Tajima’s second-largest keyhole mound at Kuwaichi, Asago. A small ox haniwa fragment with a nose ring attests to animal imagery in Tajima during the Middle Kofun period. The attribution to Funaho no Sukune is a tradition, not an established identification.
Finds & research
Stone paving and cylindrical, parasol, shield-bearing human, and animal haniwa. The nose-ringed ox survives as a small muzzle fragment. Burial details are unknown.
Official status & archaeological view
Official status
Designated a Hyogo Prefectural Historic Site in 1961; Asago City gives the date as 23 August, while the Hyogo Prefectural Board of Education list gives 12 May.
Archaeological view
Asago City describes a three-tiered keyhole mound on a terrace on the left bank of the Maruyama River, 91m long and 7.5m high, with a projection, stone paving, haniwa, and a shield-shaped moat. It is Tajima’s second largest after Ikeda Kofun↗. Details of the burial remain unknown, and part of the moat lies beneath a prefectural road. Cylindrical, parasol, shield-bearing human, and animal haniwa were found. The nose-ringed ox haniwa survives only as a small fragment of the muzzle; it does not by itself establish ox plowing or the occupant’s identity.
Field notes
Located in Kuwaichi, Asago. Part of the moat lies under a prefectural road; Asago City’s guide documents the mound’s appearance and excavated haniwa.