Fushimi no Momoyama no Misasagi (the imperial mausoleum of the Emperor Meiji) (伏見桃山陵)
Situated in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, Fushimi no Momoyama no Misasagi is the imperial mausoleum of the Emperor Meiji. The mausoleum has a circular-shaped mound on a square base, which is said to have been modeled after the ancient style, and the mausoleum hill is covered with pebbles. Just east of here lies "Fushimi no Momoyama no Higashi no Misasagi" (the mausoleum of the Empress Dowager Shoken). The site where Fushimi no Momoyama no Misasagi lies is where Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI once constructed the donjon of the Fushimi-jo Castle, and it is said to have been the will of the Emperor Meiji that the mausoleum should be made in Kyoto. The whole area around here is under control of Imperial Household Agency, and its Archives and Mausolea Department Momoyama regional office exists here, which controls the imperial mausolea spreading from the southwestern part of Kyoto City to the areas along former Sanyo-do Road and former Saikai-do Road.
Summary
The mausoleum has a circular-shaped mound on a square base, and a side of the square is about 60 meters long, and the top of the mound is 6.3 meters high.
When the mausoleum was constructed, a square pit was dug at first, and then the inner wall was shored up with concrete, and thirdly the wooden box keeping the coffin in was laid down. The empty spaces of the wooden box were filled with lime, and a stone cover placed, finally being shored up with concrete.
The design of a circular-shaped mound on a square base is said to have been modeled after "Gobyono Kofun" (the ancient burial mound of the Emperor Tenchi).
The Emperor Komei living in the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate was not cremated when he died, nor was the next Emperor Meiji, so their funerals were carried out in the ancient style as those preceding the Emperor Tenmu.
This information comes from "Sanryo," which was written in 1925 and was enlarged in 1929 by Takejiro UENO, an officer of former Imperial Household Ministry.