Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group: Mounded Tombs of Ancient Japan

The Mozu-Furuichi kofun group is a set of 49 mounded tombs in 45 listings across the cities of Sakai, Habikino and Fujiidera in Osaka Prefecture. They were selected from about 160,000 kofun in Japan and include keyhole, scallop, square and round shapes. The mounds were lined with clay haniwa in the form of cylinders, houses, animals and people.

The largest, the Daisen kofun, is thought to date from the first half to the middle of the 5th century. Its mound was long given as 486 m, but an Imperial Household Agency survey in 2018 measured 525.1 m. The agency treats it as the tomb of Emperor Nintoku, but whose tomb it is has not been confirmed. In 1872 rain washed away part of the front slope and exposed a stone coffin, with armour and glass vessels nearby; the coffin itself was not opened.

In October 2018 the agency announced a joint excavation of the Daisen kofun with Sakai City, the first time an imperial tomb had been dug together with an outside body, and in November the team found haniwa and paving stones. The group was first put forward as a candidate in 2007, and it was inscribed on 6 July 2019 at the World Heritage Committee meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan.