Japan Heritage story
Ancient monuments: the burial mound landscapes of Miyazaki
古代人のモニュメント
Japan built over 160,000 burial mounds, called kofun, between the 3rd and 7th centuries, but most were damaged or built over. Only on the Miyazaki plain do they still stand almost as they were, scattered over open plateaus with hardly a building in sight.
Key facts
- Theme
- Ancient burial mounds, Forests and timber, Festivals and rituals
- Era
- Kofun
- Region
- Kyushu & Okinawa
- Official name in Japanese
- 古代人のモニュメント
- Official subtitle in Japanese
- 台地に絵を描く 南国宮崎の古墳景観−
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 宮崎県（西都市, 宮崎市, 新富町, 高鍋町）
The story
Kofun are earth mounds built over tombs, shaped like keyholes, circles or squares. Their size and shape showed the power of the person buried inside, so they were monuments as much as graves. Japan has over 160,000 of them, but on the Miyazaki plain they survive with their shapes intact and almost no buildings around them, the only such landscape in the country.
The greatest group is Saitobaru, more than 300 mounds over a plateau 2.6 km by 4.2 km. Keyhole tombs line the plateau's edge with round mounds packed between them, and the two largest, Mesaho-zuka and Osaho-zuka, show the power of the southern Kyushu rulers. From the top of a mound the plateau looks like a picture of big keyholes and small dots, green in spring and summer and brown and red in autumn and winter.
What to see
- Saitobaru Kofun Group: over 300 mounds on an open plateau.Google Maps 西都原古墳群 (opens in a new tab)
- Oni-no-Iwaya kofun: a round mound ringed by an earth bank like Saturn, whose stone chamber you can walk into.Google Maps 鬼の窟古墳 (opens in a new tab)
- Ikime Kofun Group: wooded mounds beside one keyhole tomb restored with gleaming white stones.Google Maps 生目古墳群 (opens in a new tab)
- Nyutabaru Kofun Group: mounds floating among farm fields, where humorous haniwa figures were found.Google Maps 新田原古墳群 (opens in a new tab)
- Hasugaike tunnel tombs: Japan's southernmost tunnel tombs, by a lotus pond in quiet woods.Google Maps 蓮ヶ池横穴群 (opens in a new tab)
Plan your trip with the Miyazaki prefecture guide and see more history and heritage.
Good to know
- Climb a mound or the Takatori-yama lookout to see the keyhole shapes from above.
- Visit at sunrise or sunset, when the mounds take on a mysterious glow.
- The plateau is large and open, so allow time to walk between the mounds.
Questions travellers ask
What is a kofun?
An earth burial mound built in Japan between the 3rd and 7th centuries, often keyhole-shaped, to show the power of the person buried.
Why are Miyazaki's kofun special?
They keep their shapes and stand in open country with almost no buildings around them, close to how they looked when built.
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.