Fujinoki Tomb Audio Guide

Fujinoki Tomb: what does the audio guide cover?

1. 01

   Welcome to Fujinoki Kofun

   Welcome to Fujinoki Kofun, known in Japanese as 藤ノ木古墳. It is a burial mound in the town of Ikaruga, in Nara Prefecture, only a short distance from the great temple of Hōryū-ji. From the outside it looks modest: a grassy round hill about 50 meters across and about 9 meters high. But this hill produced one of the most dazzling discoveries in Japanese archaeology. The mound was built in the late sixth century, in the Kofun period, when the great keyhole-shaped tombs of the Kinai region were drawing to a close. Its stone chamber had never been robbed, and what lay inside made headlines across Japan. Today the mound sits inside a landscaped park, with information boards that explain what happened here. As we walk through this guide, we will look at the discovery of 1985, the treasures that came out of the ground, the long centuries in which local people guarded the mound, and the puzzles that still surround the people buried inside. Take a moment to look at the shape of the hill in front of you. It has been watched over for well over a thousand years.

2. 02

   Fujinoki Kofun and the Discovery of 1985

   The story of modern Fujinoki Kofun begins in 1985, when the first excavation took place. Inside the mound, archaeologists found a large stone burial chamber with a horizontal entrance. In it sat a house-shaped stone sarcophagus coated in red lacquer, still resting where it had been placed in the sixth century. Then came the surprise. In the narrow gap between the sarcophagus and the back wall of the chamber, a space of only about 80 centimeters, the team found gilt-bronze horse trappings. Among them were saddle fittings with a richness of decoration that has no known parallel anywhere in the world. Overnight, the name Fujinoki became famous. Imagine that scene: a tight, dark space, and a glint of gilded metal that had waited some 14 centuries to be seen. Further excavations followed in later years, and the site was designated a National Historic Site in 1991. The discovery changed how people thought about the burial culture of this region, and it turned a quiet village mound into a landmark.

3. 03

   Treasures from Fujinoki Kofun

   The finds from Fujinoki Kofun were remarkable both inside and outside the sarcophagus. Gilt-bronze crowns, shoes and saddle fittings came out of the tomb, along with many other objects that gathered the finest craftsmanship of their age. Because the chamber had not been plundered, the goods were found in their original arrangement. The recognition came in stages. The objects found outside the sarcophagus were designated Important Cultural Properties in 1988. Those from inside were added in 1991. In 2004 the whole group was designated a National Treasure. The collection belongs to the Japanese state and is kept and displayed at the museum of the Nara Prefectural Kashihara Archaeological Institute. The horse gear also carries fearsome beast-face figures. One researcher, reading the number of fingers and toes on these creatures, argues that they follow a Chinese tradition and that the harness may have been made in the northern dynasties of China in the first half of the sixth century. That is one scholarly reading, and it hints at how far connections could stretch in this age. If you want to see objects up close without leaving Ikaruga, replicas of the main finds are on display in the town, as we will mention shortly.

4. 04

   Guardians, Misfortune and the Park Today

   Long before archaeologists arrived, this mound had guardians. Old records connected with Hōryū-ji call the hill Misasagi, or Misasagiyama, names that echo the word for an imperial tomb. By the end of the Heian period, a hall stood beside the mound on its south side. It became a nunnery called Hōshakuji, attached to Hōryū-ji, and stood until a fire destroyed it in 1854. The mound itself was protected by the people of the village of Nishisato to the east. Through the Edo period a small building called the ryōdō stood here and tomb keepers looked after the site. Edo-period lamp dishes found among the chamber's older pottery suggest that rites for the person buried here continued until the end of that era. This careful guardianship is probably why the burial goods were never plundered. The modern chapter had a hard moment. On the twenty-eighth of November 1995, three junior high school students from Osaka got into the chamber and chipped away part of the sarcophagus lid. The shock was felt across Japan, and it made the need for proper care of the site clear. The lid was repaired, the old metal fencing was removed, and the mound was developed into the park you see now. About 200 meters to the south stands the Ikaruga Cultural Properties Center, where replicas of the main excavated items are displayed.

5. 05

   Before You Head Off

   Fujinoki Kofun still keeps some of its secrets. Two people lay inside the sarcophagus, and who they were is still debated. In 2009 an archaeologist who studies ancient beads put forward a theory that the ornaments on the wrists and ankles point to one man and one woman. A physical anthropologist answered that, judging by the bones, the southern burial was very probably male. The question remains open for visitors and scholars to weigh. This curiosity is still alive in Ikaruga. In 2025 the town marked 40 years since the first excavation, with commemorative events, including a family workshop where curry was made to resemble the tomb. As you walk around the grassy mound, try to picture the hidden chamber beneath you, the red sarcophagus, and that narrow gap behind it where the gilded saddle waited. Then let your eye drift toward the roofs of Hōryū-ji nearby. Mound and temple, side by side, tell two very different chapters of the same landscape. What do you think the mound has left to reveal?