Sakuradote Kofun
Encyclopedia
Kofun
Kofun are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Japan, constructed between the early 3rd century and early 7th century. They gave their name to the Kofun period . Many of the Kofun have a distinctive keyhole-shaped mound , unique to ancient Japan...
burial mounds located in Hadano
Hadano, Kanagawa
is a city in west-central Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. As of February 2010, Hadano has an estimated population of 170,293 and a population density of 1,640 persons per km²; it had a total area of 103.61 km².-Geography:...
, Kanagawa Prefecture
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...
Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. It is protected by the prefectural government as a national historic site.
Located on the right bank of the Mizunashi River, the Sakuradote Kofun complex consists of 35 tumuli in a small area measuring approximately 500 meters east-west by 300 meters north-south. From the style of construction and the artifacts recovered during archaeological excavation, these kofun are thought to date from the final period of kofun construction in the late 7th century AD.
The largest kofun has a diameter of 28 meters and a height of 5.6 meters.
Artifacts recovered included numerous shards of Sue ware
Sue ware
was a blue-gray form of high-fired pottery which was produced in Japan and southern Korea during the Kofun, Nara, and Heian periods of Japanese history. It was initially used for funerary and ritual objects, and originated from a Korean stoneware style known as “Kaya ware”...
and Haji ware
Haji ware
is a type of plain, unglazed, reddish-brown Japanese pottery or earthenware that was produced during the Kofun, Nara, and Heian periods of Japanese history. It was used for both ritual and utilitarian purposes, and many examples have been found in Japanese tombs, where they form part of the basis...
, along with magatama
Magatama
Magatama , are curved beads which first appeared in Japan during the Jōmon period.They are often found inhumed in mounded tumulus graves as offerings to deities . They continued to be popular with the ruling elites throughout the Kofun Period of Japan, and are often romanticised as indicative of...
and other jewelry, and remnants of weapons and armor, along with horse fittings.
Only 12 of the original 35 kofun have been preserved. Five are located on the grounds of a nearby Nissan factory, and one on the grounds of a Shimadzu Corp.
Shimadzu Corp.
is a manufacturer of precision instruments, measuring instruments and medical equipment, based in Kyoto, Japan.The company was established by in 1875. X-ray devices, the spectrum camera, the electron microscope, and the gas chromatograph were developed and commercialized in advance of other...
factory, and are thus not accessible to the public. Six have been preserved as the Sakuradote Kofun Park, and a small museum on site displays some of the finds.