Goshikizuka Kofun: A Keyhole-Shaped Burial Mound in Kobe, Japan
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.3
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Japan
- Primary era
- Classical
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Classical
- Civilizations
- Yamato
- Site type
- Burial
- Remains
- Burial Mound
On this page14 sections
History
Goshikizuka Kofun is a monumental burial mound in Kobe, Japan, built around the late fourth to early fifth century AD during the middle Kofun period. Its keyhole-shaped form and exceptional scale make it the largest kofun in Hyogo Prefecture. The tomb is traditionally, though uncertainly, identified as the burial place of Emperor Chuai.
A Regional Political Center
The person buried at Goshikizuka is unknown. Archaeological interpretation generally connects the mound with a powerful leader who controlled the Akashi Strait and its surrounding territory. The movement of large quantities of stone from Awaji Island has encouraged the further idea that this authority extended across the strait.
The mound’s scale and design are comparable to royal tombs associated with the Yamato polity, the central political authority that developed in ancient Japan. Goshikizuka is nearly identical in form to Sakiryoyama Kofun in Nara, which measures 207 meters in length. Since the local area is not considered to have had an economic base capable of supporting such a project, strong involvement by the Yamato political center has been proposed. Another interpretation links its construction with the period when Yamato royal tombs were shifting from the Saki Kofun Cluster in northern Nara to the Mozu and Furuichi clusters in the Kawachi region of present-day Osaka.
Traditions of Emperor Chuai
The association with Emperor Chuai is connected with traditions preserved in the Nihon Shoki, an early eighth-century chronicle containing court traditions and legendary historical narratives. Its account of Empress Jingu describes a large false tomb at Akashi, built with stones brought from Awaji Island. Goshikizuka has long been associated with this story because it is the only coastal tomb at Akashi of a scale suited to the description.
According to the tradition, Princes Kagosaka and Oshikuma, described as sons of Emperor Chuai, used the supposed construction of their father’s tomb as a pretext for establishing a position against Empress Jingu’s forces. The story says that the tomb contained no accompanying remains, whereas archaeological interpretation regards Goshikizuka as a genuine burial mound of the Kofun period.
The historian Koichi Mori proposed another reading, identifying the mound as a construction of Princes Kagosaka and Oshikuma while also regarding Emperor Chuai as the person buried there. A related tradition in the Harima Fudoki says that Empress Jingu sought stone from Sanuki for Emperor Chuai’s burial, although it does not directly name Goshikizuka.
Local Names and Historical Memory
The connection with Emperor Chuai was already current during the Edo period. The name Goshikizuka appears in a record from 1657, while a 1698 account describes the mound as locally known as Emperor Chuai’s tomb. Works dating from 1716 to 1736 and from 1762 also discussed the site.
The origin of the name Goshikizuka remains uncertain. Suggested explanations connect it with five-colored flowers placed in haniwa vessels during a funeral, with haniwa interpreted as cooking vessels, with the varied colors of the mound’s stone facing, or with stone brought from Goshikihama on Awaji Island. The alternative name Sentsubo, meaning “a thousand jars,” is associated with the large number of haniwa once placed on the mound.
Protection and Restoration
Goshikizuka Kofun and Kotsubo Kofun were jointly designated a National Historic Site on March 3, 1921. The protected area was enlarged in 1974, 1979, and 2006. Excavation and restoration took place during fiscal years 1965 to 1974 and in 1977, followed by twelve stages of confirmation surveys around the mounds between 1982 and 1993.
The restoration is regarded as Japan’s first restoration and reconstruction of a kofun to its presumed original appearance. Before this work, the mound had been protected as pine woodland. During the Second World War, the trees were cut for uses that included oil extraction. The area was later converted to fields and affected by urban development. Railway construction in front of Goshikizuka and roads around the site also altered sections of the moats.
Objects excavated from Goshikizuka were designated a National Important Cultural Property on September 6, 2012. A separate group of 328 objects from Goshikizuka and Kotsubo was designated a Kobe City tangible cultural property in 2010. These objects are kept at the Kobe City Archaeological Center.
Remains
Goshikizuka is a zenpō-kōen-fun, a keyhole-shaped mound with a square front section facing south and a circular rear section. It measures 194 meters in length. Measured from the bottom of the moat east of the constriction, the rear section rises 18.8 meters, while the tip of the front section reaches 13.0 meters. The mound’s overall dimensions are close to those of Sakiryoyama Kofun in Nara.
