Qualla: Iwayayama Kofun https://qualla.com/iwayayama-kofun en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:39 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/0/s/iwayayama-kofun-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Iwayayama Kofun https://qualla.com/iwayayama-kofun Iwayayama Kofun: Introduction https://qualla.com/iwayayama-kofun/ Photo credit Saigen Jiro, CC0. The stone passage has been open for centuries, its granite walls polished smooth by the hands of curiosity seekers and grave robbers alike. Iwayayama Kofun, tucked into the hillside of Asuka village in Nara Prefecture, is one of Japan's most architecturally refined ancient burial chambers -- yet the identity of the person it was built to honor has never been settled. Was this the final resting place of Empress Saimei, who ruled Japan twice during the turbulent seventh century? Or does it belong to an earlier period altogether, connected to the legendary Prince Shotoku? The tomb's elaborate stonework offers clues but no definitive answers, and that ambiguity is part of what makes this place so compelling.

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Image: Saigen Jiro | CC0

]]> Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/0/s/iwayayama-kofun-wp/xn0s-iwayayama-kofun-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Iwayayama Kofun: Stone Cut with Royal Precision https://qualla.com/iwayayama-kofun/ Photo credit Saigen Jiro, CC0. From the outside, Iwayayama Kofun appears deceptively modest -- a mound roughly 45 meters on each side, rising 12 meters high, carefully tamped earth over a two-stage construction. Modern archaeology has revealed that what was long assumed to be a simple square tumulus actually f...

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Image: Saigen Jiro | CC0

]]> Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/0/s/iwayayama-kofun-wp/xn0s-iwayayama-kofun-stone-cut-with-royal-precision.mp3 0:06 2 full Iwayayama Kofun: An Englishman and the Emperor's Tomb https://qualla.com/iwayayama-kofun/ Photo credit Saigen Jiro, CC0. In 1897, an English mining engineer named William Gowland brought Iwayayama Kofun to the attention of the Western academic world. Gowland, who had arrived in Japan in 1872 to advise the Meiji government on metallurgy at the Osaka Mint, had developed an obsession with the country'...

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Image: Saigen Jiro | CC0

]]> Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/0/s/iwayayama-kofun-wp/xn0s-iwayayama-kofun-an-englishman-and-the-emperors-tomb.mp3 0:06 3 full Iwayayama Kofun: The Empress Who Ruled Twice https://qualla.com/iwayayama-kofun/ Photo credit Shirasutarchan, CC BY-SA 3.0. The question of who lies beneath Iwayayama Kofun hinges on dating. Based on the style of house-shaped sarcophagi found in similar tombs and the chronology of Sue ware pottery, archaeologists have estimated construction between the mid-seventh and third quarter of the seventh cent...

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Image: Shirasutarchan | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/0/s/iwayayama-kofun-wp/xn0s-iwayayama-kofun-the-empress-who-ruled-twice.mp3 0:06 4 full Iwayayama Kofun: Asuka's Living Memory https://qualla.com/iwayayama-kofun/ Photo credit Alexrk2, CC BY-SA 3.0. Iwayayama Kofun sits just a two-minute walk from Asuka Station on the Kintetsu Yoshino Line, making it one of the most accessible ancient tombs in Japan. In 1978, flooding caused the western side of the mound to collapse, exposing eroded sections that had been hidden for centurie...

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Image: Alexrk2 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 12 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/x/n/0/s/iwayayama-kofun-wp/xn0s-iwayayama-kofun-asukas-living-memory.mp3 0:06 5 full