Sakurai Chausuyama tomb

In the southeast portion of the Nara basin, there are a total of six colossal keyhole tombs with mounds of
200 m or greater in length. Beginning with Hashihaka tomb, these were built one after another within theEarly Kofun period. They are considered to represent the royal tombs of the initial Yamato polity. Of thesecolossal keyhole tombs, the two tombs Sakurai Chausuyama and Mesuriyama were built slightly apart fromthe rest, on the southern fringe of the urban area in the modern city of Sakurai.
The Sakurai Chausuyama tomb is located in Tobi, in the city of Sakurai. A round keyhole with a moundapproximately 200 m in length, an excavation was conducted in the round portion of the mound in 1949–50, and in 1973 it was designated a National Historic Site. Subsequently, investigations have been made in
the immediate environs, and in 2009 the round portion of the mound was reexcavated.
The mound was constructed in three tiers for the round portion and two tiers for the rectangular portionof the keyhole shape, and was entirely covered with cobbles. The long and narrow rectangular portion gives
the mound a shape resembling a round handheld mirror. The mound was built by shaping the natural soil ofa hilly extension, in the manner of sectioning off the end of a ridge. There is no surrounding moat, but alarge-scale rectangular precinct was established around the mound.
At the top of the round portion is a rectangular platform 9.2 m east–west by 11.7 m north–south, on theperimeter of which an enclosure in the form of a tightly built palisade was made of logs around 30 cm indiameter. Lined up along the inside of the palisade were double-rimmed jars with holes made in theirbottoms prior to firing. These are considered to be the origin of jar-shaped haniwa. In the center of theplatform, parallel to the main axis of the tomb, a large-scale vertical stone chamber was built.
The walls of the stone chamber rose up in vertical fashion, the stones were painted with cinnabar, givinga magnificent crimson appearance. The chamber floor, which was also the bottom of the pit dug for thechamber, was paved with flagstones that had been painted crimson. An earthen bed for the coffin was
made, and on this survived the bottom portion of a wooden coffin of umbrella pine, 4.89 m long and 27 cm
thick (maximum). Twelve huge ceiling stones provided a framework, upon which a covering of red clay
which had been painted with red iron oxide was laid, tightly sealing the stone chamber.
Even though it had been previously robbed, a wide variety of grave goods were detected, including
mirror fragments, beads, stone-made objects including leaf-shaped items of jasper, weaponry including ironarrowheads and swords, and various tools. By sifting the soil fill from the hole dug by the grave robbers,
the overall amount of recovered artifacts thus increased through this reexcavation. While they consist
entirely of tiny fragments, bits from mirrors counted a total of 384 pieces, from which it was learned that
there were no fewer than 81 mirrors present, including naikō kamon (interconnected-arc design), TLV,
triangular-rimmed, and animal-motif band mirrors. It is thought that probably more than 100 mirrors wereincluded as grave goods in the stone chamber.
The tomb’s scale, its vertical stone chamber and wooden coffin, and the contents of the grave goods all
bear the majestic dignity befitting a royal tomb. It is thought to have been built in the latter half of the third
century, in the generation following Hashihaka, and either preceding or simultaneous with the Nishi
Tonozuka tomb.