Imperial Household Agency: Mausoleum of Empress Komyo
Location
Nara
Shape
Hill-form tumulus
Designation
IHA-managed tomb
IHA designation
Managed by the IHA (mound closed to the public)
Overview
At Horencho, Nara, this is designated as Empress Komyo's Sahoyama-no-Higashi Mausoleum and shares an approach with Emperor Shomu's Sahoyama-no-Minami Mausoleum, which adjoins it to the west. Its archaeological burial form remains unresolved.
Finds & research
IHA investigations have recovered cremated bones and a hagama pot used as a cinerary urn from the foot of the hill (1982), and reused medieval stone monuments and kawarake dishes from the oratory works, but they do not address a burial facility of the mausoleum.
Official status & archaeological view
Official status
Managed by the IHA as the Sahoyama-no-Higashi Mausoleum of Empress Komyo (Fujiwara no Asukabehime), consort of Emperor Shomu.
Attribution (jitei): the Imperial Household Agency's determination of whose tomb it manages — separate from heritage designation.
Archaeological view
An IHA investigation classifies the mausoleum form as yamagata (hill type), treating the whole hillside as the precinct, with a small round rise near the center of the summit. The present site was designated in 1879. The report considers it likely that the round rise on the summit, which is not mentioned in the statement of reasons for the designation, was made after the designation in imitation of the Minami Mausoleum.
Field notes
Take a bus from JR or Kintetsu Nara Station to the Horen Nakamachi stop, then walk four minutes; worship from the oratory. It shares its approach with Emperor Shomu's adjoining Sahoyama-no-Minami Mausoleum to the west, and the two can be visited together.