Futago Kofun

The kofun is located in the on the Hekikai Plateau in Yahagi River basin in western Mikawa. It is the second largest in the prefecture after the Shōbōji Kofun in Nishio, and the largest of the Sakurai Kofun Group, which also includes the Himeogawa Kofun and twenty other tombs. The tumulus has a double-square keyhole she, with a total length of 81 meters. The front has a width of 36 meters and height of 6.7 meters and the rear has a width of 45 meters and height of 10 meters. The summit is flat, and there is a square protrusion about 15 meters square on the east side of the front portion. What appears to be a space for an altar is still in its original form at the west foot. The tumulus is estimated to be around the last half of the 3rd to the first half of the 4th century due to the lack of haniwa or fukiishi.

The tumulus fist appears in literature in 1887, at which time it was crowned by a small Shinto shrine. It was surveyed in 1936 and again in 1959 and 1990. In 2003, the Anjō City Board of Education conducted a survey by excavating a total of five trenches. The excavation confirmed the presence of a circumferential moat ten meters wide and one meter deep, at least on the north side of the tumulus. No grave goods have been excavated, but only some fragments of Sue ware pottery.

The site is about 10 minutes on foot from Horiuchikōen Station on the Meitetsu Nishio Line.

• List of Historic Sites of Japan (Aichi)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Futago Kofun.

• Aichi Prefecture Cultural Properties
• Anjo City Museum of History