Karako-Kagi
唐古・鍵遺跡 · Karako Site · Kagi Moated Yayoi · Tawaramoto Karako
Yayoi 400 BCE–400 CE (Middle Yayoi peak 100 BCE–200 CE)·Yayoi (Kinki Nara Basin)·🇯🇵 Nara Prefecture, Shiki District, Tawaramoto Town, central Nara Basin, Japan
About
About Karako-Kagi
Nara Basin's Yayoi megacity — Karako-Kagi (c.400 BCE–400 CE) double-moated Yayoi city with 110,000 m2 interior (outer moat 1.2 km), interior radial ditch system and watchtowers, rebuilt 5-times. Excavated since 1938 (S. Umehara, Nara Prefecture): raised-floor granaries (30 pillar base), bronze casting (dotaku/mirror), imported Izumo–Tottori ceramics, and archaic-looking circular cistern. Karako-Kagi is the Yayoi rice-surplus exemplar paralleling Yoshinogari in Kinki, disproving Kyushu exclusivism and providing the granary-centric polity model later manifest at Makimuku–Hashihaka.
Why it mattersKinki's Yayoi type-city — Karako-Kagi quantifies Yayoi rice surplus (30 granaries) fixing Kinki's claim as co-primary with Yoshinogari.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 0130 granaries — communal or chief's tribute silos?
- 02Double moat simultaneous or phase expansion?
Theories
- 01Karako granary model as direct Makimuku Kofun labour-organisation precursor
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c.400 BCE Middle Yayoi founding; double moat c.100 CE
- Period
- Yayoi 400 BCE–400 CE (Middle Yayoi peak 100 BCE–200 CE)
- Culture
- Yayoi (Kinki Nara Basin)
- Builders
- Central Nara Basin Yayoi rice colonists
- Purpose
- Basin-centre granary-fortress storing Nara rice tax and casting prestige bronzes (dotaku, mirrors)
- Abandoned
- c.400 CE Kofun absorption to Makimuku
- Rediscovered
- 1938 Takahashi discovery; 1940– Umehara Kyoto University large moat exposure
- Excavation
- Excavation ongoing
c.400 BCE
Single moat hamlet on Nara Basin alluvial terrace
c.100 BCE–200 CE
Double moat 1.2 km, 30 granaries, bronze foundry — Yayoi peak rice surplus
1940
Umehara exposes outer moat and granary pillar bases
1977–
Tawaramoto museum and moat park reconstruction
On the ground
Structures & features
34.5510° N · 135.7830° E · 55 m · 2 mapped features
Karako-Kagi Outer Moat and Bank
moatOuter V-moat 6 m wide 1.2 km circuit with bank and palisade trace (west arc)
34.5513° N · 135.7826° EKarako-Kagi Inner Granary Precinct
granaryInner enclosure 110k m2 with 30 raised-floor chestnut granary post clusters (centre)
34.5507° N · 135.7834° E
Gallery