Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs of Ancient Japan

Daisen Kofun, 2.8 km in circumference — the largest kofun in Japan, is thought to be the Tomb of Emperor Nintoku. 이른바 닌토쿠천황릉(인덕천황릉)이라는 다이센고분大山古墳. 위키피디아에서 전재.

Mozu kofungun (百舌鳥古墳群) and Furuichi Kofungun (古市古墳群) have been inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage list during the 43rd session of the World Heritage Committee in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan today. 

百舌鳥古墳群 and 古市古墳群 世界遺産登録 / 모즈-후루이치 고분군 세계유산 등재 

Kondagobyōyama Kofun. This is a maximum kofun in the group.곤다고뵤야마고분. 誉田御廟山古墳. 위키피디아에서 전재.

From the late 3rd century to the end of the 6th century, more than 200,000 tumuli (kofun) were built throughout the Japanese archipelago from the southern part of the Tôhoku region on the main island of Honshû to the southern part of the island of Kyûshû. These kofun were burial mounds for members of the ruling elite, possessing powerful political significance as monumental structures. A unique cultural tradition formed around them, for the scale, forms, and design of the kofun expressed both the sociopolitical structure and the relationships between regions in the Japan of those times, which has come to be known as the Kofun Period, as these structures are characteristic of an era which saw the emergence of a hierarchical political order in Japanese society. Kofun were built in a variety of sizes, forms, and styles, from relatively simple round or square mounds (empun or hôfun) to the more elaborate keyhole-shaped tombs, either rounded at the back (zempô kôen fun; hereinafter referred to as “rounded keyhole-shaped kofun”) or squared off (zempô kôhô fun). Yet throughout the Kofun Period, it was the rounded keyhole-shaped kofun that represented the highest class of tumuli and were built to the grandest scale. The distribution in the ôsaka Plain and Nara Basin of immense rounded keyhole-shaped kofun with mounds ranging several hundred meters in length is believed to indicate that this region served as the nucleus of Kofun Period society. Especially noteworthy among the tombs of the southern ôsaka Plain are the Mozu-Furuichi Kofungun. They consist of two tumulus clusters of Mozu and Furuichi built between the late 4th and early 6th centuries and have the largest kofun in Japan in scale and area. The Mozu cluster includes the Nintoku-tennô-ryô Kofun, the largest single burial mound in the world, with a central tumulus 486 meters in length and a total length, comprising the surrounding moat and ramparts, of 840 meters. This complex also includes the Richû-tennô-ryô Kofun, the third largest in Japan, with a tumulus 360 meters in length. Approximately 10 kilometers to the east of the Mozu cluster is the Furuichi cluster, which includes the ôjin-tennô-ryô Kofun, the second largest in Japan, with a length of 425 meters. The Furuichi cluster also occupies and extraordinary position among the other tumulus clusters in Japan because it includes 11 other massive rounded keyhole-shaped kofun whose tumuli each measure more than 200 meters in length. One important characteristic of the Mozu-Furuichi Kofungun, Ancient Tumulus Clusters, is that they are a physical manifestation of the sociopolitical structure of the era in which they were built. The 2 tumulus clusters each include a variety of sizes and types of kofun: (1) rounded keyholeshaped kofun more than 100 meters in length, including the gigantic examples mentioned above; (2) rounded keyhole-shaped kofun, round kofun, and square kofun of around 50 meters in length; and (3) round and square kofun of around 20 meters in length. This diversity of structure and distribution within the tumulus clusters is a reflection of the stratified political and social structure of the period, suggesting a rigid hierarchy within the ruling class, and making the Mozu-Furuichi Kofungun an outstanding of the tumulus clusters representative of the Kofun Period. The kofun distributed throughout the Japanese archipelago from the southern Tôhoku region to southern Kyûshû, culminating with the massive rounded keyhole-shaped kofun described above, are characterized by differences in the scale and style of their tumuli that reflect sociopolitical stratification. Yet at the same time they had much in common in terms of building techniques and funerary practices, from the stone cladding (fuki-ishi) of the surface of the mound to the arrangement of clay figures (haniwa) on the mound itself and surrounding it. In this context, the Mozu-Furuichi Kofungun became the model for tumulus clusters built in other regions during the 5th century, serving as the point of origin for a set of common construction techniques and funerary practices that resulted in the construction of tumulus clusters in other regions that resembled miniature versions of the Mozu-Furuichi Kofungun. The late 3rd century to the end of the 6th century saw increased tension in international relations as China went from the Wei and Jin dynasties into the period of the Northern and Southern dynasties and the Korean peninsula saw the rise of the Three Kingdoms of Koguryo, Paekche, and Silla. Chinese records show that during the course of the 5th century, 5 successive “kings of Wa” (Wa no kokuô) sent emissaries to the Southern court in China and received documents of investiture as tributaries of the Chinese emperor. This period corresponded to the peak in scale of kofun construction in the Japanese archipelago as represented by the Mozu-Furuichi Kofungun, from which a variety of funerary accessories have been excavated that are the result of commerce with the other countries of East Asia: gold and bronze jewelry and horse trappings, iron weapons and military equipment, glass vessels, and so on. From the 7th century onward, parallel to the establishment of the Sui and Tang dynasties in China and the unification of the Korean peninsula by Silla, Japan also saw the establishment of an ancient state modeled on that of imperial China, and the Kofun Period drew to a close. The tumulus clusters of this period were deeply related to the changing sociopolitical environment of East Asia, and are indicative of the process by which the ancient Japanese state was formed. Thus, while the Mozu-Furuichi Kofungun, Ancient Tumulus Clusters, are immense memorial structures indicative of the process of formation of the ancient Japanese state within the context of the East Asian world at that time, the distribution of smaller tumuli around the massive kofun of the rulers is physical evidence of a unique cultural tradition reflecting the realities of political and social power, and present an outstanding and concrete example of the commonality of this cultural tradition throughout the Japanese archipelago. Immense burial mounds were built in many different parts of the world during the period of the formation of ancient states, and the Mozu-Furuichi Kofungun, Ancient Tumulus Clusters, are a cultural property that may be ranked among them. Thus, this property possesses Outstanding Universal Value, and its inscription on the World Heritage List would contribute significantly to affirming the balance and representative nature of the List.