Decorated kofun

Decorated kofun (装飾古墳 sōshoku kofun) is the term used for kofun or ancient Japanese tombs ornamented with painted or carved decoration. The tombs take the form of tumuli or earthen mounds piled over stone chambers as well as caves excavated from the living rock. The decoration may be on the inner walls, on stone screens, on sarcophagi or, in the case of cave tombs, around the entrance on the exterior. Of the 161,560 ancient burials identified to date, around two hundred and fifty are so decorated.[1][2][3][4][note 1]

Motifs

Decorative motifs include the chokkomon (an X-shape forming triangular zones that intersect irregular curves), circles, concentric circles, triangles, human figures, horses, birds, boats, swords, shields, and quivers.[5][note 2]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Japanese terms: tumuli (墳丘墓 funkyū-bo); cave tombs (横穴墓 yokoana-bo); wall painting (彩色壁画 saishiki hekiga); incised lines (線刻 senkoku); relief carving (浮彫 ukibori); sarcophagus (石棺 sekkan)
  2. ↑ Japanese terms: chokkomon (直弧文 chokkomon); circles (円文 enmon); concentric circles (同心円文 dōshin-enmon); triangles (三角文 sankaku-mon); boats (船 fune); rings with feet (双脚輪状文 sōkyakurinjō-mon)

References

  1. ↑ Kobayashi Yukio (1964). 装飾古墳 [Decorated Kofun] (in Japanese and English). Heibonsha. pp. 124–8.
  2. ↑ Kidder, J. Edward (1964). Early Japanese Art: the Great Tombs and Treasures. Thames and Hudson. pp. 110–170, 272–324.
  3. ↑ 兵庫県の遺跡・遺物数の全国的な位置 [Numeric Comparison of Historic Sites in Hyōgo Prefecture with National Totals] (PDF) (in Japanese). Hyōgo Prefecture. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  4. ↑ 装飾古墳データベース [Decorated Tomb Database] (in Japanese). Kyushu National Museum. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  5. ↑ 文様 [Decorated Tomb Database: Motifs] (in Japanese). Kyushu National Museum. Retrieved 10 August 2013.

External links

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