Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)
Ushirofutago Kofun
Datedc. 1 BCE–600 CE
Photo photo: Qurren ( talk ) Taken with Canon IXY 10S (Digital IXUS 210) · CC BY-SA 3.0Source file on Wikimedia Commons
Overview
About this site
Overview
The Ushirofutago Kofun (後二子古墳) is a Kofun period burial mound in the Nishiomuromachi neighborhood of the city of Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. The site dates from the late 6th century AD.
Together with the Sho-Futago Kofun (小二子古墳) it was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1927. The two tumuli are among the five in the Ōmuro kofun cluster, and the area is now preserved as a park.
Read on Wikipedia3 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
Age sources
How old this site is, and who says so.
Range across all claimsc. 1 BCE–600 CE
EstimatedWhat this badge means
A reading of this site: what its style says, or a statement published about it.
- 1 BCEPublished sourceWikidata gives an inception of 0 CE.Source: wikidata.org
- 501–600 CEWikipedia: Ushirofutago KofunSource: en.wikipedia.org
- 501 CEWikidata inceptionSource: wikidata.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
Ushirofutago Kofun
It has two tiers with a total length of 85 meters, and is orientated 110 degrees northeast.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ushirofutago KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ushirofutago KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
The Ushirofutago tumulus is a zenpō-kōen-fun (前方後円墳), shaped like a keyhole, with one square end and one circular end when viewed from above. It has two tiers with a total length of 85 meters, and is orientated 110 degrees northeast. The anterior rectangular portion is 60 meters wide, and the posterior circular portion has a diameter of 48 meters and a height of 11 meters. The tumulus partly utilizes a natural hill, which was cut away to contain a semi-underground stone-lined burial chamber. Fukiishi were not discovered. The tumulus had a horseshoe-shaped moat with a total length of 106 meters.
The lower tier is much larger than the upper tier, similar to the Azuma Kofun in Tochigi Prefecture, and this is a characteristic of tombs in the Kenō region (former Kōzuke and Shimotsuke Provinces). The burial chamber has a total length of nine meters, a height of 2.2 meters and a width of 2.7 meters.
FindsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ushirofutago KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ushirofutago KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
The chamber held a large amount of Sue ware pottery, a long iron sword, a short iron sword, horse harnesses and some iron slag as grave goods. Eleven earrings were also discovered, leading Meiji period researchers to conclude that at least six people were buried in the kofun. Three human teeth were found, and were found to be those of a woman. In the vestibule there was evidence that fires had been lit at at least three locations to cook food in a ritual banquet for the deceased.
Some 400 haniwa were found in various locations around the tumulus. Most were cylindrical, but several are decorated with bas-relief carvings of a monkey, a dog, or a dog chasing a monkey and its child. Such haniwa have been found at only three locations in Japan, all of which are in Gunma.
HistorySources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ushirofutago KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ushirofutago KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
After the discovery of the burial chamber in 1878, an application was issued to the Imperial Household Agency to certify the tumulus as the tomb of King Mimorowake, a name which appears in the Nara period Nihon Shoki chronicle as king of the Kenō region. The application was denied for lack of physical evidence.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ushirofutago KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (English): Ushirofutago KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
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 most distinctive form is the keyhole-shaped mound, with one square end and one round end seen from above, but there are also plain round mounds, double-rectangle mounds and square mounds.
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
- 1878
After the discovery of the burial chamber in 1878, an application was issued to the Imperial Household Agency to certify the tumulus as the tomb of King Mimorowake, a name which appears in the Nara period Nihon Shoki chronicle as king of the Kenō region, but the application was denied due to lack of physical evidence.
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
8 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
How this date was established: Stated by the sourceWikidata gives an inception of 0 CE.Source for this date
Measured facts
- Type
- Kofun period burial moundSource: Type
- Location
- Nishiomuromachi, Maebashi, Gunma PrefectureSource: Location
- Heritage designation
- National Historic Site of Japan, designated in 1927Source: Heritage designation
- Associated mound
- Sho-Futago KofunSource: Associated mound
- Cluster
- One of five mounds in the Ōmuro kofun clusterSource: Cluster
- Present use
- Preserved as a parkSource: Present use
- Inception
- 1st millennium CESource: Inception
Where it stands
Japan
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 36°23′20″ N, 139°11′39″ EFor a GPS or map app: 36.38886, 139.19422
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.
Shofutago Kofun250–650 CEPhoto: photo: Qurren ( talk ) Taken with Canon IXY 10S (Digital IXUS 210) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Nakafutago Kofun500–509 CEPhoto: photo: Qurren ( talk ) Taken with Canon IXY 10S (Digital IXUS 210) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Maefutago Kofun4000–1200 BCEPhoto: photo: Qurren ( talk ) Taken with Canon IXY 10S (Digital IXUS 210) · CC BY-SA 3.0
Akabori Chausuyama Kofun250–650 CE
Horikoshi Kofun4000–1200 BCE
Nakatsuka Kofun4000–1200 BCE
Ofujiyama-kofun250–650 CE- Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)山王金冠塚古墳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 Q17194124wikidata.org
- 02Wikipedia (en)en.wikipedia.org
Image files
- Ushirofutago-kofun 1.jpgphoto: Qurren ( talk ) Taken with Canon IXY 10S (Digital IXUS 210)CC BY-SA 3.0
- Ushirofutago Kofun, 3D-B-2.jpgSaigen JiroCC0
- Ushirofutago Kofun, 3D-N-2.jpgSaigen JiroCC0
- Ushirofutago Kofun, 3D-P.jpgSaigen JiroCC0
- Ushirofutago Kofun, 3D-B-1.jpgSaigen JiroCC0
- Ushirofutago Kofun, funcho.jpgSaigen JiroCC0
- Ushirofutago Kofun, funkyu-2.jpgSaigen JiroCC0
- Ushirofutago Kofun, kouenbu.jpgSaigen JiroCC0
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Around this place
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Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Ushirofutago 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): Ushirofutago KofunCC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q17194124CC0