Nenbutsujiyama Kofun: A Keyhole-Shaped Burial Mound in Nara
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3.9
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Japan
- Primary era
- Classical
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Classical
- Civilizations
- Yamato
- Site type
- Burial
- Remains
- Burial Mound
On this page6 sections
History
Nenbutsujiyama Kofun is a large Japanese kofun, or monumental burial mound, in Nara City, Japan. Probably constructed during the first half of the fifth century, it belongs to the middle Kofun period and formed part of the Isagawa Kofun Group in the historical region of Yamato, an early core area of the Japanese state. Its location later became part of Heijo-kyo, the imperial capital established in the Nara region during the eighth century.
A Fifth-Century Burial Mound
Cylindrical haniwa, clay objects placed on and around burial mounds, were recovered from the western outer bank. Their presence provides the basis for dating Nenbutsujiyama Kofun to the first half of the fifth century. The mound was one of numerous kofun distributed across the area before the construction of Heijo-kyo. Most were destroyed or levelled when the planned capital was built, while Nenbutsujiyama Kofun and Hōraiyama Kofun, traditionally identified as the mausoleum of Emperor Suinin, survived. The mound is therefore understood as part of a wider group that also included tombs later lost beneath the capital.
Imperial Identification and Later Use
The person buried at Nenbutsujiyama Kofun has not been established. The Imperial Household Agency, the Japanese institution responsible for officially designated imperial mausoleums, identifies it as the mausoleum of Emperor Kaika, the traditionally numbered ninth emperor, under the name Kasuga Izakawa Sakanoue Mausoleum. This identification was made by the Ministry of the Imperial Household during the Meiji period.
The attribution draws on the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki, early Japanese historical and mythological compilations, together with the Engishiki, a tenth-century compilation of court regulations and rites. These works associate Emperor Kaika’s mausoleum with the Sakanoue of the Izakawa. The Engishiki also describes a mausoleum domain measuring five tan, a historical Japanese unit of area, from east to west and from north to south, supported by ten households in the capital and classified as a remote mausoleum. Emperor Kaika is traditionally included among the Eight Unrecorded Emperors, whose accounts contain a particularly strong legendary or literary element, and his historical existence remains unresolved.
Because the mound is treated as an imperial mausoleum, it has not undergone a full archaeological investigation. During the early-modern period, the area formed part of the nearby Nenbutsuji temple precinct and served as a cemetery. This use cut away parts of the mound. Near the end of the Edo period, the cemetery was moved and the mausoleum was repaired during the Bunkyū period, a late-Edo era lasting from 1861 to 1864. The repairs are thought to have substantially altered the original form. Before that work, only a rounded rise on the summit of the rear section was regarded as Emperor Kaika’s mausoleum.
Archaeological monitoring and preliminary investigations accompanied modern repairs and construction. Work included replacement of a torii in 1975, an outer-bank and connecting-bank project in 1976, repairs to the supports of a covered fence in 1988, access-road works in 2002, and another torii reconstruction in fiscal year 2008. The investigations connected with the 1975 and 2008 works also revealed evidence of the mound’s Edo-period cemetery use.
Remains
Nenbutsujiyama Kofun survives as a keyhole-shaped mound, with a rounded rear portion and a projecting front section directed toward the south-southeast. It stands in central Nara between Sanjo Street and Aburazaka Street, at the location historically recorded as Yamano-tera in Aburasaka. The surviving mound measures approximately 100 metres in length and rises about 8 metres at the rear. Since the Bunkyū-period repairs may have changed its dimensions, the original length has been estimated at roughly 115 to 120 metres.
Mound Form
The distinction between the rounded rear section and the projecting front section is now difficult to trace, while the summit extends across both parts in a flattened form. The visible mound therefore preserves the basic keyhole plan but also reflects later alteration. Cylindrical haniwa fragments from the western outer bank provide material evidence for the mound’s fifth-century date.
Cemetery Evidence
Investigations in the former cemetery area recovered an urn for cremated remains and a wooden coffin. Human bones were also found during the 2008 work. These objects relate to the mound’s later use as a cemetery within the Nenbutsuji temple precinct rather than identifying the ancient occupant of the burial mound. The burial facility associated with the original kofun remains unidentified.
