Hashihaka Kofun
[1] The Imperial Household Agency designates the Hashihaka kofun as the tomb of Princess Yamato Totohi Momoso, the daughter of the legendary Emperor Kōrei.
Researchers in 2013 conducted the first-ever on-site survey of the Hashihaka kofun after being granted access by the Imperial Household Agency.
[6] The name Hashihaka translates as "chopstick grave" and refers to a mythical love affair between Princess Yamato Totohi Momoso and the kami of sacred Mount Miwa, which ended with the princess stabbing herself to death with a chopstick.
[7][8] It is the main tumulus of the Alluvial fan zone at the northwestern foot of Miwa in the southeastern Nara Basin, and is located in the Chopashinaka district of the Garimuku site.
Currently, the Imperial Household Agency manages the tomb as a mausoleum, and researchers and the public are not allowed to enter the tumulus freely.
[11] The origin of the name is based on a legend that a chopstick pierced the pubic region of Princess Hyakuso, causing her to die.
Some researchers (e.g., Yoshiro Kondo) have pointed out that the posterior portion was built in four stages, with a small hill (about 44–46 m (144–151 ft) in diameter and 4 m (13 ft) high) placed on top of the four-stage construction, which is thought to have contained a special vessel platform.
The Museum, Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture and the Sakurai City Board of Education have conducted archaeological excavation The discovery of a 10 m (33 ft) wide shelter at the foot of the mound and a part of an outer bank more than 15 m (49 ft) wide on the outer side of the shelter.
[13][14][15] A fukiishi made of Kawahara stone has been identified on the northern slope of the mound at the tip of the anterior part.
Prior to the renovation of the levee on the west side of Chashinaka Pond, which is outside the designated area of the tomb, the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, conducted a preliminary survey and unearthed a large amount of Furu-zero-shiki earthenware from the bottom of the moat around the site.
[citation needed] Although the Wajinden describes the absence of oxen and horses, harnesses (abumi or wooden stirrups) have been excavated from the Zhou shelter.
[16] The Nunome I earthenware excavated at the same time dates it to the early 4th century,[17] which may have contributed to the influx of equestrian culture into the Japanese archipelago and to the East Asia, the understanding of the spread of equestrian culture in the region is now older and more revised than before.
The oldest stirrups that can be identified are only on one side of the Terracotta Warriors excavated from burial mounds in Sianbei and Eastern Jin in 302 and 322.
Onoyama Setsu, in his book Early Horse Equipment Discovered in Japan, classifies wooden-core, iron-plated stirrups into two types: old-style and new-style.
The oldest wooden stirrups excavated on the Korean peninsula, dating from the Baekje period (first half of the 4th century), show dramatic improvements, such as the addition of iron plates to the wooden form, making them suitable for horse riding.
It is clearly different from the previous burial mounds, such as the fact that the excavated relics have Kibi-type pottery, which is the ancestral form of Haniwa.
[22] In April 2018 (Heisei 30), the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, examined 26 jar-shaped earthenware and jar-shaped Haniwa terracotta figures excavated from the anterior section and 54 fragments of funerary ritual pottery excavated from the top of the posterior circle, and found that while the pottery in the anterior section is local soil, the soil in the posterior circle is very similar in character to that of the Kibi region.
