The fourth to seventh centuries A.D. in Japan are assigned to the Kofun or Tomb period. It was during this time that Japan passed from prehistory to the historically known civilization of the Asuka and Nara periods. In many respects the Kofun period is protohistoric since our knowledge of the time does not rest solely on archaeological evidence. A fairly large number of historical sources, both from the continent and from within Japan itself, refer to this period and shed considerable light on the social and historical developments that ultimately resulted in historic Japanese civilization. The period is also marked by the appearance of large, conspicuous, and richly outfitted burial mounds which have been intensively studied by archaeologists. The archaeological material dating from this period includes various types of artifacts which reveal both the internal social developments taking place within Japan itself and the growing external contacts between Japan and the continent. However, it is still very difficult to present a unified and balanced picture of the life and cultural developments of the period. The data of archaeology supplement these records and no doubt could be further used to fill in the voids that still exist. Comparatively few habitation sites are known from the period and published reports on remains of this type are for the most part the result of recent salvage projects made in advance of urban expansion. Furthermore, analysis of Kofun age remains has most often been motivated by aesthetic concerns, so that unusually fine examples have been stressed to the exclusion of the mass of more commonplace finds.

Kofun specialists have emphasized chronologies and periodization based on changes in tombs and their furnishings. The habitation sites from this period are poorly reported; those best known appear to date from fairly late in the period and thus offer a poor basis for a chronological sequence. The domestic pottery and artifacts made during the period are also not useful chronological markers. The Haji domestic pottery, for example, persists with scant regional or temporal variation from the end of the Yayoi period until the Heian period. It is thus quite understandable that attempts to establish cultural chronology for the period have relied on material recovered from tombs.

There are two major limitations to the use of any of the Kofun chronologies which have been based on funeral remains. First, they are not of general utility since it is difficult to link domestic remains to them. Second, even tomb chronologies are of limited validity since there are no clear horizon markers with which to divide the period. For a general review of the culture historical developments of the period, two subperiods seem most useful. Early Kofun saw the appearance of mound tombs and the introduction of some new foreign materials, but appears basically to represent an extensive and indigenous elaboration of Yayoi culture. Later, midway through the fifth century, the results of Japan’s growing foreign involvements became increasingly apparent and are the major characteristic of Late Kofun times.

Mound tombs, the most common archaeological remains of the Kofun period, are distributed from southern Kyushu to southern Tohoku, and there their number will never be known. The major basis of absolute chronology is the cross dating of continental imports contained in the tombs as grave goods, the most important of which in Early Kofun times are bronze mirrors. See Kofun Mirror HERE. Present in Kofun tombs are several characteristic types of burial wealth that set this period apart. Bronze mirrors have already been mentioned. Another feature of the Kofun period grave goods are the haniwa figures. They assumed very famous zoomorphic and anthropomorphic shapes. Included also are beautifully carved stone or glass ornaments. All of this together with the sword and mirror formed part of the sacred imperial regalia and may have had both religious and decorative significance.

Weapons are regularly met with in Early Kofun tombs although the range of types known from this time does not compare with the diversity seen in later times. Practical iron weapons are the rule. Included in this category are narrow socketed spears which are not dissimilar in shape from the Yayoi bronze spears. Far more common are long straight iron swords. These are very similar to Han Chinese swords in that they are single edged and have a permanently affixed hilt which ends in a pommel. See Kofun Pommel HERE. It would appear that the technical patterns of later Japanese swords were established at this time. Body armor from Late tombs is much superior to the simple plate protection of small squares sewn to cloth or leather. In the area outside the Yamato heartland, armor is commonly met with all types and sizes of graves. Some saddlery is present due to the military complex but was very limited. Horse equipment was a popular and conspicuous type of Late Kofun burial wealth indicating that the horse played an important role in the military organization of the time. The last category of grave goods common to tombs consists of iron tools. Indications are that the tools were identical to the hand tools used in daily life and included in graves as ritual objects. See Burial Mound Artifacts HERE.

The Late Kofun subperiod started in the mid-fifth century and ended as an archaeological period in the Yamato area early in the seventh century. By this time Japan had been in close contact – and conflict – with several Korean and Chinese governments for more than a hundred years, and the material effects of this foreign contact were becoming increasingly and strikingly apparent. Archaeologically this period is marked by a rapid increase of grave goods showing strong foreign influences. Historically, it is known that this was a period of political development, with the central court increasing in both size and political power.
Until recently it was commonly hypothesized that the establishment of the Japanese imperial household and other developments of the protohistoric period were the results of an invasion of Japan by continental groups. But historical research has led to the conclusion that a simple invasion theory is untenable. Since some respectable Japanese scholars do continue to find the theory useful and many English language summaries have accepted this general interpretation and tend to present a simplistic picture of the period, it is thus a view we must briefly consider. The parallels which are most often cited are drawn from a vast variety of continental complexes. As yet there are no known Asiatic cultures that resemble the later Kofun complex, and there are also any number of Kofun-period traits that are without foreign parallels and are instead unique to Japan. The invasion theory thus lacks convincing demonstration.
The number of adequately reported Late Kofun habitation sites is not great, but the domestic culture of this period is more completely known than that of earlier times. It is thus impossible to describe the regional variation which might have existed between Late Kofun communities. The evidence which is available suggests that there may have been some slight regional variation at this time, but it does not appear to have been significant. The known village sites bespeak of broad uniformity, so that until there is evidence to the contrary, it seems safe to assume that local communities throughout western Japan were broadly similar and that the well-studied villages of the Kanto are representative of the communities of this period.

Elliott Long