Kofun (古墳, from Sino-Japanese "ancient grave") are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Japan, constructed between the early 3rd century and the early 7th century AD.
They gave their name to the Kofun period (middle 3rd century - early-middle 6th century).
Many of the Kofun have distinctive keyhole-shaped mounds (zenpo-koenfun (前方後円墳)), which are unique to ancient Japan.
The kofun tumuli have assumed various shapes throughout history. The most common type of kofun is known as a zempō-kōenfun (前方後円墳),
which is shaped like a keyhole, having one square end and one circular
end, when viewed from above. There are also circular-typed (empun (円墳)), "two conjoined rectangles" typed (zempō-kōhō-fun (前方後方墳)), and square-typed (hōfun (方墳)) kofun.
Kofun range from several meters to over 400m long. The largest, which has been attributed to Emperor Nintoku, is Daisen kofun in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture,
The Mozu-Furuichi kofungun or tumuli clusters have been proposed for inscription on the UNESCO World Heritage List, while Ishibutai Kofun is one of a number in Asuka-Fujiwara similarly residing on the Tentative List.[1][2]
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