Kofun News and Articles
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(Japan Times March 11, 2002)
A surprise remark by Emperor Akihito in December shed light on deep historical
and ethnic ties that bind Japan and the Korean Peninsula, but contrasting media
reactions highlighted a difference in historical perception across the Sea of
Japan.
During a news conference to mark his 68th birthday, the Emperor drew the public's attention to a historical document that shows one of his eighth-century ancestors was born to a descendant of immigrants from the Korean Peninsula. In doing so, he said he felt a close "kinship" with Korea.
His remark received a warm welcome in Seoul, marking as it did the first time a member of the Imperial family publicly noted the family's blood ties with Korea. In his first public address this year, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung accordingly praised the Emperor for his "correct understanding of history."
During a meeting with members of the Imperial Household Agency press club prior to his birthday on Dec. 23, the Emperor, quoting from the "Shoku Nihongi" ("Chronicles of Japan"), compiled in 797, said the mother of Emperor Kanmu (737-806) had come from the royal family of Paekche, an ancient kingdom of Korea.
Read the rest here.
Tiger-man image
found in tomb
(Yomiuri
Shimbun January 23rd, 2002)
A
painting of a tiger-headed human figure has been found inside a stone chamber at
Kitora Ancient Tomb in Asukamura, Nara Prefecture, it was announced Monday.
According to the Cultural Affairs Agency's research committee to preserve
ancient tombs, the image was found on the lower part of the tomb's east wall.
The tomb dates back to between the end of seventh century and the early eighth
century.
It is the first time that one of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac has been
found painted on a tomb wall, although reliefs have been found at a site on the
Korean Peninsula.
Experts believe images of the 12 animals of the zodiac were painted on all four
inner walls--three on each wall--at Kitora.
In the Korean Peninsula, images of the animals were painted to keep watch over
entombed rulers and other influential people during the Silla empire (seventh
century-10th century).
Paintings of the suzaku, an ancient mythological bird that resembles a phoenix,
the seiryu (blue dragon), the byakko (white tiger) and the genbu (a turtle-snake
hybrid) had already been found on the walls of the same tomb.
Ancient
artwork may be earliest zodiac mural
KASHIHARA,
Nara Pref. (Kyodo) Researchers at an ancient tomb in western Japan are trying to
verify a theory that painted figures there represent one of East Asia's oldest
zodiac murals, the Cultural Affairs Agency said Monday.
The researchers have found what they believe is a tiger-headed, human figure on
the eastern wall of Nara Prefecture's Kitora tomb, according to agency
officials. The tiger is one of the 12 animals in the more than 3,000-year-old
Chinese zodiac, once used to indicate time and direction but now used to
designate the names of years.
Three other figures with human bodies found earlier on the northern wall of the
tomb from the late seventh to early eighth century in the village of Asuka may
also have the heads of Chinese zodiac animals, the officials said.
Rest at http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin...n20020122a7.htm
Filming
reveals gold leaf use at Kitora tomb
KASHIHARA,
Nara Pref. (Kyodo) Gold leaf was used in drawing Japan's oldest existing
astronomical charts covering the ceiling of an ancient tomb in the village of
Asuka, Nara Prefecture, the Cultural Affairs Agency said. The latest Kitora
findings came Thursday as researchers filmed the stone chamber of the tomb for
the fourth time, inserting a digital camera attached to the tip of a 3.5-meter
arm through a grave robbers' tunnel.
The constellations were drawn with gold leaf connected by red lines made of
cinnabar, a mercuric sulfide pigment, agency officials said.
The Kitora tomb dates from the late seventh century to early eighth century,
with its mound measuring about 14 meters in diameter and 2.6 meters high. Wall
paintings were discovered there in 1983.
Researchers knew of the astronomical charts from earlier filmings, but this is
the first time that the use of gold leaf has been confirmed.
The latest filming was conducted to gather information on the scope of the tomb
and the condition of a tunnel used by grave rubbers ahead of full-scale
restoration work set to begin next year on the tomb's mural paintings.
Rest at http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin...n20011208b1.htm
Boy unearths rare stoneware fragment
(Japan Times August 3, 2001)
KOBE (Kyodo) An 11-year-old boy unearthed a
fragment of rare fifth century stoneware last month in Kamigori, Hyogo
Prefecture, the prefectural education board said Thursday.
Masahiro Fukazawa, in the sixth grade at Yamanosato Elementary School, dug up the "sue ware" fragment during a practical excavation program July 5 at the Chikumamiyanomae ruins.
Education officials said he was surprised to learn it was a rare artifact.
The fragment came from a piece of sue ware decorated with carvings in a semicircular pattern. Several similar fragments have been found in Japan, but the latest is thought to be among the oldest.
Read the rest here.
