The easternmost of the three tombs in the Unai Maiden legend, formerly in Higashinada, Kobe. Soil extraction destroyed most of the mound; Motomezuka-higashi Park marks its former location. Together with Otomezuka and Nishi-Motomezuka, it offers a route through the legend and Early Kofun archaeology.
Finds & research
Early Meiji soil extraction produced six mirrors including triangular-rimmed deity-and-beast mirrors, a wheel-shaped stone bracelet, an iron sword, magatama (curved beads), and human remains. Two mirror fragments were found around 1900. Tokyo National Museum holds a wheel-shaped stone bracelet from this tomb.
Archaeological view
An estimated 80m round-backed keyhole mound with a rear circle about 47m across. Excavation of the front section in 1982 confirmed a moat and paving stones. The Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History’s individual account dates it to the later part of the late 4th century; Kobe City’s regional plan groups the area’s major tombs in the late 3rd to early 4th centuries, showing a dating difference. Stones recovered during destruction suggest a pit-style stone chamber. The mound was extensively lost to soil extraction from the early Meiji years onward, including later work by the Hanshin Railway. Kobe City Board of Education's 1982 site-briefing handout says the front section was levelled for Hanshin Railway fill and the rear circle was later levelled in the Showa era, its site becoming Motomezuka Park; the same year's heritage annual report found that the original form cannot be seen above ground but that the mound base, paving stones and moat survive below ground (its photo caption calls the park's circular grove part of the rear circle).
Field notes
The former site is around Motomezuka-higashi Park. Little of the mound survives; a visit chiefly locates its former position.