Todaijiyama Kofun

Japanese: 東大寺山古墳 - とうだいじやまこふん

This is a keyhole-shaped tumulus located in Ichinomoto-cho, Tenri City, Nara Prefecture. It is located on the Todaijiyama hills, with the front part facing north. The tumulus is approximately 130 meters long, with the diameter of the circular rear part approximately 80 meters. It was surveyed in 1961 (Showa 36). Haniwa clay figures and roofing stones can be seen on the tumulus. The burial facility is a clay coffin constructed parallel to the main axis of the tumulus within the grave pit, with a reconstructed length of approximately 10.0 meters and width of approximately 3.9 meters. A wealth of artifacts were excavated from inside the coffin, including magatama (curved jewels), kudatama (tubular jewels), kuwagata (horse-shaped) stones, wheel stones, stone bracelets, arrowhead-shaped stone products, and cylindrical stone products, while from outside the coffin, bronze arrowheads, iron arrowheads, iron spears, swords, comma-shaped bronze objects, and lacquered leather tanka armor were among the artifacts unearthed. Among the swords, noteworthy are some with house-shaped ornaments on the ring heads and some with gold inlay of Zhongping, an era name from the Later Han Dynasty. The tomb is estimated to have been built in the second half of the 4th century.

[Sekigawa Hisanori]

Inscription on an iron sword excavated from the Todaijiyama Tomb

On the ridge of the large sword (100 cm long) with a flower-shaped ring head, there is a gold inscription of 24 characters starting 5.9 cm from the tip, each character is about 6 mm in size, and spaced 3 cm apart (except for the last number, which has almost no space between the characters). It reads: "Chuhei □□ (year) May, Heigo (day of the throne), made inscribed sword, 100 times refined, Qing sword, upper Oseishuku □ (lower), mal □ (lucky)". Chuhei is the era name of the Later Han Dynasty from 184 to 189. May Heigo was an auspicious day for casting, and the 100 times refinement and below are the customary auspicious phrases found on inscriptions on calendar mirrors from the Han and Wei periods. It is noteworthy that the time of the sword making overlaps with the time of the Wakoku (Japanese land) rebellion in Yamataikoku (Yamataikoku). There are many mysteries surrounding the excavated sword, such as when this sword was brought to Wakoku and when it was finally returned to the hands of the person buried in the tumulus.

[Kano Hisashi]

"Research on the Todaijiyama Tomb" (2010, Todaijiyama Tomb Research Group, Tenri University, Tenri University Reference Museum)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

奈良県天理市櫟本(いちのもと)町にある前方後円墳。東大寺山丘陵に位置し、前方部を北に向ける。墳長約130メートル、後円部径約80メートル。1961年（昭和36）に調査された。墳丘には埴輪と葺石(ふきいし)がみられる。埋葬施設は墓坑内に古墳主軸と平行に構築された粘土槨(ねんどかく)で、復元長約10.0メートル、幅約3.9メートル。棺内からは勾玉(まがたま)、管玉(くだたま)、鍬形(くわがた)石、車輪石、石釧(いしくしろ)、鏃形(ぞくがた)石製品、筒形石製品など、棺外からは銅鏃、鉄鏃、鉄槍、刀剣類、巴形(ともえがた)銅器、革製漆塗短甲など豊富な遺物が出土した。大刀のなかには環頭に家形の飾りをもつものや後漢(ごかん)の年号である中平(ちゅうへい)の金象嵌(ぞうがん)をもつものがあり注目される。4世紀後半の築造と推定される。

［関川尚功］

東大寺山古墳出土鉄刀銘

花形飾り環頭の大刀（刀身長100センチメートル）の峰部に、切っ先より5.9センチメートルから始まり、1字が約6ミリメートルの大きさで3センチメートル間隔（ただし最後の数字は字間がほとんどない）の24字の金象嵌銘がある。「中平□□(年)五月丙午(へいご)造作文刀百練清剣上応星宿□(下)辟不□(祥)」。中平は後漢の年号で184～189年。5月丙午は鋳造の吉日、百練以下も漢魏(ぎ)時代の紀年鏡銘にみられる慣用の吉祥句(きっしょうく)。作刀の時期が邪馬台国(やまたいこく)の倭国(わこく)の乱の時代と重なることが注目される銘文である。この刀がいつ倭国にもたらされ、最終的に古墳被葬者の手に帰したのかなど、出土した刀をめぐる謎は多い。

［狩野　久］

『『東大寺山古墳の研究』（2010・東大寺山古墳研究会、天理大学・天理大学附属天理参考館）』

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