South-east of Osaka, on the plain where the rivers of the Yamato basin spill out toward the bay, the land is dotted with enormous green islands. They are kofun, the keyhole-shaped burial mounds that the ruling clans of Japan raised in the fourth to sixth centuries, and the cluster at Furuichi is one of the two big groups that were inscribed as World Heritage in 2019, the Mozu-Furuichi Kofun Group. Hakuchoryo is among them, traditionally held to be the tomb of Prince Yamato Takeru, a hero of the ancient chronicles.
The legend explains the name. When the prince died on a campaign far from home, so the Kojiki tells us, his spirit rose from the grave as a great white bird, a hakucho, and flew toward the land of Yamato, settling here and there along the way. Mounds were raised at each place where it landed, and this is one of them. The mound is keyhole-shaped, with a round rear section and a square front, and a broad moat surrounds it, filled with water and often with ducks.
You do not walk on a kofun. The Imperial Household Agency manages most of the large tombs, and the mounds are closed to the public, so what you see is a wooded hill ringed by water, with a small worship platform at the front and a gravel path along the edge. That is more than enough, and many visitors find the stillness oddly moving. The woods are mostly old camphor and evergreen oak, and the moat is a haven for herons.
The approach through Habikino and the neighbouring towns is ordinary suburban Japan, with narrow roads, level crossings, vending machines and small shops, and the kofun appears suddenly behind a row of houses. Traffic is tidy and slow, speed limits are low, and police are strict, so keep to them. Matsubara and Kashihara, both with tens of thousands of people, have fuel and convenience stores. Spring, when cherry blossom lines the moat, and the clear days of late autumn are the best times, and the plum rains of June are best avoided.
The Katsuragi and Kongo mountains rise to the east, with twisty hill roads and quiet temples, and are far better riding than the plain. Take the kofun as a calm start to a longer day.