Imperial tomb

Japanese: 帝王陵 - ていおうりょう

An imperial tomb is a large structure built above ground and used to bury a powerful ruler such as an emperor, a great king, or a monarch. The king of kings, or emperors with equal or even greater power than the great king, emerged during the formation of the ancient unified nation, and so imperial tombs are generally considered to be symbols of ancient empires. However, since huge tombs for rulers were built even after the so-called ancient period, and the concept of "ancient" itself is vague from a world historical perspective, it is more accurate to call them imperial tombs not only of the ancient and medieval periods, but also of the early modern and modern periods, and this not only reflects the reality, but also helps to clarify the significance of imperial tombs.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

強大な権力をもつ支配者である皇帝，天皇，大王，君主などを埋葬した，地上に大きな構築物をもつ墓を帝王陵という。諸王の王である大王や，大王と同等の，またはそれを上回る権力者の皇帝は，古代統一国家の形成過程のなかから出現したので，一般に帝王陵は，古代帝国の象徴と考えられている。しかし，いわゆる古代以後にも支配者のための巨大な墓は建設されており，また世界史的にみると〈古代〉そのものの概念があいまいであるから，むしろ古代や中世に限らず，近世，近代をもあわせ支配者の権威を示すために構築された大きな墓をも含めて帝王陵と呼ぶ方が実態に即しているばかりでなく，帝王陵のもつ意義をはっきりさせるのにも役立つ。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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