Sakitama Kofun Park, Archaeological park in Gyoda, Japan
Sakitama Kofun Park is an archaeological park in Gyoda, Saitama Prefecture, where eight ancient burial mounds from the 5th and 6th centuries are spread across a large grassy area. A network of walking paths connects the mounds, and the largest one ranks among the biggest of its kind in Japan.
The mounds were built between the 5th and 6th centuries as burial sites for powerful local rulers who governed what is now the Kanto region. A gold-inscribed iron sword found in one of the mounds in 1968 provided the first written evidence about rulers of the Yamato period.
The park is popular with school groups from the region, who come to walk around the mounds and learn about ancient burial customs firsthand. The haniwa figures that once stood on the mounds can be seen up close in the adjoining museum.
The park is within walking distance of Gyoda Station and easy to reach on foot. The paths around the mounds are flat and clearly marked, so a visit needs no special preparation.
Some of the mounds can be climbed to the top, offering an unusual view over the flat Kanto plain. The keyhole shape of these mounds is found almost nowhere else in the world outside Japan.
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