Kitora Tomb, Ancient burial mound in Asuka, Japan

The Kitora Tomb is a circular burial mound in Asuka, Japan, containing a small stone chamber with colored wall paintings inside. The chamber itself measures about 1 meter wide and 2.4 meters long, surrounded by an earthen mound roughly 14 meters in diameter.

Built in the late 7th to early 8th century, before the return of Japanese envoys from Tang China in 704, the tomb was designated a Special Historic Site in 2000. In 1983, a fiber-optic camera inserted through a looter's hole in the south wall revealed the first mural, the Black Tortoise. Further surveys identified the Azure Dragon, White Tiger and star chart in 1998, and the Red Phoenix and zodiac figures in 2001. The chamber was backfilled in 2013 after study.

The name Kitora is explained by several theories: the turtle and tiger visible from the entrance, a corruption of the local place name Kitaura, or the northern Black Tortoise and western White Tiger. The twelve zodiac figures are shown with animal heads on human bodies, and the horse figure wears the same vermilion as the phoenix on the south wall.

Reservations for viewing are required through the nearby experiential museum, as the original site remains closed to protect the paintings. Access to the full replica chamber is available to visitors throughout the year and shows all the details of the paintings and room layout.

The ceiling star chart depicts 277 stars, including the Big Dipper, within three concentric circles and the ecliptic, with a moon image to the west and a sun image to the east. It is often called the oldest surviving scientific star chart, about 500 years older than the 13th-century Chunyou chart of Suzhou. The chamber's tuff was sealed after 2013 with two stones and a copper plate inscribed to close the robbers' opening.