An ancient burial tomb in the Nara Prefecture village of Asuka has been found to have a stone octagon-shaped foundation, confirming that Empress Saimei was entombed there.
Asuka's board of education announced on Sept. 9 the discovery that the Kengoshizuka burial mound is surrounded by massive blocks of cut stone, with stones also covering the surface of the burial mound itself. Because octagon-shaped tombs are a characteristic of the Asuka-period (late sixth century to the early seventh century) burial grounds for emperors and empresses, archaeologists believe that Empress Saimei had been laid to rest at Kengoshizuka.
An outer container of a casket made from a massive, hollowed-out block of tuff had previously been unearthed, and a casket used for persons of rank had also been dug out in an earlier excavation. The structure of the tomb, however, had yet to be confirmed.
Fieldwork on the mound and its outer rim showed that blocks of tuff 40 to 60 centimeters by 30 to 40 centimeters with a width of approximately 30 centimeters were stacked next to each other inside a trench about a meter wide and 20 centimeters in depth. Also revealed was a 9-meter long portion of stacked stones flanked on both sides by more stone at 135-degree angles, surrounding the mound in an octagon.
According to "Nihon Shoki," an ancient text chronicling Japan's history, Empress Saimei died in the year 661, and was buried with her daughter Hashihito no Himemiko before 667. "Shoku Nihongi," a subsequent historical text, reports that the burial mound underwent repairs in 699.
The seventh-century imperial burial mounds such as Noguchino-o-no-haka -- where Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jito were buried -- are believed to be octagon-shaped. This, combined with the discovery of Kengoshizuka's two-chamber structure and teeth apparently belonging to a woman of Hashihito no Himemiko's generation, upends the Imperial Household Agency's designation of Kurumakikenno -- not Kengoshizuka -- as Empress Saimei's grave.
The public is permitted to view the excavation site, located a 15-minute walk from Asuka Station on the Kintetsu Railway Yoshino Line, on Sept. 11 and 12 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Source: The Mainichi Daily News [September 10, 2010]