Kenneth E. Sutherland | Louisiana State University
The people of Japan have deep connections to natural and modified landscapes, including built structures, in their country. Osaka, the third largest city and second smallest prefecture in Japan, is a place which connects past and present. With a theme that looks toward future life, the 2025 World Expo will be held at the Osaka Bay waterfront. The ancient tombs of the Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group in southern Osaka Prefecture connect the modern population with the Kofun Period (300–538 CE) and the Asuka Period (538–710 CE). These ancient spaces, interspersed amid places that are part of daily life, affect the lives of those who experience them. Here, modern people are living amongst their history.
Nearly ten million people live in Osaka, and over ten million more visit every year. Residents and tourists alike experience the prefecture’s sights, sounds, and smells. The busy Namba area lies at the centre of several transit lines. A few blocks north, Dotonbori is home to many restaurants and the eponymous canal. To the south, anime, manga, video games, and technology lovers can visit Den Den Town, Osaka’s answer to Tokyo’s Akihabara. Shin Sekai, the ‘New World’ shopping area from 1912, provides a glimpse into future’s past. Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples, public parks and shopping streets, museums and theatres, and other historic places provide entertainment and education.
With the motto ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’, Expo 2025 will change the present landscape into a future landscape, and many areas have been upgraded or created to prepare for the event. In 1970, the World Expo was held in northern Osaka Prefecture with the motto ‘Progress and Harmony for Mankind’. The Expo ’70 Commemorative Park still features gardens, stadiums, the National Museum of Ethnology, the Tower of the Sun, and stops on the Osaka Monorail. Events like the World Expo bring international attention to the city, the prefecture, and the entire region. The structures and landscapes created for these events have long-lasting impacts on those who experience them, eventually representing the past rather than the future.
In southern Osaka Prefecture, the cities of Sakai, Fujiidera, and Habikino contain centuries-old shrines and temples, which connect present people with the past. Such structures are sometimes found in the middle of modern urban environments. In Fujiidera, shrines and temples neighbour the Fujiidera and Domyoji shopping streets. Rivers and roads marking ancient routes which connected those places with nearby towns and villages are still discernible amongst modern pavement, paths, and infrastructure. The intermediate spaces have largely changed from farms and fields to houses, shops, schools, and parks, but groupings of old-growth trees and earthen mounds also adorn the landscape.
Suh places are the kofun (古墳), ancient burial mounds, which were constructed across much of the Japanese archipelago from the middle of the third century CE until the early seventh century CE. This time coincides with the introduction of the Buddhist religion and the Chinese writing system in Japan. Over 150,000 kofun have been discovered, though they are absent in northern Japan. Kofun were built as tombs for powerful people and required large amounts of labour, materials, and planning. Varying sizes, shapes, and scales of construction showed the status of the interred individual. Some mounds were grouped near one another, displaying the combined influence of those people.
Kofun were constructed from piled earth, sometimes having multiple levels capped with clay, and sometimes covered with cladding stone. There are four distinct geometric shapes ordered in generally descending size: keyhole, scallop, circle, and square. Smaller kofun were about ten metres in length, with the largest extending over 400 metres. Some were surrounded by moats, with larger kofun occasionally featuring double or even triple moats. The different layers of keyhole-shaped kofun were frequently surrounded by haniwa (埴輪), fired clay sculptures used as burial goods and decorations. Haniwa were often cylindrical, but sometimes had elaborate designs representing buildings, objects, animals, and people. Torii (鳥居), gates marking the transition between the mundane and sacred worlds, were built at the exterior of the outermost moat of some larger tombs.
The Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group, a combination of two kofun clusters in southern Osaka Prefecture, was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019. These particular tombs were selected due to their physical features and the historical importance of the entombed individuals. Over 200 tombs were originally constructed in this area. Roughly half still exist, and only some of these are included in the World Heritage Site. The largest have lengths and volumes similar to the Great Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt and the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in China.
These kofun were built on the floodplains of the Yamatogawa and Ishikawa rivers on the southern Osaka Plain, with Osaka Bay to the west and mountains to the south, east, and distant north. When they were built, this area was primarily forests and farmlands, with occasional villages, shrines, temples, and cities. In this landscape, kofun were visible reminders of the power and importance of the individuals buried within them. The tallest were visible from twenty kilometres, roughly the west-east distance between Osaka Bay and the mountains, and approximately double the distance to the southern mountains. Later shrines and temples were constructed in proximity to and in association with these structures. Urban encroachment limits their visibility, but kofun are still formidable features when observable in the modern landscape.
Historically, many Japanese people lived and died in the region where they were born. Their lives were deeply connected with the physical landscapes of mountains, oceans, rivers, forests, or plains. The Shinto religion was likewise connected to the kami (神), or spirits, of those places. Later Buddhist influences maintained the connections between the natural and spiritual worlds. Shrines and temples provided visible ties to these beliefs and indirect links to the social elites who sponsored their construction. The social changes and subsequent shifts towards urbanisation which occurred during and after the Meiji Restoration (1868–89 CE) saw many young people move to cities in search of work. However, they would frequently return to their home region to visit their elders and honour their ancestors during Obon (お盆), the festival that starts the transition from summer to autumn, maintaining connections between people and place.
