The Kofun period (古墳時代, 'Kofun-jidai'?) is an era in the history of Japan from around AD 250 to 538. The word kofun is Japanese for the type of burial mounds dating from this era.
Kofun tombs
The Kofun period (c AD 250–538) takes its name (古墳, kofun: "old tomb") from the culture's rich funerary rituals and distinctive earthen mounds. The mounds contained large stone burial chambers. Some are surrounded by moats.
Kofun came in many shapes, with round and square being the simplest. A distinct style is the keyhole kofun (前方後円墳 zempō kōen fun), with its square front and round back. Many kofun were natural hills, which might have been sculpted to their final shape. Kofun range in size from several meters to over 400 meters in length.
By the late Kofun period, the distinctive burial chambers, originally used by the ruling elite, also were built for commoners.
The biggest kofun are believed to be the tombs of emperors like Emperor Ōjin (応神天皇 Ōjin Tennō) and Emperor Nintoku (仁徳天皇 Nintoku Tennō). Kofun are also classified according to whether the entrance to the stone burial chamber is vertical (縦穴 tate-ana) or horizontal (横穴 yoko-ana).
Kofun society
Horse chariots during the Kofun period. Detail of bronze mirror (5th-6th century). Eta-Funayama Tumulus, Kumamoto.
Tokyo National Museum.
A late kofun, earthen covering gone.
During the Kofun period, a highly aristocratic society with militaristic rulers developed. Its cavalry wore armour, carried swords and other weapons, and used advanced military methods like those of north-east Asia. Evidence of these advances is seen in funerary figures (called haniwa; literally, clay rings), found in thousands of kofun scattered throughout Japan. The most important of the haniwa were found in southern Honshu—especially the Kinai region around Nara—and northern Kyushu. Haniwa grave offerings were made in numerous forms, such as horses, chickens, birds, fans, fish, houses, weapons, shields, sunshades, pillows, and male and female humans. Another funerary piece, the magatama, became one of the symbols of the power of the imperial house. Much of the material culture of the Kofun period is barely distinguishable from that of the contemporaneous southern Korean peninsula, demonstrating that at this time Japan was in close political and economic contact with continental Asia (especially with the southern dynasties of China) through Korea. Indeed, bronze mirrors cast from the same mould have been found on both sides of the Straits.
The Kofun period was a critical stage in Japan's evolution toward a more cohesive and recognized state. This society was most developed in the Kinai Region and the easternmost part of the Inland Sea. Japan's rulers of the time even petitioned the Chinese court for confirmation of royal titles.
The Yamato polity, which emerged by the late 5th century, was distinguished by powerful great clans or extended families, including their dependants. Each clan was headed by a patriarch who performed sacred rites to the clan's kami to ensure the long-term welfare of the clan. Clan members were the aristocracy, and the kingly line that controlled the Yamato court was at its pinnacle. The Kofun period of Japanese culture is also sometimes called the Yamato period by some Western scholars, since this local chieftainship arose to become the Imperial dynasty at the end of the Kofun period. Japanese archaeologists emphasise instead the fact that in the early half of the Kofun period other regional chieftainships, such as Kibi, near modern day Okayama, were in close contention for the crown.
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