Revealed - the 'Pompeii' of Japan: Scientists unearth body of 6th century Japanese 'warrior'

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

The remains of a 1,400-year-old Japanese warrior wearing body armour has been found by archaeologists at a site known as the 'Pompeii of Japan'.
The body of the sixth-century Kofun-period man had been buried by hot ash from an erupting volcano and as a result has been well preserved.
The fact that the body was found facing the direction from which the molten rock flowed has led archaeologists to believe the warrior had tried to calm its wrath as it flowed towards his settlement.

Buried alive: The dig reveals a well-preserved body of a sixth-century warrior in a suit of armour found at the Kanai Higashiura dig, 110km north of Tokyo

Brave: Judging by the position of the warrior's legs, it's likely he fell forward from a kneeling position, leading archaeologists to think he was trying to calm the wrath of the volcano

Although 600 armoured suits have been recovered by archaeologists over the years, they tend to be found in tombs placed next to the owner. Never before has one been found on its owner.
The suit, known as kozaneko or keiko would have been made by craftsmen binding small iron plates with thin leather strips and imported by horse from the Korean Peninsula.
This evidence combined with the man's armour, which for its time was a sophisticated import, suggests he was of a high-caste.

 'Under normal circumstances, you would flee if pyroclastic flows are rushing toward you and bringing waves of heat. But this person died facing it,' said Shinichiro Ohki, of Gunma Archaeological Research Foundation to AFP.

WHY SITE IS THE POMPEII OF JAPAN

The Kanai Higashiura site was buried under ash following the eruption of Harunayama Futatsudake in the early 6th century (it would erupt again in the mid-6th century).
Nearby sites Kuroimine and Nakasuji were also affected, their levels of preservation prompting researchers to call them 'the Pompeii of Japan', after the Roman city of Pompeii that was buried and preserved by the ash from Mount Vesuvius in AD79.

'Maybe, if he were someone of a high position, he might have been praying, or doing something in the direction of the volcano and attempting to appease its anger.'
'The armour indicates the person wearing it was someone of a high position, like a regional leader,' Ohki told AFP, adding studies would be carried out to see if the man was related to occupants of ancient tombs in the region.'
The remains, along with a part of an childs's skull, were found in the Kanai Higashiura dig in Gunma prefecture, roughly 110 kilometres (70 miles) northwest of Tokyo, at the site of the volcanic Mount Haruna that erupted in the early part of the 500s
The area is commonly referred to as 'Pompeii of Japan' a reference to the Roman city buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79.

Historic ruins: The area in which the warrior has been found is referred to as the Japanese Pompeii, because like the Roman city of Pompeii (pictured) it was buried and preserved by the ash from a volcano