Nagara Cave Tomb Cluster

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The Nagara Cave Tomb Cluster is an archaeological site in the Tokumasu area of Nagara town, Chiba Prefecture, in Japan’s Kantō region. It contains 324 tombs in 25 groups, built during the mid-7th to early 8th century AD.

These are yokoanabo, or horizontal tombs, with a unique local style called kōdanshiki. In this style, the burial chamber sits behind a front entrance room and is raised slightly above it. The largest tomb has about a 2.9-meter difference in height between the rooms.

Entrance rooms come in several shapes:
- arch type, with a semi-cylindrical ceiling
- house type, resembling the roof and walls of a house
- a few dome type, with a domed ceiling

Some tombs include a casket platform where a wooden sarcophagus once rested.

Tomb No. 13 features a back-wall engraving showing people, birds, houses, boats, and what looks like a five-story pagoda.

Most tombs have been opened long ago, so few grave goods remain—only fragments of Sue ware and Haji ware pottery and some iron tools or weapons.

The site was designated a National Historic Site in 1995. It is about a 15-minute walk from the Tokumasu bus stop on the Kominato Bus, which runs from Mobara Station on the JR East Sotobo Line.