Cultural Properties of the Munakata Region
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Munakata clan and religious rituals in Okinoshima |
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The remains of advanced-technology ironware and Sue pottery production dating to the Kofun period were discovered in the Munakata region, confirming the cultural influence of the Korean Peninsula. The Munakata clan's cooperation with the Yamato state's overseas exchanges and their role of performing rituals on Okinoshima are recorded in the oldest historical chronicles of Japan, the Kojiki and the Nihon shoki, both of which date to the early part of the 8th century.
In the latter half of the 4th century, when rituals were first being conducted on Okinoshima, the Munakata clan built a keyhole-shaped tumulus (Togo Takatsuka Tumulus) in the Tsurikawa River basin (Munakata City). After the middle of the 5th century, the tomb area was moved to the coast of Fukutsu City, where the Tsuyazaki burial mounds were constructed. A mirror of the same type as the one excavated from Site 21 on Okinoshima (rock-top rituals) has been excavated from the Katsuura Minenohata Tumulus.
The Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group forms part of the Tsuyazaki Mounded Tomb Group. Its burial mounds are densely clustered on a plateau that overlooks the the former sea inlet in the area once controlled by the Munakata clan, as well as the sea leading out to Okinoshima. An iron adze of the same sort found among the artifacts at Okinoshima ritual sites was excavated from Tomb No. 7, which is one of the few tombs in the Munakata region.
The Shimbaru-Nuyama Mounded Tomb Group is a group of ancient burial mounds of various sizes built from the 5th to 6th centuries, situated on a plateau overlooking the sea route leading to Okinoshima, and it offers proof of the existence of the people who engaged in overseas exchanges and performed rituals on Okinoshima. |
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