UNESCO decided Saturday to add to the World Heritage list two tumulus clusters in western Japan, which represent an ancient burial system and the hierarchy of society at the time.
The sites, comprised of 49 tombs in Osaka Prefecture and collectively called Mozu-Furuichi tumulus clusters, include the country's largest keyhole-shaped mound named after Emperor Nintoku, who is said to have reigned in the fourth century.
The Emperor Nintoku mausoleum, officially called Daisen Kofun, is part of the Mozu cluster in Sakai and is 486 meters long. It is said to be one of the three largest mounded tombs in the world, along with the mausoleum of the first Qin emperor in China and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.