Kabutoyama Kofun


Kabutoyama Kofun is kofun burial mound located in what is now part of the city of Sabae, Fukui, in the Hokuriku region of Japan. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1977.

Overview

The kofun is located on a hillside north of the centre of the city of Sabae, facing east, and is crowned with a Shinto shrine dedicated to the kami Hachiman. The tumulus is a two-tier dome-shape, with a diameter of 60 meters at its base, 49 meters at its upper tier, and 8 meters in height. The periphery of the mound was surrounded by a circumferential moat 15 meters in width, of which a small portion survives in the northeastern sector. It is the largest circular kofun found in Fukui Prefecture. No fukiishi or cylindrical haniwa have found in the area, and the details of the interior are unknown as the kofun has not been excavated; however, rom the morphology of the mound it is estimated to date from the 5th century AD.
The tomb does not appear in any historical records and the name of rank of the person buried within is unknown. It is one of many similar kofun which have been discovered in the area, which has been densely populated since the Yayoi and Kofun periods, and from its scale it must have been the tomb of a local chieftain or other person of importance.