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Kofun Explorer Map
Interactively explore over 400 burial mounds — centered on the Kansai (Kinki) region (Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Hyogo, Shiga, Wakayama & Mie) and including imperial tombs across Japan.
World Heritage guides & related kofun
Navigate the Map
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Pinch/scroll to zoom, drag to pan. Click a marker to open the detail panel.
Reading Markers
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Shape indicates tomb type: keyhole = keyhole-shaped mound, circle = round mound, diamond = square mound, a cluster of small circles = a kofun group (many tombs as one pin). Gold ring = World Heritage.
Filter by Era
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Use the timeline bar at the top to select a century (3rd–7th). Only tombs from that era are shown.
Search & Filter
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Type a name in the search box. Use the Filter button to narrow by shape, group, or World Heritage status.
Detail Panel
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Clicking a kofun opens a 2/3-width panel with detailed info — with the official status (Imperial Household Agency attributions and heritage designations) and the archaeological view shown separately, with sources.
English Mode
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Press "JP" to switch back to Japanese. UI, kofun names, and descriptions switch language.
Thanks to the support of people who wish to pass on the legacy of humankind to future generations, this map is free for everyone to use.
- Coverage: centered on kofun in the seven prefectures of the Kansai (Kinki) region (Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Hyogo, Shiga, Wakayama, Mie), plus the IHA-designated mausolea of successive emperors nationwide, including those outside the region.
- Selection (objective — any one): (1) constituents of the World Heritage Mozu-Furuichi and Asuka-Fujiwara groups; (2) IHA-designated mausolea, reference sites and satellite tombs; (3) Special/National Historic Sites and prefecture-designated historic sites; (4) tombs whose excavated finds are designated cultural properties (National Treasure, Important Cultural Property, or prefectural); (5) scale — keyhole-shaped, square-fronted square-backed or scallop-shaped mounds ≥80m long, or round/square mounds ≥50m across; (6) large cluster groups of roughly 100+ extant mounds (shown as one group marker at a landmark spot). As a rule, a large group is shown as a single marker; an individual mound within a group is listed separately only when it alone meets (2)–(5). This is a curated selection, not a census of Japan's ~160,000 kofun.
- Quality: new entries are added only after shape, size, location and designation are verified against two or more independent sources (municipalities, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Nabunken, Wikipedia, etc.). Conflicting figures are presented side by side; unverifiable values are omitted.
- Vanished mounds of high scholarly importance are included with an explicit "no longer extant" notice, pinned at their recorded former location.
- The mounds of tombs and reference sites managed by the Imperial Household Agency are closed to the public (where the agency manages only part of a mound, only that part). Always follow the rules of each site.
- Some information, including tomb occupants, is still debated among researchers and may change as new excavations occur.
- Some coordinates are estimated from literature and address records. Minor discrepancies with actual locations may exist.
- Information is referenced from Wikipedia, the Imperial Household Agency, the Agency for Cultural Affairs (National Historic Sites Database), municipal boards of education, UNESCO, GSI, on-site information boards, Google Maps (coordinates), © OpenStreetMap contributors (some coordinates), and other sources.
Questions and corrections are welcome by email to the operator (MICHI Corporation) at contact@michi-collective.com, or on LINE.