The was a Buddhist temple in located in the Kokubunchō neighborhood of the city of Suzuka,

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefectur ...

in the

Kansai region The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropoli ...

of Japan. It was the

provincial temple were Buddhist temples established in each of the provinces of Japan by Emperor Shōmu during the Nara period (710 – 794). History Shōmu (701 – 756?) decreed both a ''kokubun-ji'' for monks and a for nuns to be established in eac ...

("kokubunji") of former

Ise Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today includes most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered on Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History The name of Ise appears ...

. Its location is now an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...

, which has been preserved as a National Historic Site since 1922.

Overview

The '' Shoku Nihongi'' records that in 741 AD, as the country recovered from a major smallpox epidemic,

Emperor Shōmu was the 45th emperor of Japan, Imperial Household Agency (''Kunaichō'') 聖武天皇 (45)/ref> according to the traditional order of succession. Shōmu's reign spanned the years 724 through 749, during the Nara period. Traditional narrative ...

ordered that a monastery and nunnery be established in every

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, the . These temples were built to a semi-standardized template, and served both to spread Buddhist orthodoxy to the provinces, and to emphasize the power of the

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from CE 710 to 794. Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō (present-day Nara). Except for a five-year period (740–745), when the capital was briefly moved again, it remained the c ...

centralized government under the ''

Ritsuryō , , is the historical law system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Chinese Legalism in Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (律令制). ''Kyaku'' (格) are amendments of Ritsuryō, ''Shiki'' ...

'' system. The Ise Kokubun-ji is located on a

fluvial terrace Fluvial terraces are elongated terraces that flank the sides of floodplains and fluvial valleys all over the world. They consist of a relatively level strip of land, called a "tread", separated from either an adjacent floodplain, other fluvial t ...

on the north bank of then Suzuka River in northern Mie Prefecture at an elevation of 43 meters. The site is located near the route of the Tōkaidō highway connecting the capital with the eastern provinces of Japan, and near the Ise Kokufu, or

provincial capital A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the g ...

of Ise Province, and there are abundant sites from the

Yayoi period The started at the beginning of the Neolithic in Japan, continued through the Bronze Age, and towards its end crossed into the Iron Age. Since the 1980s, scholars have argued that a period previously classified as a transition from the Jōmon ...

and Kofun period in the near vicinity. The history of this temple is very uncertain. It is believed to have been built in 741 AD, soon after the order to build the ''kokubunji'' temples in each province was issued. The area had been dominated by the Oshika clan since the Kofun period and there are many ancient

burial mounds A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones built ...

in the vicinity. In 809 AD, it was recorded that the priest of the Shima Kokubun-ji was ordered to be transferred to the Ise Kokubun-ji. The temple reappears in the ''

Engishiki The is a Japanese book about laws and customs. The major part of the writing was completed in 927. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Engi-shiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 178. History In 905, Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of th ...

'' records in 927 AD, but it then disappears from the historical record. In 1186,

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...

ordered that the ''

shugo , commonly translated as “(military) governor,” “protector,” or “constable,” was a title given to certain officials in feudal Japan. They were each appointed by the ''shōgun'' to oversee one or more of the provinces of Japan. The pos ...

'' in each province on the Tōkaidō repair the ''kokubunji'' in their respective territories, but no mention is made in the order of the Ise Kokubun-ji. According to one account, the ruins of the South Gate were still standing until the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

Edo Period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

maps, such as the "Map of Famous Places of the Tokaido" from the

Kansei was a after '' Tenmei'' and before '' Kyōwa''. This period spanned the years from January 1789 through February 1801. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * 1789 : The new era name of '' Kansei'' (meaning "Tolerant Government" or "Broad-m ...

era (1789-1801) give the place name of "kokubunji", but make no mention that a temple existed, and a traveller's amount from the Horeki era (1751-1764) mentions that

roof tile A roof ( : roofs or rooves) is the top covering of a building, including all materials and constructions necessary to support it on the walls of the building or on uprights, providing protection against rain, snow, sunlight, extremes of temper ...

s could be found scattered in the area. Although the site was proclaimed a National Historic Site in 1921, the first archaeological excavation did not take place until 1988, and during the interim traces of an earthen rampart on the west and south edges of the site were destroyed despite their "protected" status. From 1988 to 2009, 35 excavations have been conducted. The original design of the temple was a walled square area, 180 meters on each a side. The alignment of buildings consisted of a South Gate, Middle Gate,

Kondō Kondō, Kondo or Kondou (近藤 "near wisteria") is a surname prominent in Japanese culture, although it also occurs in other countries. Notable people with the surname include: * , Japanese ballet dancer * Dorinne K. Kondo, anthropologist * Kond ...

, Lecture Hall, and monks quarters all arranged in a straight line from south to north, with a

Cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

connecting the Middle Gate to the sides of the Kondō. This follows the arrangement of

Tōdai-ji is a Buddhist temple complex that was once one of the powerful Seven Great Temples, located in the city of Nara, Japan. Though it was originally founded in the year 738 CE, Tōdai-ji was not opened until the year 752 CE. The temple has undergo ...

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

, the head temple of the ''kokubunji'' system; however, the Ise Kokubun-ji deviates significantly from this template by having two secondary walled compounds within the main enclosure, to the east of the main buildings. The one to the northeast measures 64 meters east-to-west by 90 meters north-to-south, with a gate to the south, which contained a number of buildings and refuse middens. It is speculated that this was a place where food was prepared and/or possibly a hospital. The second small compound is 45 meters by 30 meters. There is speculation that this smaller enclosure held the

Pagoda A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...

, as neither it, nor the ''

Kyōzō in Japanese Buddhist architecture is a repository for sūtras and chronicles of the temple history. It is also called , , or . In ancient times the ''kyōzō'' was placed opposite the belfry on the east–west axis of the temple. The earliest ex ...

'' or ''

Shōrō The two main types of bell tower in Japan The or is the bell tower of a Buddhist temple in Japan, housing the temple's . It can also be found at some Shinto shrines which used to function as temples (see article '' Shinbutsu shūgō''), as ...

'' have been found, but as the site has not been fully excavated, this remain uncertain The was opened adjacent to the site in 1998. It is about a 15-minute walk from Kawano Station on the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, an ...

Kansai Main Line The is a railway line in Japan, which connects Nagoya Station with JR Namba Station in Osaka. It is jointly run by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West), with the boundary between both compan ...

Gallery

File:Ise Kokubunji kondou.JPG, Kondō ruins File:Ise Kokubunji koudou.JPG, Lecture Hall ruins File:Ise Kokubunji chumon.JPG, Middle Gate ruins File:Suzuka Municipal Museum of Archaeology gaikan.JPG, Suzuka Museum of Archaeology File:Ise Kokubunji gaikan-2.JPG, Overview

References

External links

Suzuka CIty Museum of Archaeology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ise Kokubun-ji Nara period Suzuka, Mie Ise Province History of Mie Prefecture Historic Sites of Japan Buddhist archaeological sites in Japan

Overview

Gallery

See also

References

External links