Two huge oblong burial mounds believed to have been built in the late sixth to early seventh centuries have been unearthed at the Ueyama ruins in the city of Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, it was learned Thursday.
Officials at the city's education board said it was highly possible that the mounds are the Ononookanoue-ryo, the site at which Empress Suiko -- Japan's first ruling empress -- and her son Prince Takeda were temporarily buried.
Because most large-scale burial mounds are designated as burial grounds by the Imperial Household Agency, clamping an effective ban on excavation work, some experts said the latest find could prove extremely helpful in studying the structure of the burial mounds of the ancient elite.
The education board had been studying a roughly 3,000-sq.-meter plot of land as part of an effort to replot the city's roads. The mounds found form a hill measuring about 40 meters by 27 meters.