Kunugi Kofun

Kunugi Kofun
椚古墳 (Japanese)
Kunugi Kofun
Location in Japan
Location in Japan
Kunugi Kofun
Location in Japan
Location in Japan
Kunugi Kofun (Japan)
36°12′10.73″N 136°17′5.65″E / 36.2029806°N 136.2849028°E / 36.2029806; 136.2849028
TypeKofun
PeriodsKofun period
LocationKunugi, Awara, Fukui, Japan
RegionHokuriku region
History
Builtlate 6th to early 7th century
Site notes
Public accessYes (no facilities)
Fukui Prefecture Historic Site

Kunugi Kofun (椚古墳) is a Kofun period burial mound, located in the Kunugi neighborhood of the city of Awara, Fukui in the Hokuriku region of Japan. The tumulus was designated a Fukui Prefecture Historic Site in 1973.[1] It is located within the grounds of a Hachiman shrine.

Overview

The Kunugi Kofun is a enpun (円墳)-style round tumulus, with a diameter of approximately 18 meters and height of three meters located on the foothills near the confluence of the Kiyotakigawa and the Gonsegawa rivers in northern Fukui Prefecture.[1]

The burial chamber is a double-chambered horizontal-entry stone chamber opening to the southwest, neatly constructed using cut tuff stones. The back wall is made of a single monolith. It is approximately 5.54 meters long, with a main chamber measuring 3.4 by 1.5 meters, with a height of 1.8 meters, although the front of the entry passage has been destroyed and it may have originally been longer. The burial chamber has been open for centuries, and no archaeological excavations have been conducted, so no grave goods have been found. From the construction technique, it is estimated to be the late Kofun period, around the late 6th to early 7th century. [2][3]

The burial chamber was used during the late Kamakura period as a training place for esoteric Buddhism, and the back wall is inscribed with Siddhaṃ script characters representing various Buddhas, including Dainichi Nyorai, and a five-ringed stupa with surrounding decorations such as moon discs and lotus pedestals in what is known as the "Echizen style." The site was robbed in 1912, when stones were taken from the burial chamber for use in constructing a bridge over the Gonsegawa River.[2][3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "文化財詳細" (in Japanese). Fukui Prefecture. Retrieved July 12, 2026.
  2. 1 2 Mitsuru Yamaguchi (1989). Encyclopedia of Japanese Burial Mounds. Tokyodo Publishing. ISBN 4490102607.
  3. 1 2 Toshihiko Kawamura (2002). Continued Encyclopedia of Japanese Kofun. Tokyodo Publishing. ISBN 4490105991.

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