Daisen Kofun

Daisen Kofun in Sakai, on the southern edge of Osaka, is the largest keyhole-shaped burial mound in Japan and one of the largest tombs ever built anywhere, often set beside the Great Pyramid of Khufu and the tomb of China's First Emperor. It is attributed to Emperor Nintoku and is thought to have taken about twenty years to raise in the middle of the 5th century, in the age when Japan's rulers expressed their power through ever larger earthworks. The mound itself is about 486 metres long, rising some 35 metres above the surrounding city, and with its moats and outer banks the whole monument covers roughly 46 hectares.

The shape is the point. Seen from above, the tomb is a perfect keyhole, a round mound for the burial joined to a squared front platform, wrapped in three concentric moats of still green water, the inner one about 60 metres wide. From the ground you see only a long forested hill behind the water, for the mound has grown into a dense wood over the centuries and is protected by the Imperial Household Agency as an imperial mausoleum; no one enters it. The finest view is from the observation lobby on the 21st floor of Sakai City Hall, about 80 metres up, where the outline becomes clear against the rooftops.

Daisen is the centrepiece of the Mozu group, which once had more than a hundred kofun; fewer than half survived the growth of the city after the Second World War. In 2019 the survivors, together with the Furuichi group to the east, were inscribed as a World Heritage site, Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group. Walking the path along the outer moat, and on into the neighbouring Daisen Park, gives a sense of how much labour this single grave consumed.

Getting there

The tomb stands within Sakai, about 3 km from the city centre, and a viewing point on the front side is about 500 m from Mozu Station on the JR Hanwa Line. Osaka Itami International Airport (ITM) is about 24 km away. The observation lobby at Sakai City Hall is free to enter.