ARCHAEOLOGIA JAPONICA

Kofun Period
FUJINO Kazuyuki1
It is obvious that many academic conferences and research activities for ﬁscal 2020 Kofun
period study were restricted and largely inﬂuenced by the spread of the novel corona virus
infection (COVID-19) . However, Kofun period study is developing steadily, with many
research papers being published, excavation research results accumulated, and the bright
topic of the artifacts excavated from Watanuki-kannonyama mounded tomb in Gunma
Prefecture being nominated as national treasures.
Due to the inﬂuence of COVID-19, research presentations and sessions of the 86th
general meeting of the Japanese Archaeological Association took place only in publication,and many academic conferences and symposia were delayed or canceled such asconferences of Kyushu Zenpokoenfun Kenkyukai and Tohoku/Kanto Zenpokoenfun
Kenkyukai. With many changes in exhibition periods and delays in museum exhibitions,
new methods such as utilization of internet were actively introduced.
As for study on Kofun period theory and nation formation, research with various
viewpoints was progressed such as keyhole-shaped mounded tombs, beads as jewelry,bronze mirrors, decorated large swords, and regional rule by chiefs, and results werepublished as single books. Thus, research revealed social changes around the beginning of
the Kofun period, management of sovereignty, structures of sovereignty, and diﬀerences
between early nations and nations, as well as a discussion on the political/ religious
signiﬁcance of keyhole-shaped mounded tombs.
Other than the above, progress was seen for the Kofun period study in a wide array ofﬁelds such as tombs, burial goods like clay ﬁgurines (haniwa) , bronze mirrors, weapons,armor, harnesses, accessories, stone objects, farming tools, settlements, pottery/metal
containers/earthenware, and imported artifacts/foreign exchanges. As for mounded tombstudy, reevaluation with modern research standards were conducted on Higashinomiya
mounded tomb in Aichi Prefecture and Watanuki-kannonyama mounded tomb which wereexcavated a long time ago, and multiple researchers conducted study on Haizukayama
mounded tomb in Fukushima Prefecture and mounded tomb culture of Hitachi. Many
theses were published for clay ﬁgurines and bronze mirror studies as other years, on theother hand, the author had an impression that there were less works on weapons/armor/
1 Komazawa University, 1–23–1 Komazawa, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 154–0012, Japan(fujino@komazawa-u.ac.jp)

JAPANESE JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 10 (2022): 44–45© Japanese Archaeological Association

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JAPANESE JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 10 (2022): 44–45

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トルのみ。長体可）●●●IN JAPANharnesses compared to recent years.
As for settlement study, an excavation report was published for Kanaishimoshinden
site in Gunma Prefecture where a settlement buried under volcanic ashes from an eruptionof Mt. Haruna 1,500 years ago was discovered. As the settlement was excavated in goodcondition, it yielded an enormous volume of information, archaeological knowledge,
and scientiﬁc analysis results along with the neighboring Kanaihigashiura site. These are
signiﬁcant research results for the future settlement study.
Also, many theses were published for pottery, metal containers, earthenware, imported
artifacts, and foreign exchanges. It could be said that despite the inﬂuence of COVID-19,
ﬁscal 2020 saw deepening of Kofun period study.

© Japanese Archaeological Association

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