Funerary Structures of the Yayoi and Kofun Periods and the Birth of Japanese Statehood

The article examines the main types of mound-burials 墳丘墓 of the Yayoi period (ca. 5^th c. BC – 3^rd c. AD), in particular: round (円形周溝墓) and square moated precinct burials (方形周溝墓) with one or two projections, square mounds with four corner projections (四隅突出形墳丘墓) of the San’in region, large round and square mound-burials (with projections) of Late Yayoi, ‘Makimuku-style’ keyhole mounded burials of the transition period from Yayoi to Kofun, etc.

Small moated precinct burials of the Early Yayoi period, with the projection from the main mound serving as a land-bridge access from outside the moat into the burial precinct, were only the forerunner of keyhole tombs of the Kofun period with round or square rear mounds, while large mound-burials of Late Yayoi can be already considered a prototype of the kofun keyhole tombs. Mounded tombs of the Kofun period appeared due to the synthesis of many local features of Late Yayoi mound-burials 墳丘墓, particularly, cylindrical haniwa funerary sculptures developed from the Kibi decorated jar and jar-stand combination placed as offerings on top of the Yayoi mound-burials (Okayama Pref.). There is an obvious genealogical relationship between Late Yayoi mound-burials and mounded tombs of Early Kofun; for example, keyhole tombs with round rear mounds (前方後円墳) represent a development of а round mound-burial with one square projection.

However, keyhole-shaped ‘Makimuku-style’ mounded burials 纒向型前方 後円墳, the immediate mound-burial forerunners of standardized keyhole tomb tradition embodied by Hashihaka kofun (Kinai), appeared in the early to mid-3^rd century AD in the Miwa area of Nara plain at Makimuku site (modern Sakurai city), which was the location of Miwa polity and the birthplace of the nascent Yamato state. Thus, the origins of the keyhole tomb culture, in particular, of the unique keyhole form, — with an obvious significant continental influence — are in the autochthonic tradition of the Yayoi mound-burials. At the same time, the process of politogenesis took place intertwined with the formation of the “Mounded Tomb Culture”. The appearance of the standardized keyhole tombs in different regions signaled development (in the 3^rd – 4^th centuries AD) of a Yamatoled confederacy uniting several chiefdoms bonded by common rituals of chiefly burial and succession.

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