Paintings - Takamatsuzuka Kofun

Asuka, Japan

Korean servants, and Chinese cosmological images, are painted on the walls of Takamatsuzuka, and the nearby Kitora, burial chambers. It is unusual to have such old paintings (c. 700 AD) from anywhere in the world; they are rare and precious works of art, and provide stunning evidence of the Chinese and Korean contribution to early Japan. For more information, see Steve Renshaw and Ishi Ohara, Kitora Kofun.