Kofun, The Ancient Graves.

     

What is this?

    Today we went to Kofun, literally means "Ancient Graves" in Japanese. It located in Minami Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture. The place is right on the foothill. Actually i don't know precisely about the name of the hill, but the certain fact is it located in South Kofu. If the Takeda Shrine is located in North Kofu, so this time i went to South Kofu. The Kofun could be reached in 30 minutes by car from Takeda Shrine.

Looks like a keyhole if we see it from the above.

       When I just arrived to the place, i don't saw that place as my thought about grave. It was really like a common park, but who knows that common park-ish place has a history value? When i started to walk, I saw so many sign that we may found it in the park. But, there are something's unusual. What is it? 

You see the mound that looks like the Windows XP wallpaper? That's the thing that we talked about.

       There are so many mound-shaped graves which the size of the grave is differentiate the social rank of the person who has been buried there. Even there are so many mound that confirmed as grave, but some mound just contained the dead's treasures. You mind to steal it? Wait a minute. What ancient people's called as treasures are kinda different like what you think treasures are. It may be just contain things like mirror. Because in the past, around 1700 years ago, mirror is expensive and being the luxury symbol for the people in that age. There maybe contain Japanese Sword too. But, the sword has no weapon purpose. The sword just became a social rank symbol because in that age, the Sengoku Jidai still didn't happen. Furthermore, the Kai Province (now Yamanashi Prefecture) is surrounded by the mountains. So, that Kai Province gets attacked probability is low. 

Thanks for reading.

Pepi.

Yamanashi's Kofun - Japanese Massive Tombs

Today, I was given a chance to visit one of the Kofun that can be found in Kofu City, Yamanashi Prefecture. Kofun is Japanese ancient tomb-- and it's really, really big! I heard the more important you are, the bigger your kofun will be!

Taken at Choushi-dzuka Kofun's Top

I visited two kofun, Choushi-dzuka Kofun (銚子塚古墳) and Maruyama-dzuka Kofun (丸山塚古墳). Choushi-dzuka Kofun is shaped exactly like those ancient door keyholes, the one that is like a combination of circle and trapezoidal, if you look at it from above. The circle one is said to be the person's grave, and the trapezoidal one was for that person's valuable belongings.

Maruyama-dzuka Kofun was a little smaller than the previous one. Its shape is circle, and is supposed to be a person's grave. As it is the second biggest out of all the kofun here, the person who was buried here might be the second most powerful person in Yamanashi at the time.

Climbing the Kofun

Funny thing is, even though they were supposed to be people's graves, the person who first found these kofun said they checked inside, and found no body nor the remnants of it! But, as written above, there really were valuable things found in the Choushi-dzuka Kofun's trapezoidal part! No one could tell what happened to the body!

These kofun are located near mountains, so I think it will still be refreshing even in summer. I do not know if picnic is allowed or not here, but if it is, that would be awesome! Taking a walk here is also not a bad idea, because as the kofun is quite tall, you could see a part of Kofu City from above!

- Ocha

Takeda Shrine

If you are a fan of Japanese history, or at least have played Samurai Warriors series, then you should have known the existence of Takeda Shingen. In Yamanashi, there is shrine named after Takeda Shingen himself, which is none other than Takeda Shrine (武田神社 Takeda Jinja).

The map on the left does not show the area of Takeda Shrine, but the actual space of Takeda Shingen's castle, as Takeda Shrine was only a part of it. By the way, Takeda Shrine is the yellow building right in the middle of the map. All the things that are displayed on the map, even the mountains, were part of Takeda Shingen's castle!

Takeda Shrine's Omikuji

Like any other shrines, you could buy some Omamori (charms), pick Omikuji (fortune slips), or write Ema (votive pictures/writings)! This time, I got a chance to pick an omikuji, and got an "Average Luck". You could also see a lot of ema are hung right at the back.


There are some food stalls in front of Takeda Shrine, and one of them served Amazake, a drink made from fermented rice. I sipped a little of it, and whether the sweet taste or the fragrance really reminded me to Tapai, traditional fermented food that can be found in Southeast Asia.

I think Takeda Shrine will be a good visit if one day you visit Yamanashi!

Takeda Shrine's Outing!

Today Mr. Usui took us to the Takeda Shrine to learn about Yamanashi Prefecture in the past. Takeda Shrine was the residence of the Takeda clan in the Sengoku Jidai period. Mr. Usui told us many things about the history of Japan, especially Yamanashi Prefecture, how was the Sengoku Jidai constellation, and more interesting things about Takeda clan in the past.


Even i was learnt about Japanese History when I was 1st grade student in my university, I don't recognize that Japanese History, especially the history about Sengoku Jidai is interesting to be learned. I started to have interest about Japanese History when my friend introduced me to Shogun 2 game. The game was so addictive like you want to stop the time just for playing that game. In that game, I think Takeda clan isn't players favorite clan because the location of the clan was surrounded by the opponent clan. Maybe Date clan, or Shimazu clan could be the player's favorite clan because neither Shimazu or Date clan wasn't getting surrounded by other clans, so they can go straight and take the opponent clan's territory without worrying about backstabbed by the other opponents.


Oh, I'm sorry to talk too much about game! I'll back to the context. Before we went back home, I drank Japanese traditional Amazake. When I drank it, I recalled to Indonesian's Fermented Cassava named Tapai. I thought that under-aged man according to Japanese rules cant drink this. But amazingly, how young or how old are you, you're welcomed for Amazake!

Pepi.