{"it":{"id":"ASI-005","kind":"site","sub":"Asia","name":"Mozu Kofun Group","place":"Japan","lat":34.564,"lon":135.487,"mat":"earth","nfacts":13,"tags":["Asia"],"sum":"The largest mound in the Mozu group in Japan, Daisenryo Kofun, is about 486 m long (single source), the biggest tomb in Japan. Its keyhole shape is ringed by three moats, and its total circumference runs about 2.8 km (single source).","why":"Japan's largest tomb is an imperial mausoleum, so its contents were seen once in 1872 and then put back.","src":[304],"nsrc":2,"yt":"Should it be opened?","rel":["GIZ-G1"],"hook":"Japan's largest kofun is 486 m long. In 1872 a stone coffin was found in it, and the finds were reburied."},"S":{"304":["Wikipedia: Mozu Kofun Group","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozu_Kofun_Group"]},"rec":{"id":"ASI-005","alias":[],"ms":[{"f":"Kofun is one grave mound which is a","a":"length","v":"486","u":"m","o":"The Nintoku-tennō-ryō Kofun, is one grave mound which is a 486 m long tumulus enclosed by a moat and a fortification which is 840 m in length; this is said to be the largest such mound in the world.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozu_Kofun_Group&oldid=1370668719","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1370668719 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M0725"},{"f":"by a moat and a fortification which is","a":"length","v":"840","u":"m","o":"The Nintoku-tennō-ryō Kofun, is one grave mound which is a 486 m long tumulus enclosed by a moat and a fortification which is 840 m in length; this is said to be the largest such mound in the world.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozu_Kofun_Group&oldid=1370668719","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1370668719 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M0726"},{"f":"the Richū-tennō-ryō Kofun made of a tumulus of","a":"length","v":"360","u":"m","o":"This cluster also has the Richū-tennō-ryō Kofun, made of a tumulus of 360 m length and said to be the third largest in the country.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozu_Kofun_Group&oldid=1370668719","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1370668719 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M0727"},{"f":"Another group of mounds located about","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"10","u":"km","o":"Another group of mounds, located about 10 km away from the Mozu Kofun Group is known as the Furuichi Kofun Group.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozu_Kofun_Group&oldid=1370668719","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1370668719 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M0728"},{"f":"It has the Ōjin-tennō-ryō Kofun of","a":"length","v":"425","u":"m","o":"It has the Ōjin-tennō-ryō Kofun of 425 m length which is said to be the second largest in the country.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozu_Kofun_Group&oldid=1370668719","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1370668719 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M0729"},{"f":"massive rounded keyhole-shaped kofun with mound length of","a":"length","v":"200","u":"m","o":"This group also has 11 more huge massive rounded \"keyhole-shaped kofun\" with mound length of 200 m or more.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozu_Kofun_Group&oldid=1370668719","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1370668719 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M0730"},{"f":"The Daisen Kofun mound is approximately","a":"length","v":"500","u":"m","o":"The Daisen Kofun mound is approximately 500 m long and 300 m across at its widest point, while the entire tomb area is 840 m long.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozu_Kofun_Group&oldid=1370668719","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1370668719 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M0731"},{"f":"Kofun mound is approximately 500 m long and","a":"diameter","v":"300","u":"m","o":"The Daisen Kofun mound is approximately 500 m long and 300 m across at its widest point, while the entire tomb area is 840 m long.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozu_Kofun_Group&oldid=1370668719","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1370668719 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M0732"},{"f":"Enclosed by three moats the mound rises approximately","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"35","u":"m","o":"REF12 Enclosed by three moats, the mound rises approximately 35m above the surrounding terrain.