The Mozu kofun are strange. In the middle of modern Sakai, a heavy industrial and residential city south of Osaka, rise huge forested mounds surrounded by water-filled moats, some of them shaped like a keyhole, and these are the tombs of the rulers of Japan from the fifth century. Hanzei's tomb is one of the smaller ones in the group, though still well over a hundred metres long, and it is easily reached because the moat path runs around it. The giant of the group, attributed to Emperor Nintoku, is nearly five hundred metres long and one of the largest tombs in the world by area.
You cannot go inside, because the Imperial Household Agency maintains the tombs as sacred sites, so what you see is a wall of trees, a stretch of water and a signboard. The Mozu-Furuichi group of mounds was listed as a World Heritage site in 2019, and their significance is in the scale. These mounds took thousands of workers, and they were covered with stones and ringed with clay figures called haniwa, which were placed on the slopes. The effect from the air is extraordinary; on the ground you have to take it on trust.
Riding here is urban, and you should treat it that way. The roads are narrow, congested and full of commuter traffic, with traffic lights every few hundred metres and a lot of cyclists, so the pace is slow, and the best thing to do is park and walk. Early morning is quiet, and the park paths around the moats are good for a stroll. Sakai has long been known for its knives and its tea masters, as well as its bicycle components industry, since Shimano has its headquarters here, which is a bit of wry local pride.
Fuel and food are no problem in a city of this size, and there are plenty of convenience stores and noodle shops. The Sakai City Museum, near the big tomb, explains the group and offers a viewpoint. In spring the moats reflect cherry blossoms, and in autumn the camphor trees turn a deep green and yellow.