Saitobaru Burial Mounds

photo by AsPJT · CC0

photo by AsPJT · CC0

317 mounds recorded on a 2.6×4.2 km plateau: Special Historic Site since 1952.

The Saitobaru plateau holds the largest group of burial mounds in the country by extent (kofun, 古墳: the monumental tombs of the Japanese aristocracy of the third to seventh centuries): 317 mounds officially recorded, 319 counting two imperial reference sites, over an area of 2.6 km east–west by 4.2 km north–south, although more recent surveys indicate that the mounds that actually existed numbered over 320. As for their shapes, 31 are keyhole-shaped (zenpō-kōen-fun, the most prestigious type), one is square and the others are circular. The site became a national historic monument in 1934 and a Special Historic Site (特別史跡, the highest level) in 1952.

The area lies in the municipality of Saito, inland to the north of Miyazaki city, on a plateau overlooking the plain of the Ichifusa River. The mounds accumulated here over about four centuries, from the third century onwards, as burials of the local ruling class, and their concentration and variety of shapes make them a reference point for the history of the Kofun period across western Japan. The prefectural archaeological museum, inside the park area, displays the finds from the excavations. Today the site is also an open public park, with a long avenue of cherry trees that in spring makes it one of the best-known hanami spots in the prefecture.

ℹ️ The park and the mounds are outdoors and freely accessible at all times, with no ticket. The Saitobaru Prefectural Archaeological Museum, inside the area, has its own hours and its own ticket, not verified here: it is a separate building from the marker on this page, which shows the area of the mounds.

🚉 西都原 (Saitobaru) · 18 min walk

Sources: city.saito.lg.jp

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