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozu_Kofun_Group&oldid=1370668719","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1370668719 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M0733"},{"f":"The highest point is","a":"height","v":"47","u":"m","o":"The highest point is 47 m, making it visible to the seafarers in nearby Osaka Bay.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozu_Kofun_Group&oldid=1370668719","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1370668719 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M0734"},{"f":"is the widest of the moats at approximately","a":"dimension (unspecified)","v":"60","u":"m","o":"REF13 The inner moat is the widest of the moats at approximately 60 m.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozu_Kofun_Group&oldid=1370668719","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1370668719 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M0735"},{"f":"The viewing platform is","a":"distance (not a site dimension)","v":"500","u":"m","o":"The viewing platform is 500m away from Mozu Station on the Hanwa Line and is directly across the street from the Sakai City Museum.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozu_Kofun_Group&oldid=1370668719","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1370668719 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M0736"},{"f":"NintokuTomb Aerial photograph 2007 jpg alt Daisenryo Kofun","a":"circumference","v":"2.8","u":"km","o":"File:NintokuTomb Aerial photograph 2007.jpg|alt=|Daisenryo Kofun, 2.8 km in circumference and the largest kofun in Japan, is thought to be the Tomb of Emperor Nintoku.","unc":"","by":"per cited source (see citation)","yr":"","m":"documentary: verbatim sentence auto-extracted from Wikipedia revision","c":"no inline ref in article","pg":"","url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozu_Kofun_Group&oldid=1370668719","b":"S","bb":"auto-extracted, Wikipedia rev 1370668719 (tertiary); unit/attribute classified by keyword - check context in value_original","t":"MEASUREMENT","n":"","id":"M0737"}],"lab":[],"eng":[],"ori":[],"gaps":[],"dat":[],"aa":[],"ac":[],"me":[],"ci":[],"cq":[],"sd":[],"sub":[],"site":{"age":"","dm":"[see dating_excerpt; method not extracted]","lab":"NO: inference only (style/context/king list/textual)","weak":"no direct lab result on the structure in our records; date from stylistic, contextual or textual inference","unesco":"","dens":"CENSUS"},"co":{"lat":"34.564","lon":"135.487","src":"Wikidata P625 only + curated wave0 value agrees","agree":"agree (wave7 hand-review: OSM feature 'Daisen Kofun')","b":"V","note":"hand-reviewed: Wikidata vs OSM historic/archaeological_site delta 0.0006 deg (~0.06 km)","osm":"https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/30908252"},"src":[{"id":"S0347","t":"no inline ref in article","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mozu_Kofun_Group&oldid=1370668719"},{"id":"S0546","t":"Wikipedia: Mozu Kofun Group","u":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozu_Kofun_Group"},{"id":"VASI-005-3","t":"Sakai City: Nintoku-tenno-ryo Kofun","u":"https://www.city.sakai.lg.jp/foreign-language/english/visitors/topics/world_heritage_site/notable_tombs/nintoku-ryo.html"},{"id":"VASI-005-4","t":"Sakai City: Nintoku-tenno-ryo (Daisen) burial data","u":"https://www.city.sakai.lg.jp/foreign-language/english/visitors/enjoying/sightseeing/encyclopedia/dataofburial/daisen.html"},{"id":"VASI-005-5","t":"UNESCO World Heritage Centre: Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs of Ancient Japan","u":"https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1593/"},{"id":null,"t":"The Mainichi, Excavation begins in 1st joint survey of Japan’s largest ancient tomb (23 October 2018)","u":"https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20181023/p2a/00m/0na/014000c"},{"id":null,"t":"Archaeology magazine, Archaeologists investigate Japan’s Daisen Kofun (27 November 2018)","u":"https://archaeology.org/news/2018/11/27/181127-japan-daisen-kofun/"}],"sum":"From the street in Sakai, a busy city on the edge of Osaka, it looks like nothing much: a long wall of trees rising behind a broad band of water. Walkers follow a paved path beside the moat. Waterbirds stand in the shallows. The path goes on, and on, for 2.8 kilometres before it brings you back to where you began, and only then do you begin to grasp that the wooded hill is not a hill. It is a grave, made by human hands, and it is the largest tomb in Japan.\n\nIts official name is the Nintoku-tenno-ryo Kofun, the mausoleum of Emperor Nintoku. It is also called the Daisen Kofun, or Daisenryo. A kofun is an ancient Japanese burial mound, and the grandest of them share a striking shape. Seen from the air, they look like an old-fashioned keyhole: a round mound joined to a squared, flaring front. Nobody walking around the base can see that shape. It only appears from above.