The Furuichi Kofun Cluster stretches 2.5 kilometers north-to-south and four kilometers east-to-west, occupying plateaus and hills at an average elevation of 24 meters above sea level. The largest tomb, attributed to Emperor Ojin, is a keyhole-shaped mound 425 meters long -- among the biggest burial structures ever built anywhere. The second largest, Nakatsuyama Kofun, stretches 290 meters, attributed to the consort Nakatsu-hime. A third, linked to Emperor Chuai, reaches 242 meters. The keyhole shape -- one square end joined to one circular end -- is the signature form of the Kofun period, and these tombs represent its most monumental expression. Twelve tumuli were individually designated a National Historic Site in 1956, with fourteen more added collectively in 2001. The protected area was expanded again in 2018.

The tombs carry the names of Japan's semi-legendary early emperors: Ojin, Chuai, Ingyo, Seinei, Ankan, Ninken, Yuryaku. One 200-meter mound is attributed to Yamato Takeru, a mythic warrior-prince whose exploits blur the line between history and legend. The Imperial Household Agency assigns these identifications, though scholars have long debated whether the attributions are accurate -- the tombs were sealed centuries ago, and the contents remain unverified. Surrounding the great imperial mounds are dozens of smaller satellite tombs, called baicho, believed to hold courtiers, consorts, and retainers. The total count exceeds forty named tumuli, ranging from the massive keyhole forms down to modest square and circular mounds of 15 to 20 meters.

The Furuichi cluster charts the rise and fall of Japan's great tomb-building culture. The earliest and largest mounds date from the late 4th and 5th centuries, when the Yamato court poured enormous resources into constructing monumental burial complexes across the Kawachi plain. After the Ichinoyama Kofun, the era of grand mound construction began to wane. An outlier -- the Kawachi Otsukayama Kofun, situated between the Mozu and Furuichi groups -- stretches a staggering 355 meters and its construction during this declining period remains unexplained. As the Furuichi group passed its prime, the center of tomb building shifted south to Shinagadani, near present-day Taishi Town, and the Kawachi region's great age of monumental burial came to an end.

What makes the Furuichi Kofun Cluster remarkable from the air is the juxtaposition: enormous ancient earthworks surrounded by dense modern development. Houses and apartment blocks press against moats that have held water for 1,500 years. Roads curve around mounds that predate Japanese written history. The UNESCO inscription in 2019, under criteria recognizing exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition and outstanding examples of a type of building, acknowledged both the scale of individual tombs and the collective power of the group as a landscape. The Mozu Kofun Group lies about 10 kilometers to the west, and together the two clusters form one of the most extraordinary archaeological landscapes in East Asia. The Furuichi group is accessible by foot from Domyoji Station or Furuichi Station on the Kintetsu Railway, seven to fifteen minutes depending on which mound you seek.