The is 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 an ...

in what is now the Agata neighborhood of the town of

Tsubata, Ishikawa is a town located in Kahoku District, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 37,694 in 13873 households, and a population density of 430 persons per km2. The total area of the town was . Geography Tsubata is locate ...

in the

Hokuriku region The was located in the northwestern part of Honshu, the main island of Japan. It lay along the Sea of Japan within the Chūbu region, which it is currently a part of. It is almost equivalent to Koshi Province and Hokurikudō area in pre-modern ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 2015.

Overview

The Kamo Site is a complex site where numerous relics from the

Jōmon period The is the time in Japanese history, traditionally dated between 6,000–300 BCE, during which Japan was inhabited by a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united through a common Jōmon culture, which reached a c ...

through the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

have been discovered. It is located on a hillside in the northern part of Tsubata, between the Kahokugata Lagoon and the Hodatsu Mountains, near the border between the provinces of Kaga,

Noto Noto ( scn, Notu; la, Netum) is a city and in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy. It is southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Iblean Mountains. It lends its name to the surrounding area Val di Noto. In 2002 Noto and i ...

and Etchū. The site was initially discovered during construction work on the banks of the Funabashi River in 1953. However, it was not until the year 2000 during construction work on a bypass for

Japan National Route 8 is a major highway in the Hokuriku and Kansai regions of central Japan. The highway begins at an intersection with National Routes 7, 17, 49, 113, and 116 in Chūō-ku, Niigata. It travels southwest across central Honshu, connecting the p ...

that the importance of the site was realized. During 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 cap ...

and then

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

, the route of the

Hokuriku Kaidō Hokuriku may refer to: * ''Hokuriku'' (train), a sleeping car train in Japan * Hokuriku Shinkansen, a high-speed railway line connecting Tokyo with Kanazawa * The Hokuriku region in Japan * ALO's Hokuriku was a Japanese football club based in ...

leading to

Noto Province was a province of Japan in the area that is today the northern part of Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan, including the Noto Peninsula (''Noto-hantō'') which is surrounded by the Sea of Japan. Noto bordered on Etchū and Kaga provinces to the so ...

and two north-to-south canals passed through this site, which was a node for both land and water traffic. In the southern portion of the site were warehouses and merchant buildings, whereas temple ruins along with pottery marked "Kamo-ji" have been found in the northern area. From these remains, it is presumed that this was the site of a local government office which managed the highway and traffic during the Nara and Heian periods. No specific example of such a local government complex have been found elsewhere in Japan, although the existence of such administrative structures appears in written materials Numerous artifacts, including

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, wooden tags, metal bands and fragments of writings were discovered. Of especial note was a wooden signboard for the posting of tolls and official notices, on which the name "Kaga District" appears. This signboard is dated to the

Kashō , also known as Kajō, was a after '' Jōwa'' and before '' Ninju.'' This period spanned the years from June 848 through April 851. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * February 9, 848 : The new era name ''Kashō'' (meaning "goo ...

era, which spanned June 848 through April 851. The board measures 23.7 cm in length, 61.3 cm in width, 1.7 cm in thickness and is currently permanently on display at the Ishikawa Prefectural History Museum. It is an Important Cultural Property.

References

External links

Tsubata home page

{{in lang, ja Nara period History of Ishikawa Prefecture Tsubata, Ishikawa Historic Sites of Japan Archaeological sites in Japan Important Cultural Properties of Japan

Overview

See also

References

External links