\n\nThe scale is hard to hold in the mind. Sakai City gives the mound's length as about 486 metres, nearly five football pitches laid end to end; a survey area described in 2018 runs to roughly 500 metres. The round part alone is about 249 metres across and 35.8 metres high, the height of a ten-storey building, and its highest point reaches 47 metres. The mound rises in three tiers and is ringed by three moats, the inner one about 60 metres wide. With its moats and banks, the whole tomb stretches about 840 metres and covers some 460,000 square metres. Sakai calls it one of the largest burial mounds in the world. More than ten smaller satellite tombs cluster around it, like retainers around a lord.\n\nIt was not always a forest. Archaeologists have confirmed that the slopes were paved with stones and lined with haniwa, clay figures set out on burial mounds. The haniwa found here include women's heads, water birds, horses, deer and houses, a whole small world arranged around the dead. Scholars think the mound was once covered with some 50 million stones. When it was new, it would have shone pale against the green plain, and from its summit it would have been visible to sailors out in Osaka Bay. The Mozu tombs stand on a plateau above that bay, close to the ancient shoreline, and the placement suggests a monument meant to be seen from the water, by whoever arrived.\n\nMounds like this gave their name to an age. The Kofun period ran from the 3rd to the 6th century, before Japan reorganised itself into a centralised state on the Chinese model. UNESCO understands the kofun as tombs for the clans of kings and their followers, and the hierarchy of the living was written into the size of the graves. In 2019 the Daisen mound was listed as a World Heritage Site within the Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group, 49 kofun selected from about 160,000 across Japan. Nearby stands the tomb assigned to Emperor Richu, 360 metres long and the third largest in the country. Some 10 kilometres away, in the Furuichi group, the tomb assigned to Emperor Ojin reaches 425 metres, the second largest. Sakai dates Daisen to the mid-5th century, partly from sue ware, a hard grey pottery of the period, found on the mound. One estimate holds that it took about twenty years to build.\n\nConsider what that meant. A ruler who could command twenty years of labour, move millions of stones and shape a hill nearly half a kilometre long was making an argument that needed no words. Power that can build this can do anything. The tomb was a statement to rivals at home and to visitors from overseas, and its owner expected to be remembered by it forever.\n\nThat is where the story turns strange. In 1872 a rectangular stone coffin was found inside the mound by accident, along with swords, armour, glass pots and dishes. People made sketches. Then, Sakai says, the finds are believed to have been buried back. The sketches suggest the armour was gilt-bronze, bronze covered with a thin skin of gold. That is almost all anyone has seen of what lies inside Japan's greatest tomb.\n\nThe reason is that the Imperial Household Agency manages the mound as the grave of an emperor, and it has not allowed outsiders into imperial tombs, in order to maintain the peace and sanctity of the Imperial Family. The mound today is entirely overgrown and off limits. The only way most people see it is from a viewing platform on the south side, across the middle moat. In October 2018 the agency began its first joint survey with an outside body, the Sakai city government, as part of preservation work. Three trenches, each 2 metres wide, were cut across the innermost bank, which is 30 metres wide. They showed that the bank had been paved with white stones. Archaeology magazine reported that the paving raises estimates of the labour the tomb required. The burial itself was not touched.\n\nThe official account is simple. The tomb belongs to Nintoku, an emperor of the traditional royal list, and it should be honoured rather than dug. The mainstream scholarly view is more careful. As The Mainichi newspaper notes, the identification has never been scientifically confirmed. Sakai's own page adds a sharper doubt: the mound seems to have been built after the nearby tomb assigned to Richu. In the traditional list, Richu is a later emperor than Nintoku. If the later ruler's tomb is older, the names attached to these mounds do not match the order in which they were built. The label on Japan's greatest tomb may rest on tradition rather than on anything found inside it.