Nozu Kofun Cluster
kofun burial mound in Japan
The Nozu Kofun (野津古墳群, Nozu Kofun gun) is a group of Kofun period burial mounds located in the Ryūhoku neighborhood of the town of Hikawa, Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 2005. Furthermore, the Ōno-no-Iwa Kofun, the largest kofun in Kumamoto Prefecture is located on the same hill to the north.
Overview
The Nozu Kofun cluster is located on a hill at an elevation of 90 to 100 meters overlooking the plains of the Hikawa River basin and the Yatsushiro Sea on the western foot of the Kyushu Mountains in central Kumamoto Prefecture. It is composed of five zenpō-kōen-fun (前方後円墳), which is shaped like a keyhole, having one square end and one circular end, when viewed from above, of which four are currently extant. Several boat-shaped and box-shaped sarcophagi have also been found in the surrounding area.Excavations have been carried out since 1993.
Monomi Yagura Kofun
The Monomi Yagura Kofun (物見櫓古墳) is the westernmost in the group, and is believed to have been the first built. It has a length of 62 meters, making it also the smallest in the group. The mound is constructed in three tiers and is orientated to the southwest. Fukiishi have been found on the outside of the mound, but there is no trace of haniwa, or of a surrounding moat.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Nozu Kofun Cluster” as kofun burial mound in Japan. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as kofun burial mound in Japan. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q55525131. Authority coordinates are 32.560, 130.693. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2005 and 1993.
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This entry incorporates text from “Nozu Kofun Cluster” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.