Last Saturday my Japanese Antiquities class took a trip to Nara to visit 5 kofun, or tombs. In the old days the Japanese used to bury their famous dead in mounds that they built up from rocks and dirt. Around the corpse they placed various valuables including bronze mirrors and pots.
We learned in class a few things about the kofun. First, the bodies aren't mummified like in Egypt and also the Japanese climate is moist, causing the bodies to decompose quickly.
Second, a lot of the spots have already been hit by grave robbers who uncovered the dead man's swag while managing to ruin some of the tomb's preservation.
Third, the government wont allow the public access into many of the tombs, including the a famous one called "Chopstick Grave," where supposedly maybe Himiko, a supposed Japanese queen, might have been buried.
The first tomb we visited was still a mound since it hasn't been excavated yet. It had been hit by grave robbers in the past but nobody's disturbed it since. We climbed up the side and got a nice view of Tenri.
The next tomb was one that had been excavated so it was just a hole in the ground surrounded by rocks. Hannah and Martin and I did a hipster photo shoot:
We had rented bikes to get around the town and so the next stop was in the middle of some fields. Check out my bike: THE "EX-LADY."
The entrance to the third tomb we visited
Inside the tomb. Kate and Irene are demons and Becky's just trying to get out.
So the third tomb was exciting because we actually got to crawl down into a hole and check out the insides. Within was a fairly large space and an empty sarcophagus, which Martin R. crawled into. There was also an EXTREMELY large spider.
With the "Ex-Lady"
Friendship
Museum replica display of kofun
We ended the day with a small side-trip to a museum near the site. We didn't stay long, maybe ten minutes and then we were off to see two more tombs in the area. One was huge and surrounded by a pond and we could walk up stairs to get on top of it. The other one we couldn't even go inside because it was government prohibited. We looked on from afar~
At the end of the day we all ate lunch and then headed home. It took about an hour and a half to get back by train, it was so far away. Since I had only gotten one hour of sleep the previous night, I crashed into bed as soon as I got back. Also met some of my host brother's friends who were over at the house.
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