Japanese Kofun in Maps given by a Spaceborne Digital Elevation Model based on Multiple Satellite Data Sets, for a Study about the Orientation of these Tumuli spanning from Remote Sensing to Geomancy

 In the proposed discussion we stress the possibility to use maps from Spaceborne Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) to analyze the locations of Kofun, the ancient tombs in Japan. Some of these tombs have the form of very large tumuli. The  Digital Elevation Model here used is that proposed by Yamazaki, Ikeshima, Tawatari, Yamaguchi, O'Loughlin, Neal, Sampson, Kanae and Bates, in the Geophysical Research Letters, 2017, and implemented at the web site it-ch.topographic-map.com . On Kofun and their orientation, a large literature in Japanese exists: we will give references about related archaeoastronomical studies too. Details about the burial chambers in the kofun having a keyhole-shape are given. The presence of two burial chambers inside is giving a direction coherent with the long axis of the tumulus. We will also recommend the reading of detailed discussions (in Italian), that have been provided by G. Poncini in the Enciclopedia dell' Arte Antica  (1995) and M. Hudson about archaeology in Japan (2002).  Literature on the funerary rituals of the Kofun Period are also proposed. In fact, the study here presented is not only a discussion of the use of remote sensing in the form of Spaceborne DEM maps or Google Earth imagery. It aims to investigate the orientation of the tumuli in the landscape and according to geomancy. Considering the results of the studies by Saito Tadashi in 1950s, who looked at the orientation of 394 tombs of the Early and Middle Kofun periods (3rd to 5th centuries), we can see that many of them are facing the south and west directions. We can tell also that the quarter which contains the less number of tombs is the north-east one. In geomancy, the northeast quarter is considered to be particularly inauspicious, containing the direction known as the "demon gate”. In Japan, this gate is referred to as Kimon, meaning ominous direction, or taboo direction. 

Contents: Introduction - Early Japan -  La tomba dell’ Uji No Kami (in Italian and English) - Orientation of zenpōkōen kofun (first part) – Kita-makura – Geomancy - DEM Maps - Orientation of zenpōkōen kofun (second part) - Due North, facing South  - Due South, facing North - Keyholes in Arabia  -  Goshikizuka Kofun - Why two parts? -  Princess Pimiko – Kofun Religion - Swords  - Amaterasu (in Italian and English) -Yata no Kagami - The harvest ritual (November 23)  - Ishikoridome no Mikoto - Magatama -  Insegne imperiali del Giappone - Torifune (in Italian and English) -  The waves - Kofun (G. Poncini, in Italian) - Tipo Coreano (in Italian and English) -  Takamatsuzuka (archaeoastronomy) -  Black Turtle and Snake - I cinque elementi (in Italian) - Shitennō and the four directions -  Three  periods (Britannica) - Late Kofun Period - Misemaruyama Kofun (見瀬丸山古墳) - Modifying the nature - Keyhole Tombs in Korea - Pits and corridors - Kofun (tumulus) (古墳) from www.japanese-wiki-corpus.org/ - Yŏngsan River basin keyhole-shaped tumuli - The entrance - Gunshufun Tumuli and Kinship in Late kofun era - Pit-dwelling-style stone lined chamber at the square end - Nintoku-tenno-ryo Kofun – Ancestors - A cluster - Ōmuro Kofun group - Archaeology in Japan (M. Hudson, in Italian) - Land of Rising Sun – Hinomaru, the Japanese flag - Feng-shui again - Stone circles and winter solstice – Takaki - Mirrors in Kurozuka Kofun – The orientation of the Kurozuka kofun - The orientation of Sakurai Chausuyama kofun  - The three burial chambers of the Shimanoyama tomb – Cinnabar - Saki Ishizukayama Tomb, Sakiryoyama Tomb, Saki Takatsuka Tomb - Nakayama Otsuka Kofun and others – The Mirrors and the Queen Mother of the West -  And Amaterasu? -  Kojiki and Niho shoki - The Ancient Burial Mounds -  Funeral rites  - Misasagi - Archaic funerary rites – Asobibe  -  Satellite and LiDAR - Discussion on orientation - Hopewell culture - References