The is a group of Kofun to early Nara period burial mounds located in the Takatsuki neighborhood of the city of Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan. It was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 2003. It is the largest kofun cluster in Shiga Prefecture.
Overview The Kohori Kofun Cluster extends along a three kilometer ridge running north-to-south on Nishinoyama hill facing Shiotsu Bay at the northern end of Lake Biwa. The ridge has an elevation of 200 to 240 meters, and is 100 meters above the surface of Lake Biwa. The cluster consists of seven keyhole-shaped , having one square end and one circular end, when viewed from above, eight "two conjoined rectangles" type (), one , 79 () and 37 () for a total of 132 tumuli. These have been divided by archaeologists into six groupings labelled "Group A" through "Group F" during a survey in 1965. The largest is the Nishinoyama Kofun, which has a total length of 90 meters. Most of the circular and square mounds are from 10 to 20 meters in diameter or on each side, with the largest at no more the 30 meters.
The larger zenpō-kōen-fun and are estimated to date from the early Kofun period, or around the beginning of the 3rd century AD. This has been verified by an excavation of the Komatsu Kofun from 1998 to 2000, from which numerous grave goods were recovered, including much earthenware, bronze mirrors and copper and iron products. No haniwa have been recovered from any of the tumuli in the cluster, but fukiishi have been found on some of the earlier tombs. The smaller circular and square tombs date to as late as the early 7th century AD, or into the early Nara period.
The site is unusual not only in the number of tumuli, but in the variety of styles. In addition, although it is on the major highway from the Yamato region to the Sea of Japan, the kofun are visible only from Lake Biwa, indicating that the builders had a strong connection to water transportation on the lake. The site is about ten minutes by car from Takatsuki Station on the JR West Hokuriku Main Line.
+Kobori Kofun Cluster main tumuli Branch Kofun name Coordinates Shape Scale Construction time RemarksBranch #Common nameAA-1深谷古墳zenpō-kōen-fun A-2西野山古墳zenpō-kōen-funlength 90m largest in clusterA-3A-3号墳 enpundia 15mlate Kofun periodConfirmation surveyA-5巳ノ脇古墳 BB-1ヘソ岩古墳hotategai-gatalength 21m B-6小松古墳zenpō-kōhō-funlength 60mearly Kofun periodoldest in clusterConfirmation surveygrave goodsB-10木戸古墳 enpundia 25mearly Kofun periodConfirmation surveyB-16木戸越古墳zenpō-kōen-fun CC-10西山古墳 C-16大浦古墳zenpō-kōhō-fun C-17野瀬古墳 enpundia 30mearly Kofun periodConfirmation surveyC-20C-20号墳 hōfunlength 22mmid Kofun periodConfirmation surveyC-22C-22号墳 enpun final Kofun periodConfirmation surveyDD-1寺ヶ浦古墳zenpō-kōen-fun D-2臼ヶ谷古墳zenpō-kōhō-fun D-6堂山古墳 D-7堂谷古墳 D-10南山古墳 D-24井ノ浦古墳 D-41北谷古墳zenpō-kōhō-fun D-42黒見古墳zenpō-kōen-fun EE-1上大谷古墳zenpō-kōhō-fun E-5岩屋古墳zenpō-kōhō-fun E-7蜂谷古墳 E-9熊野山古墳zenpō-kōhō-fun E-14屋ヶ谷古墳zenpō-kōhō-fun E-15大谷古墳zenpō-kōen-fun FF-1旭山古墳zenpō-kōen-fun
See also List of Historic Sites of Japan (Shiga)
References
External links Shiga Prefecture Department of Education