Inariyama

A keyhole-shaped kofun (tumulus) in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. There are at least three other kofun by the same name in different parts of Japan. The one in Saitama has two moats around a mound. An X-ray examination revealed an inscription with 115 characters on an iron sword. It referred to a person called Wakatakeru, who is likely to be Emperatro Yuraku of the Yamato court, and a date of 471/531.

A keyhole-shaped kofun [tumulus] in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. There are at least three other kofunby the same name in different parts of Japan. The one in Saitama has two moats around a mound 120 metres on the longer axis, an impressive structure for an area far away from the centre of kofun development. An X-ray examination in 1978 revealed an inscription with 115 characterson an iron sword recovered during the excavation ten years earlier. It referred to a person called Wakatakeru, who is likely to be Emperaro Yuraku of the Yamato court, and a date which can be interpreted as 471 or 531. This is one of the handful of dated inscriptions found from kofun, although the date of the sword manufacture does not necessarily indicate the date of the construction of the mound.