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| Tsukumo Kofun | |
|---|---|
| Name | Tsukumo Kofun |
| Map type | Japan |
| Location | Sanuki, Kagawa Prefecture |
| Region | Shikoku |
| Type | Kofun |
| Built | 6th–7th century |
| Epoch | Kofun period |
Tsukumo Kofun Tsukumo Kofun is a Kofun-period burial mound on Shikoku associated with regional elites and funerary practices contemporary with other key sites on Honshu and Kyushu such as Keyhole-shaped tombs, Ōsaka Prefecture mounds, and sites linked to the Yamato polity. The tumulus illustrates interactions among local chieftains, continental influences from Korean Peninsula polities, and material circulation evident in comparisons with assemblages from Asuka period contexts and contemporaneous island necropoleis. Research on the site has informed debates involving archaeological typologies established by scholars connected to institutions like the National Museum of Japanese History and universities across Japan.
Tsukumo Kofun represents a class of burial mounds constructed during the later Kofun chronological span and has been cited in comparative studies alongside monuments such as the Mozu-Furuichi kofungun, Sakitama Kofun Cluster, and tumuli in Kyushu. The mound has attracted attention from regional cultural agencies and prefectural boards similar to the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Japan), and its study contributes to syntheses appearing in journals affiliated with the Japanese Archaeological Association and departments at universities like Kyoto University and University of Tokyo.
The mound is located in present-day Sanuki within Kagawa Prefecture on the island of Shikoku, positioned in a landscape of coastal plains and inland hills that parallels settings found near the Seto Inland Sea and other strategic waterways recorded in chronicles such as the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki. Surrounding the site are settlement traces, field systems, and smaller barrows that compare to clusters documented by researchers from the National Museum of Nature and Science and regional museums including the Kagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History. The topography places the tumulus within sight lines used in regional territorial claims similar to patterns observed around Mount Fuji-adjacent sites.
The mound exhibits construction features consistent with kofun architecture cataloged in syntheses produced by the Archaeological Association of Japan and specialists at the Tokyo National Museum. Its dimensions, earthen layers, and possible use of fukiishi and haniwa parallels examples from the Mozu kofun group and the Nintoku-tennō-ryō Kofun, while masonry and chamber construction techniques invite comparison with chambered tombs in Kyushu and continental prototypes discussed in monographs by scholars at Osaka University. Stratigraphic data align with regional ceramic chronologies established through typologies by researchers at Hokkaido University and Kanazawa University.
Excavations produced artifacts including iron implements, mirrors, beads, and ceramics that are stylistically comparable to grave goods recovered from sites associated with the Yamato court, trade-linked assemblages from Gaya peninsula contexts, and imported goods recorded in museum catalogues at the British Museum and the Tokyo National Museum. Metallic items echo metallurgical traditions studied by researchers affiliated with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology and reflect exchange networks like those evidenced in finds from Nagasaki and Hakodate. The ceramic corpus contributes to ongoing discourse about regional variation refined in typological work by the Japanese Ceramic Society and university archaeological departments.
Fieldwork at the site has been conducted by teams involving the Kagawa Prefectural Board of Education, staff from the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Japan), and researchers from institutions such as Kobe University and Okayama University. Reports have been presented at meetings of the Japanese Archaeological Association and published in regional bulletins similar to those issued by the Islands Studies Center. Methodologies have included survey, trial trenching, and non-invasive prospection techniques promoted in training programs at the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo. Collaborative projects drew on frameworks established in large-scale surveys like the Historic Sites Survey programs.
Chronological assessment places construction and use of the mound within the late Kofun period transitioning into early Asuka period horizons, a sequence comparable to radiocarbon-calibrated successions discussed in research from Tohoku University and the University of Tsukuba. Cultural attributions link the interred individual's status to regional polity formations paralleled in studies of the Yamato polity, and comparative analysis incorporates diplomatic and material parallels with the Korean Peninsula and Tang dynasty contacts noted in historical sources and archaeological syntheses. The site contributes to debates about state formation trajectories covered by scholars at the National Museum of Japanese History and international collaborators.
Conservation of the tumulus has involved the Kagawa Prefectural Board of Education working alongside municipal authorities and heritage professionals trained through programs at the International Council on Monuments and Sites-associated networks. Public access measures include interpretive signage, guided visits akin to outreach at the Mozu-Furuichi World Heritage Site, and inclusion in regional cultural routes promoted by the Kagawa Tourism Federation and local museums like the Kagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History. Ongoing stewardship balances archaeological research priorities coordinated with policies endorsed by the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Japan) and local stakeholders.
Category:Kofun period Category:Historic Sites in Kagawa Prefecture