Imperial Household Agency: Yamamomo-no-Misasagi (Mausoleum of Emperor Heizei)
Location
Nara
Shape
Keyhole-shaped mound
Mound length
253 m
Period
Early 5th c.
Designation
IHA-managed tomb
IHA designation
Managed by the IHA (mound closed to the public)
Overview
A major mound in the Saki group, now managed as Emperor Heizei's mausoleum.
Finds & research
The central burial facility and full grave assemblage remain unknown. Its original structure, including the extent of later alteration, cannot be determined from the surviving form alone.
Official status & archaeological view
Official status
The IHA designates the site as Yamamomo-no-Misasagi, the mausoleum of the 51st sovereign, Emperor Heizei. The IHA classifies it as a round hill.
Attribution (jitei): the Imperial Household Agency's determination of whose tomb it manages — separate from heritage designation.
Archaeological view
A keyhole mound at Saki, Nara, with a reconstructed length of about 253m according to a 2024 report by the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (250m in Nara City's entry in the national cultural property database and in a 2020 leaflet by the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara and the Nara City Board of Education; about 255m in the Nara Palace Site Historical Park guide). Its front was levelled during construction of Heijo Palace, leaving mainly the rear portion. The relationship between the attribution and the archaeological date remains unresolved.
Field notes
The IHA locates the mausoleum in Saki, Nara; the worship area is about a five-minute walk from the Nara Palace Site / Excavation Site Exhibition Hall bus stop. The precinct is closed. The goryoin (mausoleum seal) is kept at the Unebi Mausolea Office in Kashihara, Nara, where visitors can use it free of charge (reception 8:30–17:00; staff may be unavailable on weekends, holidays, 29 Dec–3 Jan and some other days).