\n\nSo what is known is the outside, in fine detail, and almost nothing of the heart. The 1872 coffin was seen for a moment and closed again. Who was laid in it, how they died, what they believed about the journey they were beginning, and what else lies in the dark beneath fifteen centuries of soil are all open questions. Scholars have long asked that imperial tombs be opened, or at least studied by outsiders. The answer, so far, has been no. And the landscape itself is vanishing around the survivors. The Mozu group once held more than a hundred mounds. More than half were destroyed by housing built after the Second World War.\n\nThe Great Pyramid of Khufu is another royal tomb named by tradition, whose inner contents have been argued over for centuries. The difference is that at Giza people can at least walk inside. At Sakai the door has been shut since the day it was opened.\n\nToday the moats have become a sanctuary for fish and waterbirds. Trains stop at Mozu Station, 500 metres from the viewing platform. Under the trees, behind three rings of water, a stone coffin lies where the workers of 1872 put it back, with its gilded armour and its glass, holding the one fact that every measurement of the outside cannot supply: the name of the person for whom an entire hill was raised.","qs":["What is it right to leave unopened, and who should decide?","If the tomb may not be Nintoku's, does the name still matter?","What would a full excavation gain, and what would it cost?"],"gal":[{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/CG_Haze_Nisanzai_Kofun_1_7pbw.jpg/1280px-CG_Haze_Nisanzai_Kofun_1_7pbw.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CG_Haze_Nisanzai_Kofun_1_7pbw.jpg","title":"CG Haze Nisanzai Kofun 1 7pbw.jpg","lic":"CC BY-SA 4.0","licurl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0","by":"名古屋太郎","cap":"Haze Nisanzai Kofun rendered in 3DCG. I who am a contributor drew the picture by a software which developed by myself. The survey map which I referred to depend"},{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/CG_Misanzai_Kofun_10_7pbw.jpg/1280px-CG_Misanzai_Kofun_10_7pbw.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CG_Misanzai_Kofun_10_7pbw.jpg","title":"CG Misanzai Kofun 10 7pbw.jpg","lic":"CC BY-SA 4.0","licurl":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0","by":"名古屋太郎","cap":"Kamiishizu Misanzai Kofun rendered in 3DCG. I who am a contributor drew the picture by a software which developed by myself. The survey map which I referred to ","alt":"Kamiishizu Misanzai Kofun rendered in 3DCG. I who am a contributor drew the picture by a software which developed by myself. The survey map which I referred to"},{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/Daisenryo_Kofun_from_balloon.jpg/1280px-Daisenryo_Kofun_from_balloon.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Daisenryo_Kofun_from_balloon.jpg","title":"Daisenryo Kofun from balloon.jpg","lic":"CC0","licurl":"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en","by":"Sakai Yayoi","cap":"大仙陵古墳（おおさか堺バルーンより望む）","alt":"Mozu Kofun Group"},{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Haisho_of_Daisenryo_Kofun%2C_Mozu_Kofun_Group.jpg/1280px-Haisho_of_Daisenryo_Kofun%2C_Mozu_Kofun_Group.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Haisho_of_Daisenryo_Kofun,_Mozu_Kofun_Group.jpg","title":"Haisho of Daisenryo Kofun, Mozu Kofun Group.jpg","lic":"CC0","licurl":"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en","by":"Sakai Yayoi","cap":"大仙陵古墳の拝所","alt":"Mozu Kofun Group"},{"src":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Haze_Nisanzai_Kofun_zenkei.JPG/1280px-Haze_Nisanzai_Kofun_zenkei.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail","page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Haze_Nisanzai_Kofun_zenkei.JPG","title":"Haze Nisanzai Kofun zenkei.JPG","lic":"CC0","licurl":"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en","by":"Saigen Jiro","cap":"土師ニサンザイ古墳 全景","alt":"Mozu Kofun Group"}]},"img":null,"md":null,"hh":[{"v":"486","u":"m","h":"Nintoku's tomb mound, said to be the largest of its kind, ringed by moats","s":[57]},{"v":"360","u":"m","h":"Richū's mound, said to be the third largest in Japan","s":[57]},{"v":"Earth","h":"Made of","s":[57]}],"hs":{"57":["Wikipedia: Mozu Kofun Group (and sources cited there)","https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozu_Kofun_Group"]},"lh":{"s":"img/h/ASI-005.webp","w":1280,"h":742,"o":"https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/CG_Haze_Nisanzai_Kofun_1_7pbw.jpg/1280px-CG_Haze_Nisanzai_Kofun_1_7pbw.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail"}}