W.E. Deal
of the imperial line with the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu. At some level, kofun represented what we
might refer to as sacred space—large burial mounds set apart by moats. There is also much specu-
lation about the extent to which burial objects, such as figurines, pots, and other items were
meant for use in an afterlife. According to Matsumura Kazuo, there is some evidence that certain
grave objects were strategically placed for use in “ritual feasts for the dead.” Matsumura also cites
evidence suggesting that “the back part of the mounds were the domain of the dead and the front
part the domain of the living.”^44 Feasts for the dead and a ritual separation of space for the living
and deceased evokes the story of the god Izanagi’s descent to the underworld in which he encoun-
ters a feast for the dead as recounted in mytho- histories like the Kojiki.^45
Kofun period scholars often note changes in ritual practices and their increasing value in the
asserting and securing of ruling authority. Rituals were practiced not only at the large tombs of
powerful rulers, but at new ritual sites—including mountains and smaller islands—across the
archipelago that constituted a burgeoning sacred geography.^46 An important and increasingly
contested question concerns the extent to which, by the Kofun period, ritual sites and practices
map on to later practices described as Shintō. This is a topic of much dispute and is inextricably
coupled to the kinds of questions about the continuity of Japanese history and Japanese identity
discussed above.^47
The Kofun period witnessed increasing trade and immigration between the Japanese archi-
pelago and the East Asian mainland. Aspects of Chinese ritual practices and beliefs were among
the cultural ideas exchanged. The extent to which Daoist practices might have influenced the
development of Kofun period religiosity is much debated. Gina Barnes, for instance, argues that
Kofun period rulers utilized the Daoist legend of the Queen Mother of the West in support of
claims to ruling authority and in relation to afterlife beliefs connected with kofun building.^48 She
makes this claim, in part, because tomb burial items such as bronze mirrors sometimes included
the likeness of the Queen Mother. Other scholars find Barnes’s evidence circumstantial at best
and argue that her thesis cannot be sustained on the basis of current evidence. Joan Piggott, for
instance, in a review of Barnes’ book, argues that there is not
a single narrative in Japanese mythology that unambiguously evidences the Queen Mother
... Were it so important to late Yayoi and early Kofun people, would not memory of its
deity be preserved somewhere in recognizable form in later Japanese mythology?^49Piggott’s view underscores the need to consider the archaeological record in concert with the
textual.^50
The issue of the Queen Mother notwithstanding, it is clearly the case that the Kofun period
was increasingly influenced by Chinese cultural ideas and images. The Takamatsuzuka tomb in
Nara prefecture is a significant example of this influence. Excavations in 1972 revealed that the
tomb’s burial chamber included wall paintings of figures depicted in Chinese and Korean garb.
The painted ceiling of the tomb depicts constellations; the four tomb walls, aligned with the four
cardinal points, depict the Chinese cosmological animals associated with each direction: Black
Tortoise (north), Vermilion Bird (south), Azure Dragon (east), and White Tiger (west). Although
not a large tomb, scholars have conjectured that this was the burial site of a member of a ruling
family or otherwise influential person, perhaps a Korean connected with the ruling authority.^51
Kofun period archaeological evidence is often matched with the textual record found in the
Kojiki and Nihon shoki. As suggested earlier, there have been efforts to read accounts of the descent
of the imperial family from the lineage of gods described in these two texts to the archaeological
record. Thus, at least some scholarly assumptions about the meaning of kofun artifacts, spatial
orientation, and connections to ruling power are tied to mytho- historical accounts in texts