Post by washi on Apr 8, 2015 7:30:18 GMT
When I first installed Google Earth in early 2006, like most folks, I examined places near my home. One great surprise was a beautifully defined kofun (ancient burial mound) just 100 meters south of the Meishin Expressway, a route I had used numerous times, although mostly what I saw from the window were the sound barrier walls that enclose the highway. I visited this kofun on the last day of 2006, and was pleased to find that (unlike most such tombs) it was almost as beautiful and easy to see from the ground as it was from above.
The map I was using identified the tomb as that of Keitai Tennō 継体天皇, the 26th Emperor of Japan, who reigned from approximately 507 to 531 AD. He may have been the founder of a new dynasty, and certainly was distantly related to the Imperial House. He did not enter the Yamato heartland until late in his reign, and his predecessor, the Emperor Buretsu, is described in the ancient chronicles as being a bad ruler. In the Chinese chronicles, the last emperor in a dynasty is conventionally described in unflattering terms, which is the clue that some historians use to suggest a dynastic change in Keitai's case. Whatever the circumstances, all the succeeding occupants of the throne have been related to him.
I also learned that the kofun I had visited, also called Ōda Chausu Yama Kofun, was thought by most archeologists not to be the tomb of the Emperor Keitai. The nearby Imashirozuka Kofun, they thought, was his tomb, so it was not long after when I paid my first visit to the site. Much of the site was fenced off for construction and study, but I was able at the time to walk over a portion of the south end. It was devilishly hard to walk around the outer edges, but when there were streets adjacent to the boundaries I could see through the wire fence.
I made my third visit in November of 2010, thinking the project must surely be finished. When we discovered it was not, we visited the nearby recently completed Haniwa Factory Park. Haniwa are large ceramic objects which were placed on tombs, particularly the large keyhole-shaped kofun (the Japanese term is zenpo-koenfun 前方後円墳 or square-front-round-rear burial mound). Although kofun of this shape are the most well-known outside Japan, significant kofun were constructed in a variety of other shapes. The age of kofun building lasted from approximately the early third century through the late sixth or early 7th century. A guide at the museum told me there were about 300 kofun in the area. Most are of the smaller, later type which did not use haniwa, but there are a number of earlier keyhole-shaped ones as well, and some are quite old. Okamoto Yama Kofun has been dated to the 3rd century, which would make it one of the very oldest in Japan. (To view their relative size and distribution, double click on the overlay called Mishima Kofun Map and click on the box.)
The function of haniwa is not clearly understood, although much speculation exists as to their purpose. The flat surfaces of large kofun were covered with many hundreds, even thousands, of them. Most were cylindrical in shape and resembled somewhat a modern trash container, although a few were as high as two meters. The rarer but more interesting ones were representational, and are an important source of information about the pre-literate times in which they were made. To make haniwa, one needs a sloped surface on which to build kilns and a nearby source of clay and fuel to fire the kilns. Such location are common in Japan, and the sites of many haniwa "factories" (I use the most common translation of the Japanese word, which meaning "construction place") are well know. The Haniwa Factory Park in Takatsuki is the largest known such site. It has been extensively studied and then restored for presentation to the public. Two kilns and two of the three buildings have been reconstructed. One exposed kiln excavation has been protected by concrete, and one by a building, so one can see the actual dig. The locations of the other kilns are marked by shrubbery plantings. A few authentic artifacts are displayed in the building, and numerous reconstructions of haniwa recovered from Imashirozuka Kofun and others in the area line the lower walkway. Admission to the park is free, but it is only open during daylight hours.
The Imperial Household Agency limits very nearly to the point of prohibition the archeological study of tombs it designates as those of the imperial family. Yet in Imashirozuka Kofun, we find a probable imperial tomb which has been extensively studied. Is the IHA so foolish as to ignore the weight of the archeological evidence? I suspect not. I think perhaps they have chosen not to change the tomb designation in order for one important kofun to be studied. The City of Takatsuki, in turn, has refrained (in so far as I could tell) in using the words "Keitai" and "Tennō" anywhere in the museum and kofun park, but instead use the word "daiō," or "great king," in their names, publications, and signs. The title "Keitai Tennō" was first used near the end of the 7th century. At the time this person lived, he was the preeminent, but not the only great king to use that title, so this ambiguity seems a fair tradeoff of conflicting interests.
It is difficult to find superlatives to describe the new museum! Obviously, I highly recommend a visit to anyone who can make it there. Further information is available in the placemark.
Images in this file which are not my photographs are taken from a booklet called 高槻市立今城塚古代歴史館, without copyright or publication date, but used with permission.
File revised March 9,2023.
