Megalithic mound (tumulus with integral stones)
里古墳
DatedEst. 250–650 CE
No licensed photograph yetWe have no photograph we may publish for this site, so the interpretive 3D view leads instead.
Overview
About this site
Overview
Sato Kofun (里古墳) is a keyhole-shaped burial mound at Heisō-chō Sato in Kakogawa, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It is estimated to date from about the end of the 5th century, in the Middle Kofun period, and is regarded as the last keyhole-shaped tomb in its district. The painted-band mirror with deities and beasts excavated from it is a designated tangible cultural property of Kakogawa City; the mound itself is not a designated historic site.
Read on Wikipedia2 min readCC BY-SA 4.0
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
里古墳
The tomb lies in southern Hyōgo, on the west bank of the lower Kakogawa river, at the foot of a hill spur that extends eastward from Mount Iimori, north of Lake Heisō.
SettingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Japanese): 里古墳CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Japanese): 里古墳CC BY-SA 4.0
The tomb lies in southern Hyōgo, on the west bank of the lower Kakogawa river, at the foot of a hill spur that extends eastward from Mount Iimori, north of Lake Heisō.
DescriptionSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Japanese): 里古墳CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Japanese): 里古墳CC BY-SA 4.0
The mound was later cleared for fields, and its upper tier has been lost. It is keyhole-shaped, with the front part facing west, and was built in two tiers with a length of about 45 metres. Stone facing of Tatsuyama stone and rows of cylindrical haniwa have been recorded on the outer surface. A shield-shaped moat surrounds the mound, and a causeway was identified at the north-western corner of the front part.
ExcavationsSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Japanese): 里古墳CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Japanese): 里古墳CC BY-SA 4.0
Excavations were carried out in the 1997 fiscal year. The burial facility is a pit-type stone chamber on top of the rear circular part. Part of the stone chamber was identified, and one painted-band mirror with deities and beasts was recovered. Mirrors cast from the same mould are known in 26 examples, among them one from Shōfukuji Kofun in Kawanishi.
DatingSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Japanese): 里古墳CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Japanese): 里古墳CC BY-SA 4.0
The construction date is estimated at around the end of the 5th century. The tomb is placed as the last keyhole-shaped tomb in the area and is thought to be related to the Heisōko Kofun group, the largest cluster of small tombs in the lower Kakogawa area. The mirror suggests the distribution of mirrors from the Yamato court to regional chiefs in the age of the Five Kings of Wa, which makes the tomb important for the study of Kofun society in the lower Kakogawa area.
ConservationSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Japanese): 里古墳CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Japanese): 里古墳CC BY-SA 4.0
The mirror was designated a tangible cultural property of Kakogawa City on 12 March 2020. It is held by the Kakogawa General Cultural Center Museum, which also displays it.
ContextSources for this section
- Wikipedia (Japanese): 里古墳CC BY-SA 4.0
Sources for this section
- Wikipedia (Japanese): 里古墳CC BY-SA 4.0
Nishiyama Ōtsuka Kofun, at Heisō-chō Nishiyama in Kakogawa, is a round mound with a diameter of about 23 metres, although a scallop-shaped form has also been suggested. Cylindrical and shield-shaped haniwa and Sue ware are reported from it, and it is estimated to date from the end of the 5th century to the beginning of the 6th century. It is not a designated historic site.
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
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.
Lore
Evidence & Lore
What the sources actually support — and, kept apart, what has been claimed.
What the evidence supports
Dates
Est. 250–650 CEHow this date was established: Type comparisonTypical range for megalithic mounds in Japan; this site has not been dated itself. Japanese kofun burial mounds were mainly constructed between the middle of the 3rd century and the early 7th century AD.Source for this date
Where it stands
Japan
The pin marks the monument itself — its exact point.
- Coordinates
- 34°48′01″ N, 134°51′34″ EFor a GPS or map app: 34.80028, 134.85953
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.
-1,_funkyu.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
Sources
Every record behind this page, with the link it came from.
2 sources behind this page
- 01Wikidata Q117087380wikidata.org
- 02Source for this dateen.wikipedia.org
Report a correctionWrong date, name, photograph or source? Tell us and it will be put right.
Around this place
The ten nearest sites, by compass
Credit
Text, licence and sources
Adapted from the Wikipedia article "里古墳" (Japanese), 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 (Japanese): 里古墳CC BY-SA 4.0
- Wikidata Q117087380CC0