Abstract
This study documents a rare case of mummified human remains from Japan, dating to the late Heian period, 12th Century AD. The remains have only been scientifically investigated once in 1950 so far. The results of this investigation were translated, analyzed, and interpreted using methods of the 21st century. The remains have been traditionally identified as the four ruling generations of the Ōshū Fujiwara clan, who built a cultural and economic center in Hiraizumi. Accordingly, this paper will first examine the historical and cultural significance of Hiraizumi and its ruling class before re-evaluating the findings of the 1950 investigation. This study is the first in the Western scientific literature to provide a comprehensive historical, cultural, and medical evaluation of these mummies.
Highlights
Introduction and methodThis study documents a rare case of mummified human remains in Japan, dating to the late Heian period, 12th Century AD
Since the mummies themselves are currently inaccessible for scientific inquiries, this study is based primarily on the 1950 investigation report, a 1994 revised version of this investigation report (Chūsonji goitai gakujutsu chōsa, 1994), as well as a more recent reassessment of some of the xrays from the 1950 investigation [1]
Since the overviews in the western scientific literature [2,3,4] are relatively limited, this study aims to provide access to so far untranslated and inaccessible parts of the original investigation report
Summary
This study documents a rare case of mummified human remains in Japan, dating to the late Heian period, 12th Century AD. Since the mummies themselves are currently inaccessible for scientific inquiries, this study is based primarily on the 1950 investigation report, a 1994 revised version of this investigation report (Chūsonji goitai gakujutsu chōsa, 1994), as well as a more recent reassessment of some of the xrays from the 1950 investigation [1]. The paper’s medical part is heavily based on the original investigation reports, the radiology report written by Taruzawa Sannosuke [5, 6] (Chūsonji to Fujiwara yondai, 1950, 67–82, and Chūsonji goitai gakujutsu chōsa, 1994, 100–147) with some adaptions to modern medical terminology. Indications about sources in this part are only made where important or necessary, such as comparisons to the re-evaluation [1]
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