National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

These Y- or H-shaped objects were excavated from the Tomio Maruyama Tumulus located in Maruyama, Owada-cho, Nara City. The word kotoji is used in Japanese to describe this shape of stone ware, whose purpose is unknown. (Kotoji originally refers to the Mt. Fuji-shaped bridge that supports the strings of the koto, a Japanese musical instrument.) These objects are mainly H-shaped, but there are variations: some resemble the body of an airplane, while others have C-shaped accessories. Some scholars believe that they originated as decorations for walking sticks. Four of the twelve are shown at the upper right of the photograph.