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Words-and-Pictures: The Tomb of Emperor Suinin
(as seen on October 10th, 2001, on the
Yamato stage of the Aki
Meguri)
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| Note:
Nara is in
the heart of Old Yamato. This tomb is one of the many sites located on Nara's quieter
west side. It is between Kikoji and Toshodaiji. A walk down this road
evokes the past in a way that few places can. You can read
about my visit to Nara in my Logbook, read more about my Yamato
experiences, or read about the entire Aki
Meguri from the beginning. |
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There was a time when the Japanese were into burial on a grand scale,
so grand in fact that the period was named the Kofun Period, or the
period of the great burial mounds. These tumuli were classically
shaped like a keyhole. The burial was in the round portion, and
the attached trapezoid may have been used for ceremonial purposes.
(Whenever anthropologists and archaeologists don't know what something
is for, they say it "may have been used for ceremonial
purposes.")
This tomb has all the usual features: keyhole shaped (but obscured by
the foliage), with a shrine gate at the foot, and a fully-encircling
moat. In addition, there is a mysterious, small, round island in the
moat. You can see it clearly in an aerial
photograph. Perhaps it was for a stone lantern or other such
approach marker, and its counterpart on the other side has been
swallowed up by the encroachment of land into the moat?
By the way, Suinin reigned in a period so misty it is sometimes
called "The Legendary Period." He was probably
the 11th emperor, and late-third-century seems about right. (One
homepage gives his reign as 29 B.C.E. to 70 C.E.--a reign of 99 years!)
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I've learned a bit more about Suinin since
my return from Japan. For one thing, this kofun establishes a
sub-type of the "keyhole kofun" mentioned above, based on a
variation in the relative dimensions. You can read more about that on
this extensive kofun
page.
Another thing: Some people credit him
with the institution of using haniwa, or clay figurines, instead
of the gruesome custom of "emperor-following," where an entire
court would be sacrificed with the king--a common practice in Egypt, the
ancient Middle East, China, etc. The famous clay figures of Xi'an
would be a parallel custom in China. Others, I must add, believe
these figures are just for decoration, or even fancy structural elements
to maintain the integrity of the kofun's slopes. Perhaps the truth
is a combination of these.
Anyway, here's the quote I found on a
fascinating kofun
homepage sponsored by the city of Sakai:
"After Emperor Suinin witnessed the
horrible sight of the Emperor's entourage being buried alive in the
areas around the Emperor's tomb, he had this practice stopped and had
clay images of people and horses instead lined up in the tomb, and
this became the beginning of the practice of using clay figures, or
"haniwa".
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One end of the kofun,
from the side |
| The gateway |
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The round island |
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HISTORY
