is a

Yayoi period The Yayoi period (弥生時代, ''Yayoi jidai'') (c. 300 BC – 300 AD) is one of the major historical periods of the Japanese archipelago. It is generally defined as the era between the beginning of food production in Japan and the emergence o ...

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

, located in the Higashisakaya neighborhood of the city of

Miyoshi, Hiroshima 270px, Panorama of central Miyoshi 270px, Aerial photo of central Miyoshi is a city located in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 49,106 in 23154 households and a population density of 63 persons per km2. The ...

in the

San'yō region The San'yō Region (山陽地方 ''San'yō-chihō'') is an area in the south of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the southern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Seto Inland Sea. The name ''San'yō'' means "southern, sunny ( ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The tumulus was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1979. Although it is referred to popularly as a ''

kofun are megalithic tombs or tumulus, tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century AD.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞 ...

'', the Yandani Tumulus predates the

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

and its structure has significant differences from burial mounds of the Kofun period.

Overview

Yatani Tumulus is built on a low hill on the south side of the Basen River, which flows into the Miyoshi Basin from the east. It has a total length of 18.5 meters and height of 1.2 meters. The tumulus is located in the midst of the Matsugasakoyaya ruins, a settlement site which was occupied from the

Jōmon period In Japanese history, the is the time between , during which Japan was inhabited by the Jōmon people, a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united by a common culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism an ...

through the

. It was discovered in 1977-1979 during the construction of the Miyoshi Industrial Park. The style of construction is known as , which is square or rectangular, with protrusions on each of its four corners; however, it is unique in that it is not a true rectangle, but has a narrow waist, similar to a "two conjoined rectangles" type (). The slope of the mound is covered with ''

fukiishi ( or "roofing stone") were a means of covering burial chambers and Tumulus, burial mounds during the kofun period of Japan (). Stones collected from riverbeds were affixed to the slopes of raised kofun and other burial chambers. They are consi ...

'' -like stones, with a row of larger stones marking its edge, and is surrounded by a two-meter wide moat. The ''yosumi-tosshutsugata'' style is unique to the late middle Yayoi period and is most prevalent in western Japan in areas influenced by the Izumo culture. The mound was found to contain a total of 11 burials, including seven with wooden coffins, two with box-shaped stone coffins, and an earthen pit burial. The central burial is believed to be one of the wooden coffin burials near the north side of the mound, and jasper tubular beads and small glass beads have been found. A large number of red-lacquered vessel stands and

Yayoi pottery Yayoi pottery (弥生土器 Yayoi doki) is earthenware pottery produced during the Yayoi period, an Iron Age era in the history of Japan traditionally dated 300 BC to AD 300. The pottery allowed for the identification of the Yayoi period and ...

have been excavated from the eastern part of the mound and the surrounding moat. These artifacts have been collectively designated a National Important Cultural Property and are stored in the Hiroshima Prefectural Museum of History and Folklore. From these artifacts, Yadani Tumulus is believed to have been constructed from the end of the Yayoi period to the beginning of the Kofun period. In addition, on the west side of the mound, two square tombs and a

Sue ware was a blue-gray form of stoneware pottery fired at high temperature, 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 orig ...

kiln site from the Kofun period are included within the National Historic Site boundaries. These smaller burial mounds contained seven wooden coffins, and a number of glass beads. Some of the glass beads excavated from these tombs contain

natron Natron is a naturally occurring mixture of sodium carbonate decahydrate ( Na2CO3·10H2O, a kind of soda ash) and around 17% sodium bicarbonate (also called baking soda, NaHCO3) along with small quantities of sodium chloride and sodium sulfate. ...

, and are attracted attention as products of the ancient

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. The Hiroshima Prefectural Miyoshi Fudoki no Oka Park with the Jōrakuji-Nanatsuzuka Kofun Cluster is about 3 kilometers away to the south-southeast.

References

External links

Miyoshi City home page
{in lang, ja History of Hiroshima Prefecture Miyoshi, Hiroshima Historic Sites of Japan Yayoi period

Overview

See also

References

External links