.63753
Access is as our sources describe it; we have not visited the site to check.
Nearby
The closest sites in the Atlas, by straight line.
Oka Chōshizuka Kofun400–399 BCE
Ubazuka Kofun4000–1200 BCE
Ōmaruyama Kofun301–400 CE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Kankan-zuka Kofun250–650 CE
Kai Chōshizuka Kofun4000–1200 BCE
Kyōzuka Kofun600–700 CE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Tenjinyama Kofun (Kōfu)250–650 CE
- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)Ōzuka Kofun (Chūō City)250–650 CE
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Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q11598301wikidata.org
- 02Wikipedia (en)en.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Ryuzuka-Kofun Old tomb Fuefuki -City.JPGSakaori ( talk )CC BY 3.0
- Ryuzuka Kofun, funcho.jpgSaigen JiroCC0
- Ryuzuka Kofun, funkyu.jpgSaigen JiroCC0
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Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Ryūzuka Kofun" (English), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; authors are listed in the page history. Reused under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikipedia · Edit history and authors
- Wikipedia (English): Ryūzuka KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q11598301CC0