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Saitobaru Burial Mounds

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

SaitobarukofunSpecial Historic SiteSaitocosmos

Photo: Michael Gunther / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · original

Saitobaru Burial Mounds is part of why Miyazaki rewards travelers who read a little before they show up.

Three hundred and nineteen burial mounds stand on a plateau outside Saito, built between the late third and the seventh centuries and spread over an area four kilometres north to south and two and a half east to west. It is a Special Historic Site, the highest designation Japan gives, and it is one of the largest concentrations of kofun in the country.

What is unusual is that it was never built over. The mounds sit in open grassland with paths between them and you can walk among them freely, which is not possible at most major kofun groups. The prefectural archaeological museum on the site is free and explains what was found. In spring the plateau is planted with rape flowers under cherry blossom and in November with about three million cosmos.

Before you go

Opening hours

Site open at all times | Archaeological museum 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Closed: Site open year-round | Museum has its own rest days

Admission

Free | Museum free

Best time to visit

Late March–early April for rape flowers and cherry blossom | November for cosmos

Time to allow

2–3 hours

How to reach it

Directions

Miyake Saitobaru, Saito, on the plateau west of the town. Car recommended; from Miyazaki City. The site is free and open, with paths among the mounds. The group comprises 319 mounds built between the late 3rd and 7th centuries across an area about 4.2 km north to south and 2.6 km east to west, designated over more than 58 hectares as a Special Historic Site. Rape flowers and cherry blossom appear in spring and about 3 million cosmos are planted for the November kofun festival.

Beyond the guidebook

**The museum is free.** Nine to five, on the site, and it is the only thing that makes three hundred mounds legible as a burial landscape. **You can walk among them.** Open grassland with paths, which almost no other major kofun group allows. Climbing the mounds is not permitted. **Spring is rape flowers and cherry.** Yellow under pink across the plateau in late March and early April, which is the local season. **November is cosmos.** About three million planted for the kofun festival, which is when the site is busiest. **It is a Special Historic Site.** Japan's highest heritage designation for archaeology, and the reason the plateau was never developed.

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