THE ANCIENT BURIAL MOUNDS OF JAPAN. f)!? 



the ('onstriictioii, iiud tlic work was to l)» completiMl in st'veii days. A 

 vault for a functionary of the highest rank was to be of the same di- 

 mensions, but the mound was to be only 56 feet square and 22 feet high, 

 while only half the number of laborers was allowed." (Satow.) 



Eeference has been made to the terraced character of these mounds. 

 This structure is shown in a Japanese drawing of a mound of a later 

 date than that ascribed to the double mounds, reproduced in the ui)i)er 

 right-hand figure of PL xxxvii. This form of mound is said to date 

 from about the seventh century. It is a single mound. 



This terraced structure is exceedingly interesting because of the re- 

 markable nu'thod adopted to protect the terraces from being washed 

 away by the heavy rains of si)riug and early summer. Along the 

 borders of the moat and around the edge of each terrace, also planted 

 in cii'cles at the top of the mound, ai'ound tlie i>lace of interment, there 

 have been discovered rows of closely placed cylinders of clay of pecu- 

 liar form. These are hollow cylin<lers, very roughly made, with one or 

 more lateral apertures. 



One of these cylinders is well represeuted in PI. xxxvit, copied from a 

 Japanesi^ drawing. This one measured: Height, 10 inches; greatest 

 cii'cumferen<'e, 22 inches. The top is constricted, ami this feature will 

 be referred to further on. Another one measured as follows: Height, 

 10 inches; (drcumference at l^ase, about 30 inches: circumference at 

 top, about 24 inches. 



A slightly different form, in which the lateral apertures are placed at 

 right angles to each other and at different heights, is hgured by Mr. 

 Satow from the mounds in Kodzuke, couceruing which he says: "The 

 mounds were built u]) in three tiers [terraces]. On the top of each tier 

 was a fence formed of terracotta pi])es about 2 feet high, connected by 

 wooden poles or bamboos passed through holes about halfway from the 

 base." Mr. Satow's tubes measured ll.J to 14 inclies in length by 4^ to 

 6 inches in diameter. PI. xliit, taken from Mr. Satow's article,* repre- 

 seuts a cylinder with apertures at right angles. This cylinder with a 

 constricted top Mr. Satow calls a "corner post," assuming that the 

 h(»les were made for bamboo connections. 



At a mound near Nara we fimnd sonu^ of the cylinders exposed by 

 weathering. PI. xliv shows how thev occur in silu around the base of 

 the mound. The cylinders are open at both ends and have three ribs. 

 They vary considerably in size. One (^f fair average size measured as 

 follows : Total height, lOf inches; height to top of upper rib, 15| inches; 

 distance between upper and middle rib, 4| inches; distance between 

 middle and lower rib, 4^ inches; diameter, 12 to 14 inches; lateral aper- 

 ture below middle rib. If inches; diameter of lateral aperture, 2 inches. 



The cylinders were undoubtedly introduced to prevent washing down 

 of the terraces and the banks of the moats. They must have been 

 made iu enormous quantities. The use of the lateral aperture is not 



Tnms. Asiatic Soc. .Japan, viii (1880), 322. 