The Main Mound
Terraces and Haniwa
The mound has three tiers. The lowest was formed by cutting into the natural ground, while the middle and upper tiers were built with packed fill. Rows of cylindrical haniwa, clay funerary objects placed around and on burial mounds, encircle the summit and terraces at all three levels.
About 18 haniwa occur for every 10 meters of these rows. A fin-bearing cylindrical example appears approximately once in every five or six pieces, alongside fin-bearing morning-glory-shaped haniwa. Their fins were set parallel to the mound. The total number of haniwa is estimated at about 2,200, and every excavated example has black spots. The modern restoration uses replicas on both the rear and front sections.
Stone Facing
Stone facing covers the slopes of each tier. Stones on the upper and middle levels generally measure 15 to 30 centimeters across, while those on the lowest level are about 5 to 10 centimeters. The upper and middle tiers average about 70 stones weighing 220 kilograms per square meter. The lower tier averages about 240 stones and 80 kilograms per square meter. Altogether, the facing is estimated to contain 2,233,500 stones with a combined weight of approximately 2,784 tons.
Gabbro forms most of the upper and middle tiers, with some granite also used. About 714,800 stones, weighing 2,278 tons, are thought to have come chiefly from the northeastern coast of Awaji Island. Chert and other siliceous stone dominate the lower tier and probably came from nearby coasts and rivers. During restoration, excavated stones were reused on the front section, while newly introduced stones were placed on the rear section.
Moats and Island Mounds
A deep, dry inner moat and a shallower outer ditch appear to have formed two circuits around the mound. Railway and road construction has made their complete form unclear, although the inner moat is thought to have surrounded the entire kofun. A bridge-like, passage-shaped earthwork stood on the south side of the front section. On the side of the rear section, another ditch lies beyond the moat and bends around the outside of Kotsubo Kofun’s moat to the west. It remains uncertain whether this arrangement reflects the simultaneous construction of the two mounds or a later alteration made when one was built.
Three square, island-like mounds stand within the moat. Two lie beside the constriction and measure approximately 20 meters on each side. A third lies northeast of the rear section. Its excavation produced a coffin made from fin-bearing cylindrical haniwa and grave goods. The purpose of these island mounds is unknown. One interpretation identifies the two beside the constriction as altars and the northeastern mound as a subsidiary burial mound.
Burial Facility and Finds
Burial Facility
The main burial facility has not been excavated, so its form is unknown. Crystalline schist, possibly from eastern Tokushima, was found in the rear section before restoration and led to the tentative inference that a pit-type stone chamber existed.
A literary reference to an exposed stone coffin prompted the theory that a stone coffin, perhaps a long chest-shaped type, had been used. More recent interpretation regards the reference as exposure of part of a stone burial chamber and considers a split-bamboo-shaped wooden coffin more likely. Investigations identified no exposed stone coffin or associated disturbance.
Excavated Objects
Excavated material includes cylindrical haniwa, figurative examples shaped as lids and shields, pottery, earthen objects, and a magatama, a curved comma-shaped bead, with smaller beads attached. The western constriction produced the magatama. The northeastern island mound yielded a coffin made from fin-bearing cylindrical haniwa and a Haji-ware jar, an ancient Japanese unglazed earthenware vessel used for funerary purposes. Haji-ware also came from the summit of the rear section.
About 600 haniwa were collected from the estimated total of 2,200. Forty-two fin-bearing cylindrical haniwa, three fin-bearing morning-glory haniwa, and three cylindrical haniwa have been restored to complete forms. Fragments of figurative haniwa and 15 pottery and earthen objects are preserved with the designated group as supplementary material.
Kotsubo Kofun
Kotsubo Kofun stands immediately west of Goshikizuka and is a circular mound built around the same period. Its lower tier measured 70 meters in diameter, its upper tier 43 meters, and its height was approximately 8.5 meters. It is the second-largest circular kofun in Hyogo Prefecture after Chasuriyama Kofun. Because the mound originally extended beneath surrounding roads, it has not been restored in its original two-tier form. Earth fill now protects it in a single-tier shape.
Kotsubo was surrounded by a moat with a passage-like earthwork or bridge on its northern side. About 320 haniwa were arranged in rows across its outer surface, including cylindrical, morning-glory-shaped, house-shaped, quiver-shaped, and lid-shaped examples. Its construction dates to around the late fourth or early fifth century, but its chronological relationship with Goshikizuka remains uncertain.