Nara mound confirmed as oldest of its kind
(Japan Times June 1, 2001)
KASHIHARA, Nara Pref. (Kyodo) An ancient mound in Nara Prefecture was confirmed Wednesday as the oldest of its kind in Japan, supporting the hypothesis that a legendary ancient kingdom governed by the female ruler Himiko was based in the Kinki region, archaeologists said.
It has long been a matter of dispute whether Himiko, whose reign is shrouded in mystery, ruled from northern Kyushu or the Nara region.
Tests on a wooden board found in a trench surrounding Katsuyama Mound at Makimuku in the town of Sakurai show it was from a tree felled in the year 199, said researchers at the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties. The board is believed to have been used in the mound's construction. The Archaeological Institute of Kashihara said the board is also believed to have been used for ritual events on top of the mound, and that the mound was probably built at the beginning of the third century.
Katsuyama Mound, which is about 110 meters long, is thought to be more than 20 years older than Hokenoyama Mound in the same city.
Read the rest of the article here.
Abstracts from Zoo-archaeology 15, 2000:
Abstract from Higami, N. (2000) Reconsidering the function of "wooden agricultural implements", Kokogaku Kenkyu 47(3), 97-109.
Abstract from Iizuka, T. (2000) The production of wooden implements in ancient Japan, Kokogaku Kenkyu 47(3), 63-83.
Edwards, W. (2000)
Contested Access: The Imperial Tombs in the Postwar Period. Journal of
Japanese Studies 26(2), 371-392.
Abstract: Over
the postwar period Japanese scholars have pressured the Imperial Household
Agency for greater access to sites under its control as tombs associated with
the imperial line, arguing they are cultural properties vital to understanding
ancient Japanese history. The agency has responded by making information
about the sites more generally available, and by permitting limited numbers of
scholars to inspect excavations it conducts prior to repairing the tombs. But it maintains that since the sites are above all graves where rites are
performed for ancestors of the imperial household, their treatment is not a
scientific but a religious matter.
Kurumazaki, M. (2000) Rituals related to burial mounds and the idea of ancestral spirits. Kokogaku Kenkyu 47(2), 29-48. Abstract in ADOBE pdf format.
Matsugi, T. (2000) Distribution patterns of chiefly burial mounds in the Kofun Period western Japan. Kokogaku Kenkyu 47(1), 101-108. Abstract in PDF format.
Mitsuji, T., Murakami, H., and Komura, M. (2000) Studies on the Provenance Problems of Ancient and Medieval Ceramics by Statistical Methods (Part 10): X-ray Fluorescence Analysis of Sueki Potsherds from Uenohara Tomb Sites in Oita Prefecture. Journal of Computer Archaeology 6, 36-44.
Abstract: The Uenohara group of tomb sites in Nakatsu city, Oita prefecture consisted of 81 tomb sites. Out of them, 52 tomb sites were selected for the present work. An automatic machine of x-ray fluorescence made analysis of 195 sueki potsherd samples from these tomb sites.
Discriminant analysis between two mother groups was applied for data analysis.
The fingerprint elements of K, Ca, Rb and Sr were used for calculation of Mahalanobis generalized distances.
The three kiln groups were selected as the mother group. These were the local Itouta, the Osakasuemara and Munakata kiln groups.
As the result of calculation, 88 samples were supplied from the local kilns, 73 samples from the Suemura kiln group and 6 samples from the kilns in Munkata area neighboring Nakatsu city and then the origin of remaining 28 samples was unknown.
It was shown that there were two large flows in supplying of sueki to the Uenohara group of tomb sites, that is, from local Itouta and from the Suemura.
Toyoshima, N. (2000) Changes in the Military Organization in Kinai Area in the Middle Kofun Period, Kokogaku Zasshi 85:31-52. Abstract in pdf format.
ANCIENT MIRRORS UNEARTHED IN FUKUI
(Japan Times, September 2, 2000)
This article briefly described the discovery of an Early Yayoi type mirror and a Wei-period TLV mirror in a wooden casket inside Hananotani No. 1 burial mound. The mound is located in Fukui city in Fukui Prefecture. Stylistically the Yayoi mirror is believed to date to around 100 BC; while the Wei-period, TLV mirrors date to the fourth century AD. This is the first time Yayoi and wei period mirros have been found in the same burial; it is evidence that some of the metalwork was used as an heirloom and not all was recycled.
Read the full article here.
BURIAL SITE UNEARTHED IN NARA
(Japan Times, August 19, 2000)
Due to road construction, the Kashihara City Board of Education has been conducting excavations on the Ueyama Tomb. The rectangular tomb is 27 m x 47 m and contains two stone chambers on its southern side. The excavators believe that the two stone chambers were the temporary burial chambers for Empress Suiko (554-628) and Prince Takeda (d. circa 590 AD). From historical records it is known that they were temporarily interred in the Ononookano-Ueryo, before being buried elsewhere.
Read the full article here.