In modern Japan, while people have increasingly moved to cities and away from ancestral homes in rural inaka (田舎), countryside, towns and villages, deep connections to place and time persist. Ordinary places such as homes, schools, shops, shrines, temples, and parks acquire heightened significance during festivals, when special days and activities annually reconnect people to important civic and natural spaces. The school year ends and begins during spring, adjacent to hanami (花見), the viewing of local flowers, and the transitory blooming and falling of sakura (桜), cherry blossoms. During summer, Tanabata (七夕) merges Shinto and Buddhist practices, and wishes written on paper strips, tied to bamboo displays, are frequently found at shrines, temples, and shopping streets. Many places host summer hanabi taikai (花火大会), large public gatherings for viewing fireworks. Obon starts the transition from summer to autumn and connects the living with the spirits of their ancestors. During autumn, momijigari (紅葉狩り), the viewing of changing leaves, coincides with cooler weather and provides an autumn analogue to spring hanami. During winter, many New Year celebrations involve deeply cleaning homes and businesses to start the year fresh. The transition from winter to spring coincides with Setsubun (節分), where oni (鬼), evil spirits, are driven away by throwing roasted beans from the doors of homes and temples. Festivals are an essential part of Japanese cultural identity, and they maintain connections between present and past.
In modern times, community leaders in Sakai, Fujiidera, and Habikino have reinforced the historical importance of the kofun. Exhibits at museums and visitor centres have been expanded and enhanced. An annual kofun festival in Sakai features exhibitions of ancient clothing, hairstyles, and history alongside modern food, goods, and games. In ancient times, remembrance ceremonies at keyhole-shaped kofun reinforced the importance of the entombed and connected the spiritual and terrestrial worlds. The circular portion held the burial chamber associated with the spiritual world, while the rectangular portion included a ceremonial platform associated with the earthly world. The Mozu-Furuichi kofun were built prior to the introduction of Buddhism in Japan, so associated religious functions would have been Shinto in nature.
Over time, the importance of the kofun shifted from practical to historical. Following the introduction of Buddhism in Japan in 538 CE and the official regulation of the size and shape of kofun via the Taika Reforms in 645 CE, construction of new kofun eventually ceased. Some remained relatively undisturbed, and trees atop the mounds provided sanctuary for birds, insects, and other animals. Birds are sometimes associated with death in Japanese mythology and history in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki, so it is fitting that these tombs would later provide these animals with culturally connected homes. Other kofun were disturbed or destroyed due to population growth and development. Eventually, preservation efforts led to some kofun being designated as national historic sites and part of the World Heritage Site.
Although their original function has changed, these ancient locations remain connected with the present. The Mozu and Furuichi kofun clusters have similar numbers, shapes, and sizes of tombs but provide distinct landscapes and experiences. The Mozu cluster is bunched near the ancient coastline of Osaka Bay in Sakai. This group includes the largest kofun in Japan by length, considered the tomb of Emperor Nintoku, the sixteenth Emperor of Japan. Nearby Daisen Park contains a museum with exhibits concerning local history and the Mozu tombs. These places are short walks from three train stations and numerous neighbourhoods.
Farther east, the Furuichi cluster is dispersed within the neighbourhoods of Fujiidera and Habikino. This group includes the largest kofun in Japan by volume, thought to be the tomb of Emperor Ojin, the fifteenth Emperor of Japan. Some of the tombs form a serpentine path between gardens, apartment buildings, and even an elevated highway. The ship-shaped AICEL Shura Hall and other visitor centres provide information about the kofun, their contents, and local history. A park at Hajinosato Station features signs explaining the World Heritage Site, and informative signage is also placed near many tombs. A kofun rising behind a 7-11 just north of the station is reminiscent of the infamous view of Mount Fuji rising behind a Lawson convenience store.
These ancient tombs provide physical connections between past and present. A number of disturbed kofun have been reconstructed or transformed into public parks. Tsudoshiroyama Kofun in Fujiidera has walking paths, a playground, and a shrine built upon it, with an adjacent visitor centre. The excavation of some tombs aided in understanding the construction practices and funerary goods involved in their creation. The connection between ancient tombs and modern life extends beyond the kofun themselves via iconography. The keyhole shape appears on the city flag, city emblem, and manhole covers of Fujiidera. Artwork and images in Fujiidera Station, the city website, the monthly Fujiidera magazine, and official documents — including the waste collection schedule — feature swans, armour, horses, and other shapes of clay haniwa figurines.
Japan has many places of cultural and historical importance. In southern Osaka Prefecture, the Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group connects present-day lives and past lived experiences. In the past, people here would have seen rivers, farmland, and forests interspersed with small villages, shrines, and temples, with mountains and kofun looming in the distance. In the present, islands of trees rise amongst buildings and infrastructure, visibly marking the ancient tombs amongst the modern landscape. The kofun form part of the local fabric. They are visible from shops and schools, parks and train stations, and when walking along streets. They provide natural preserves for animals and insects, many of which are connected to Japanese culture and would otherwise be absent from these suburban environments. They provide physical continuity between the past and the present. The people who live near these tombs are living amongst their history.
Further Reading:
Kenneth Henshall, A History of Japan: From Stone Age to Superpower (Third Edition) (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).
Fumio Miki, Haniwa: The Clay Sculpture of Proto-Historic Japan, ed. and trans. By Roy Andrew Miller (Charles E. Tuttle, 1960).
‘Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs of Ancient Japan’, Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group World Heritage Local Council, n.d. <https://www.mozu-furuichi.jp/en/> [accessed on 22 November 2024].
‘Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs of Ancient Japan’, UNESCO World Heritage Center, n.d. <https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1593/> [accessed on 22 November 2024].
Dr. Kenneth E. Sutherland is a recent doctoral graduate of geography and anthropology at Louisiana State University. His research studied how ceramic, plant, and animal remains from three coeval Early Horizon (900–200 BCE) settlements in Peru shed light on the foodways and lifeways of the people who lived there. His interests include foodways and festivals, with an affinity for Japanese culture.