For my birthday this year, Rei got me a series of children's history manga:

Being the nerd that I am, I love it. There is so much I still don't know about Japanese history, and there are a lot of historical events and names that I don't know in Japanese.

I'm currently on Book #2 (of 23!), which talks a lot about 大仙古墳 (だいせんこふん // Daisen Kofun), which is considered to be the largest grave in the world by area (Wikipedia):

It's big enough that you can even see it while being pretty far zoomed out on Google Maps.

It is in Sakai, which is to the south of Osaka:

From Wikipedia: "The Daisen Kofun mound and tomb complex are believed to have been constructed over a period of 20 years in the mid 5th century during the Kofun Period. While it cannot be accurately confirmed, it is commonly accepted that the tomb was built for the late Emperor Nintoku."

The book I'm reading says that it would have taken 2,000 people working for 16 years straight without a single day's break in order to complete the tomb.

That boy is saying:

わーでかい！
わー　でかい！
Whoa! It's huge!
Literally: "whoa + huge!"

In a way, it's kind of like Japan's version of the Great Pyramid of Giza. My book makes a size comparison between the Great Pyramid, Daisen Kofun, and Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor in China:

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If this place is so amazing, then why don't people ever talk about it?

Yeah... about that: It's closed to the public.

In fact, no one has been near it for over a hundred years.

You might be wondering why I would bother to recommend visiting a place that you can't enter. Also, I've never even been there myself!

Well, this is one of the places that I'm really looking forward to visiting the next time I'm in Kansai.

Even if I can't enter the tomb itself, I can take a leisurely stroll around it while I ponder what it must have been like for the thousands of people working to build this hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Did they feel much like an average person commuting to work day in and day out feels today? Or did they feel attached to some higher purpose? And what did the emperor at the time hope to gain from it?

As one reviewer on Google Maps put it: "It’s not a tourist attraction. Like a giant buried UFO, you can see the outline in the distance. Go for the beautiful 2.5 mile walk around the perimeter, quietly free of people. There is a museum in the park across the street and a tiny theater with a film (with English subtitles) on the history of these keyhole mounds."

Sounds to me like a nice way to spend an afternoon.

If you do go there, send me some pictures!

More info:
- Sakai: a keyhole to the history of Osaka
- Sakai City Museum
- Where emperors sleep: Japan's keyhole-shaped burial mounds
- Tomb of Emperor Nintoku

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Some Japanese phrases:

堺市は大阪にあります。
さかいし　は　おおさか　に　あります。
Sakai (City) is in Osaka (Prefecture).
Literally: “Sakai City + は + Osaka + に + is.”

古墳の中がどうなっているのか見てみたいですよね。
こふん　の　なか　が　どう　なっている　の　か　みて　みたい　です　よ　ね。
It would be interesting to see what the inside of the tomb is like, wouldn’t it?
Literally: “kofun (=ancient burial mound; tomb) + の + inside + が + how + is becoming + の + か + would like to see (=see [and] + want to see) + です + ね.”

中には入れないんですが、周りを歩いてみるだけでも面白かったですよ。
なか　に　は　はいれない　んです　が、　まわり　を　あるいて　みる　だけ　でも　おもしろかった　です　よ。
You can’t go inside, but it was interesting just to walk around it.
Literally: “inside + に + は + cannot enter + んです + が, + around + を + walk (and) + see + only + でも + was interesting + です + よ.”