These were first built in the late 4th century. The coffin and lid are decorated in relief and line carvings with patterns of circles, triangles, arcs, and lines. They can be found from northern Kyushu to the coastal areas along the Sea of Japan.

These were first built beginning in the late 4th to early 5th centuries in the coastal regions along the Yatsushiro (Shiranui) Sea. These tombs have a square-shaped stone chamber with stone slabs decorated in relief and line carvings with circles, shields, arrows, and other designs. Sekisho tombs began to spread from the Uto Peninsula to northern Kumamoto in the first half of the 5th century before spreading to the Kikuchi River Basin in the 6th century. These tombs were originally decorated just with relief carvings, but starting northward from the Yatsushiro Sea and the Uto Peninsula to Kumamoto City, the raised areas of the relief carvings began to be painted in red, yellow, green (gray), and other colors.

Hekiga tombs became more common in northern Kyushu beginning in the 6th century and are characterized by colorful decorations. In Kumamoto, walls of burial chambers built starting in the first half of the 6th century were decorated with patterns of circles and repeated triangles. Burial chambers built later frequently featured illustrative decorations, like pictures of people, horses, and weapons.

Decorated Yokoana tombs (horizontal tombs dug into hillsides and mountainsides) started becoming more common in the mid-6th century. Decorations can also be found on non-burial chamber walls, which is something that differs from other tomb styles. Some of the decorations that depict people, arrows, and shields are believed to have been made to ward off evil.