kofun

(adjective)

The name of the earliest recorded period in Japanese history, named for the type of burial mounds dating from this era.

Related Terms

  • Shinto
  • Buddhism

Examples of kofun in the following topics:

  • Grave Goods in the Kofun Period

    • Kofun range in size from several meters to over 400 meters in length, and unglazed pottery figures called Haniwa were often buried under the circumference of the kofun.
    • The oldest Japanese kofun is said to be Hokenoyama Kofun located in Sakurai, Nara, which dates to the late 3rd century.
    • In the Makimuku district of Sakurai, later keyhole kofuns (including Hashihaka Kofun and Shibuya Mukaiyama Kofun) were built around the early 4th century.
    • The trend of the keyhole kofun first spread from Yamato to Kawachi (where very large kofun such as Daisenryō Kofun exist) and then throughout the country (with the exception of the Tōhoku region) in the 5th century.
    • Daisen Kofun, the largest of the earthen burial mounds from the Kofun period in Japan.
  • Japanese Buddhism

    • Before the introduction of Buddhism, Japan had already been the seat of various cultural and artistic influences, from the abstract linear decorative art of the indigenous Neolithic Jōmon (10500 BCE to 300 BCE), to the pottery and bronze of the Yayoi period and the Haniwa art (terracotta clay figures used as funerary objects) of the Kofun period.
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