Kofuns & the Overlapping Time Slot
I awake at 5:30 this Saturday morning and hop on the Odakyu to Kanagawa again-
The type of crowd I see at 7 in the morning reveals a dark night of capitalism. It must have been pay day. End of the month, a lot of sleepy workers, bloodshot eyes who look like they stayed in Shinjuku last night, prostitutes, and a funky smell of plastic.
The train smells like they’ve been packaged and sold, or like they’ve survived it.
But I’m on my way- on the early time slot again. My favorite time slot in Tokyo. You see, everything gets pushed back later and later here, like most cities. Inevitably you’ll get sucked in and give more than you’re able to. You’ll start again on the 11AM time slot. You’ll be drinking in Shibuya and end up on the last train, or miss your last train to end up with the other unimaginables.
Today I’m going to Jike Furosato Village. It’s a scenic rural area of Kanagawa, in a woody flatland with some outcroppings of mountains, and rice fields in between with some coworking spaces, hip cafes, and my favorite- Kofuns, or ancient burial grounds nearby.
I have a fascination with these ancient burial tombs. It is nothing like I’ve been able to stumble upon in America. The history just isn’t that deep there, unless you’re talking about the Native Americans. A tomb from the year 700A.D. exists just 40 minutes from my house, and it’s on route to a bookmarked village I have.
It was one odd night in Komae, I was wandering around as usual when I stumbled upon my first kofun and got an eerie feeling. I had found it on Google Maps. The moon was almost full, the clouds were moving fast, the stars were twinkling. And a large unmarked flat stone, tucked between and behind suburban houses stood tall. I got a feeling that somebody had been there before- but I have no clue.
Well here I am, at my stop Kakio. This journal entry took as long as my little train ride to get here.
I’m off to see some kofun-
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The city of Tokyo sprawls outwards. If not for city jurisdiction, in my opinion, urbanistically, Kanagawa is still Tokyo to me, or at least part of the Tokyo metropolis. Tamagawa, would be where the density of hardscape ends and a softscape of small mountains begins to bleed through.
My journey starts with a group of maybe 200 students, all awaiting the same bus. But they said it’s for setos only so I can skip the line. Clearly, I am intersecting with their time slot. A mass of students, all dressed in uniform, with collared white shirts and navy slacks, or skirt. And then there is me, wearing some wide legged, high cropped Dickies looking pants, with a vertically striped mandarin collared blue shirt, a light short jacket blazer, but with Asics skateboarding shoes on. I look almost like one of them in dress code, but I’m coming from a completely other universe.
At the intersection of our time slots, I ride the number 22 bus and arrive near a river, with a walking view of a bamboo mountain. I get off the bus subtly, as if not to disturb their vibe, or be noticed quite obviously. And I walk forward, with the bus. The bus passes me, and then I quietly J-walk behind it and switch directions towards my map direction, to avoid being stared at by 60 onlooking setos while crossing the crosswalk.
(In my head, I’m thinking- “take a good look, because I’m sure this might be the first time you’ve ever seen a 4th generation Japanese American”
And a bit sad to say, but maybe the last time too. Perhaps not- I really do not know a percentage. I only know that I’ve never met another one before in the wild, even in America.)
I arrive at the side of this bamboo mountain and I go up a road, with a beautifully decorated Japanese house. Above this road, is the Kofun from the year 700.
I enter up a steep, unmarked staircase and I notice a lot of Rollie Pollies (Armadillidium vulgare.) Like a ton of them. And I don’t want to step on them, and they give me the creeps. But I continue upward until I see the first tomb, carved into stone on the hillside. There is another one, so I go near it, and hear a sound from the tree, but there is nothing there- I feel as if something is watching me.
As I go to take a photo with my iPhone, a bat suddenly darts out of the tomb cave, flapping its wings rapidly. I gasp, but continue on to pull out my iPhone. I start recording and a gigantic Asian hornet, or bumble bee appears out of nowhere. Larger than the size of my thumb. A huge buzzing ball. The kind that you hear are poisonous. And it’s staring at me while floating from side to side. I utter a short yell and run down the stairs, careful not to step on any Rollie Pollies. I’m out of there- that place gave me the chills like the first time I watched The Ring.
Onward to a happier prairie, and only a few other tombs along the way- but no more steep concrete staircases and Rollie Pollies.
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