Takakurayama Kofun: A Sixth-Century Burial Mound at Ise’s Outer Shrine
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.7
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Japan
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Yamato
- Site type
- Burial
- Remains
- Burial Mound
On this page12 sections
History
Takakurayama Kofun is a Japanese burial mound in Ise, Japan, built during the Kofun period in the latter half of the sixth century on the summit of Takakurayama. The mountain rises to 116 metres within the sacred precinct of Ise Grand Shrine’s Outer Shrine, Toyouke Daijingu. Additional burials continued until around the beginning of the seventh century, making the tomb an important landmark in the early development of the shrine’s surrounding landscape.
Construction and the Watarai clan
The person buried at Takakurayama has not been identified. One interpretation connects the tomb with a chief of the Watarai clan, also associated with the Isobe clan. The Watarai were a hereditary priestly lineage traditionally responsible for serving the Outer Shrine, which is dedicated to Toyouke, a Shinto deity associated with food and sustenance.
The tomb’s unusual position within the Outer Shrine precinct and the exceptional size of its stone chamber have encouraged theories about its relationship to the shrine’s foundation and growth. Some interpretations regard it as the burial place of the Watarai clan’s founding ancestor and see the tomb as having served an ancestral-temple role connected with the shrine. These proposals remain interpretations rather than established identifications.
Regional development
The archaeological sequence around the Outer Shrine has also shaped interpretations of the tomb. No fifth-century artefacts are known from the area, followed by the sudden appearance of Takakurayama Kofun in the latter half of the sixth century. One explanation is that the Watarai clan rose among local powers through connections with the Yamato court, the political centre of ancient Japan, and built the tomb as its influence expanded through southern Ise.
A date in the middle of the sixth century has also been proposed for the tomb. Artefacts indicate activity from the latter half of that century to the beginning of the seventh century, supporting the possibility that more than one burial took place within the chamber.
Religious reuse and investigation
References to a stone cavern or chamber on Takakurayama appear in writings from the Kamakura period. By the Muromachi period, the chamber had become an object of religious worship, with a small shrine standing inside it. During the Edo period, the tomb was widely venerated as the “Heavenly Rock-Cave.” A kagura hall, used for sacred theatrical performances, stood north of the mound, and a teahouse was established nearby. This religious reuse contributed to substantial erosion and levelling of the mound.
Shogoro Tsuboi inspected the site in 1888, when it was first recognized as a kofun. Measurements of the stone chamber were recorded in 1895, and plans were produced in 1914. Facilities associated with Edo-period worship were removed during the later Meiji period, after which entry to Takakurayama was prohibited. The Ancient History Section of the Mie University Historical Research Society surveyed the mound and measured the chamber in 1964. Cleaning work led to further measurement and excavation in 1975, followed by another mound survey in 1977.
Takakurayama Kofun was designated an Ise City Historic Site on December 5, 1973. Ise Grand Shrine owns the property, and the tomb remains within the Outer Shrine’s sacred precinct, where access is restricted.
Remains
Takakurayama Kofun is a large, apparently circular mound with an estimated diameter of more than 35 metres, and possibly more than 40 metres. Its height is estimated at approximately 7.5 metres, with another estimate placing it at about 8.5 metres. Set on the summit of Takakurayama, the mound contains a southwest-facing, horizontally entered stone chamber. A horizontal stone chamber is a burial space reached through a passage cut into the side of a mound, while a double-sleeved plan has projecting side sections where the burial chamber meets the passage.
Mound and burial facility
The burial mound
The mound’s surviving form has been altered by erosion and levelling associated with its later religious use. Its circular outline and substantial dimensions nevertheless indicate a large elite burial monument. The relationship between the mound and its stone chamber remains central to the site’s interpretation, because the chamber’s size and unusual construction distinguish Takakurayama from the surrounding burial landscape.
The stone chamber
The chamber and passage together measure 18.5 metres, making this the longest known stone chamber in the Ise region. In Japan, its chamber length ranks sixth, while its burial-chamber floor area ranks second. The burial chamber is 9.7 metres long, 3.3 metres wide, and 4.1 metres high. Its passage extends for 8.8 metres, measures between 1.9 and 2.6 metres wide, and reaches 3.3 metres in height.
Natural stones form the walls in five or six courses above basal stones approximately 1.5 metres wide and 1 metre high. The burial chamber and passage were constructed as one integrated unit. The side walls use inclined masonry arranged in three identifiable stages, with pronounced inward corbelling near the ceiling. Six stones cover the burial chamber and three cover the passage. The principal coffin may have been made of stone or wood, but its form is unknown.
The Takakurayama-type design
The chamber combines a double-sleeved layout associated with the Kinai region, the ancient central area around present-day Nara and Osaka, with features shared by chambers across Ise Bay in western Mikawa. These include an exceptionally long burial chamber, a short passage, an arched cross-section to the burial-chamber ceiling, and reduced side sleeves.
This combination is classified as the Takakurayama-type stone chamber. The type is distributed mainly in southern Ise after the construction of Takakurayama Kofun, including at Kogane No. 3 Kofun in Meiwa.
Burial goods and later deposits
Objects from the burials
Most of the original grave goods were lost through looting. The 1975 investigation recovered gold rings, beads and other ornaments, horse equipment, a sword, a knife, arrowheads, Sue ware, and Haji ware. Their dates range from the latter half of the sixth century to the beginning of the seventh century, a sequence consistent with successive burials in the chamber.
Objects from religious reuse
Objects connected with the chamber’s Edo-period religious reuse include an iron-glazed bottle, an oil-lamp dish, and coins. These later deposits reflect the chamber’s transformation from a burial facility into a place of worship during the tomb’s long history.
