Investigating the identity of Mezurashizuka decorated tomb’s painting: introducing a new perspective

Images in non-literate societies are important means of conveying information about cultural and social aspects of the time. The decorated tomb of Mezurashizuka 珍敷塚古墳 (6th century CE) is located in today's Fukuoka Prefecture, north of the island of Kyūshū, Japan, and will be the case study of this paper. This tomb is considered to be among the few decorated tombs in Kyūshū influenced by the iconography and iconology of the mainland. However, the style and most of the elements depicted are of local origin. The painting, therefore, cannot be considered either totally local or entirely influenced by Korean Peninsular culture. What cultural and social information does the Mezurashizuka painting convey? The aim of this paper is to approach the study of this famous sōshoku kofun (decorated tombs) by considering it as a further element born of centuries of relations and interactions between North Kyūshū and the continent, specifically with the Korean Peninsula. Based on the discussed data, it will be demonstrated how this painting, and more generally the decorated tombs of northern Kyūshū, are the materialisation of cultural and social aspects of interactions in the Yellow Sea, and from centuries of hybridisation with Peninsular material culture. The decorated tombs are a symbol of a local power that did not fully identify with either the central power or the peninsular culture.