Fukiishi

[citation needed] The hariishi (貼石) seen at the Yosumi Tosshutsu funkyūbo [ja] ("four corner projections type grave mound") in the San'in region in Western Japan are often put forth as an ancestor of fukiishi.

[b] Via examples of kofun in the Kinai capital region Takashi described the fukiishi there as serving both practical and decorative purposes: in practical terms the use of pebbles provided protection from the wind, rain, and cold, while the stones served to beautify the mound which was after all built above ground to attract public attention and to impress and rouse piety in visiting worshippers.

[7] In response to the rapid increase in the post-war period of large-scale development that led to in the destruction of historical ruins, urgent excavations were carried out with the goal of thorough examination rather than as the preservation of documentation.

As a result of this early research, Shōzō Haraguchi and Tadashi Nishitani [ja] published a paper in 1967 on the excavation of tumulus C1 of the Bentenyama kofungun group in Takatsuki in Osaka.

[8] Tadashi Aoki [ja] stated that following this report hardly any other resulting from such an accumulation of verifiable details on fukiishi has appeared.

For example, the late-4th-century Matsuokayama Kofun in Kashiwara in Osaka Prefecture was made with andesite flagstones in vertical or sloped piles.

Pollen analysis of the fifth- and sixth-century kofuns of the Kuboizumi-Maruyama Historic Sites [ja] in Saga has shown clear disparities in the vegetation in the soil of the mound faces and that of the surrounding environment.

The typical examples of burials in this style are Nakayama Otsuka Kofun (Nara Prefecture Tenri City), Hokeno Mountain Burial Mound (Sakurai City, Nara Prefecture), and in the rear section of the former Inari Tomaru, Kyoto, these are the oldest structures still present in Yamato.

[13] As they were used primarily on slopes and rarely on flat surfaces it is also thought they may have served to prevent runoff, and may have contributed to waterproofing and drainage.

[citation needed] They may also have been used to imply the mound was sacred, holy ground and clearly differentiate it from adjacent areas.

[3] Archaeologist Kazuo Hirose [ja] notes the use of fukiishi may be related to a desire to make royalty visible and exhibit the people's connection with royalty, a feature he sees as characteristic of Japanese burial mounds in comparison with those of other Asian countries, and in particular in the case of keyhole-shaped kofun.

Nevertheless, during this era kofun were quickly ceding the role of central ritual building to Buddhist temples, and the adoption of rammed earth construction techniques stands out.