Shionji Yama Kofun

Shionji Yama Kofun is a recently studied and partially restored kofun in Osaka-fu’s Yao City. The word “kofun” means “old tomb mound.” It applies to the large, often keyhole-shaped tombs built for the apex of Japanese society from about 300 AD until about 550 AD. (It also applies to the smaller tombs, sometimes called “dolmens” in English, built for prominent persons of lesser status, which began to appear in Japan in the 6th century and continued to be built up through the 7th century, when Buddhist funeral customs supplanted the ancient ones.) Shionji Yama Kofun is, of course, an example of the first type. Many of these larger kofun are identified as tombs of the imperial family, so archeological research is permitted only in such limited ways as to be almost non-existent. The opportunity to study one this large is a comparatively rare event.

The presentation in this file consists of four sections:

• Shionji Yama Kofun Before It Was Studied and Restored

• The Archeological Study and Artifact Display

• The 3D Model

• Other Kofun in the Area

I have always enjoyed "pressing the envelop," that is experimenting with the capabilities of KML, and this file is one of the more unconventional I have made. Some of the unusual features include:

• Radio buttons are used throughout. (If a radio button is enabled, only that item, and none of the others in the folder, will be active.)

• Only two folders, the one showing places when artifacts may be seen and the one showing other kofun nearby, use conventional placemarks. The content in other folders can be seen by clicking on the screen when the cursor passes over a "hot" area and changes from a hand to an arrow. This technique is used in the section about the kofun before excavation, and the section about the various excavation studies, and the 3D model. (The content of the 3D model is nearly identical to the two map sections.

• When viewing the sections accessed through overlay maps, you will need, of course, to disable the 3D Building Layer, and also Terrain if you are using GEPro.

• The tour of the model exists because it is difficult to maneuver the view with a mouse in order to look at the model close up. The tour is merely a succession of predetermined views, but those views are necessary in order to be able to click on the screen to read the content. In viewing the model, one must both click on the folder to establish the view and on the radio button to activate the clickable content.

• As you work through this file, always click on a folder. If there are choices to be made, it will open. Otherwise, it will not.

This is an attempt to make a bi-lingual post. The account of the various archeological studies is taken from a booklet published by the City of Yao, and the English is my attempt at a sentence-by-sentence translation. Other placemarks use other public domain materials, which I have merely quoted in Japanese. In this case, the English narrative is usually similar, but is not identical. Specific references are listed in the main folder description. If you discover errors either in the Japanese which I scanned or in misrepresentations in my English narrative, please let me know.

I need to acknowledge two friends who made significant contributions to this project. I don’t want to violate their privacy by using their names in this public forum, but would like to describe them enough so that those who know them can recognize who they are. The first is the man who owned the red Wrangler. His command of the English language is perhaps greater than any other Japanese person I know. Not only did he allow me access to one of the kofun, but he also helped me correct some of my more barbarous attempts to write in his language. The second person is my mentor on the subject of kofun. He helped me find drawings and other technical information which I used in making the kofun model, he answered countless questions, he showed me numerous kofun of various styles and periods and he helped me understand exhibits at a number of museums. Although he is now employed as the administrator of a public library, he continues to be active in archeological research and publication.


Download File with English Interface

すると日本語片を ダウンロード出来ます。

First Post February 23, 2007 Last Revised March 2, 2023