The were guest houses for foreign ambassadors, traveling monks, and merchants that existed in Japan during the
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. ...
and earlier. These guest houses existed in
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
,
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
, and
Fukuoka
is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...
. Only the location of the ''kōrokan'' in Fukuoka is known with precision today; its ruins were discovered on the grounds of
Maizuru Castle Park
was a Japanese castle located in the city of Kōfu, Yamanashi Prefecture, in the Chubu region of Japan. The site has been protected as a National Historic Site since 2019. The castle is also known as Maizuru Castle, and the present-day surroundi ...
in 1987. The word was coined in the Heian period by using the first two characters from the Chinese name 鴻臚寺 for Han dynasty and Qi dynasty temples charged with the responsibility of hosting foreign dignitaries. Though the word is Heian in origin, the ''kōrokan'' in Fukuoka and Osaka were already in use in the
Asuka period
The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710 (or 592 to 645), although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after t ...
.
Tsukushi Kōrokan (Fukuoka)
The guest house in Fukuoka is called in Heian sources, after the name of
Tsukushi Province
was an Old provinces of Japan, ancient province of Japan, in the area of Chikuzen Province, Chikuzen and Chikugo Province, Chikugo provinces. This province was located within Fukuoka Prefecture.Louis-Frédéric, Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005 ...
, which is part of
Fukuoka Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Fukuoka Prefecture has a population of 5,109,323 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,986 Square kilometre, km2 (1,925 sq mi). Fukuoka Prefecture borders S ...
today. The
Nihon Shoki mentions that Prince Kim Sang-nim of
Silla
Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of K ...
was entertained at in 688, an early reference to the facility.
The Buddhist monk
Ennin
, better known in Japan by his posthumous name, Jikaku Daishi (), was a priest of the Tendai school of Buddhism in Japan, and its third . Ennin was instrumental in expanding the Tendai Order's influence, and bringing back crucial training and re ...
noted in his
diary
A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...
that he passed through the ''kōrokan'' in 847 on his way back from a nine year pilgrimage in China, the first reference to the guest house using its Heian name in the historical record. The ''kōrokan'' was damaged by a fire in 1047. The last reference in the historical record tells us that the Song merchant ''Li Jujian'' (李居簡) copied a sutra there in 1091. By the eleventh century the imperial government no longer held a monopoly on trade with the Asian mainland and the importance of the ''kōrokan'' had diminished.
Fukuoka Castle
is a Japanese castle located in Chūō-ku, Fukuoka, Japan. It is also known as Maizuru Castle (舞鶴城 Maizuru-jō) or Seki Castle (石城 Seki-jō). Completed in the early Edo period for ''tozama daimyō'' Kuroda Nagamasa, it has been decreed ...
was constructed on the hill to the west of the kōrokan in 1601–1607. During the Edo period historians of the Fukuoka domain thought the ''kōrokan'' had been located further east on the other side of the
Naka River in
Hakata-ku. In the
Meiji era
The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912.
The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...
the castle fortifications became obsolete and many of them were demolished, though the area continued to serve as a military base.
Heijiro Nakayama discovered ancient tiles inside some barracks in 1915 and published research which proposed that the castle ruins were the site of the ''kōrokan'' in 1926.
Heiwadai Stadium
was a ballpark located in the Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. From 1950 to 1978, it served as the home ballpark of the Nishitetsu Lions, a team in Nippon Professional Baseball's (NPB) Pacific League. It also briefly served as the home stadi ...
was built over the site of the ''kōrokan'' in 1949.
The remains of the ''kōrokan'' were discovered in 1987 during a renovation of the stadium. When the stadium was closed in 1997, an archaeological excavation was performed on the site and the oldest
stratum
In geology and related fields, a stratum ( : strata) is a layer of rock or sediment characterized by certain lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by visible surfaces known as ei ...
was dated to the Asuka period. It was shown that during the Heian period, the ''kōrokan'' consisted of a north and south building with stone walls, each surrounding a central courtyard.
Yue ware
Yue or Yueh ( ) may refer to:
Places
* Guangdong, abbreviated (), a province of China
* Yue Nan (), the Chinese name for Vietnam
* Zhejiang, commonly abbreviated (), a province of China
Languages
* Yue Chinese, a branch of Chinese, spoken ...
and
Islamic glass
The influence of the Islamic world to the history of glass is reflected by its distribution around the world, from Europe to China, and from Russia to East Africa. Islamic glass developed a unique expression that was characterized by the introdu ...
were discovered on the site. The stands on the site today.
File:Fukuoka_Kourokan_2010A.jpg, Korokan Ruins Museum
File:Fukuoka_Kourokan_2010B.jpg, Korokan Ruins
Naniwa Kōrokan (Osaka)
The Osaka ''kōrokan'' is thought to have been located in the
Naniwa ward
is one of 24 wards of Japan, wards of Osaka, Japan. It has an area of 4.37 km², and a population of 51,567.
General information
Largely a residential area itself, Naniwa-ku is adjacent to and has in recent years blurred into the Namb ...
of Osaka. In 561 a delegation from Silla was received there. The
Shoku Nihon Kōki
is an officially commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 869, it is the fourth volume in the Six National Histories. It covers the years 833–850.
Background
Following the earlier national history ''Nihon Kōki'' (840), in 855 Emperor ...
says that the guest house was shut down in 844 and its function taken over by the government office of
Settsu Province
was a province of Japan, which today comprises the southeastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as or .
Osaka and Osaka Castle were the main center of the province. Most of Settsu's ...
.
Heian-kyo Kōrokan (Kyoto)
When the imperial capital moved to
Heian-kyō
Heian-kyō was one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. It was the official capital of Japan for over one thousand years, from 794 to 1868 with an interruption in 1180.
Emperor Kanmu established it as the capital in 794, mov ...
, modern day Kyoto, in 794, a ''kōrokan'' was initially built at the south gate of the city. In the
Kōnin era (810-824) it was replaced by an east guest house near
Tō-ji
, also known as is a Shingon Buddhist temple in the Minami-ku ward of Kyoto, Japan.
Founded in 796, it was one of the only three Buddhist temples allowed in the city at the time it became the capital of Japan. As such it has a long history, ho ...
Temple and a west guest house near
Sai-ji
or the ''West Temple'' was one of the two large Buddhist temples established in Kyoto, Japan.
History
Sai-ji was founded in the early Heian period.Ponsonby-Fane, Richard. (1956). ''Kyoto: The Old Capital of Japan, 794-1869,'' p. 111. The templ ...
Temple. Emissaries from
Balhae
Balhae ( ko, 발해, zh, c=渤海, p=Bóhǎi, russian: Бохай, translit=Bokhay, ), also rendered as Bohai, was a multi-ethnic kingdom whose land extends to what is today Northeast China, the Korean Peninsula and the Russian Far East. It wa ...
were often guests.
File:Higashi-kourokan-ato (Heian-kyo).JPG, Tōkōrokan (east guest house) Monument
File:Nishi-kourokan-ato_(Heian-kyo).JPG, Nishikōrokan (west guest house) Explanation Board
The Heian-kyo ''kōrokan'' is mentioned in the first chapter of ''
The Tale of Genji''. The novel's protagonist,
Hikaru Genji
is the protagonist of Murasaki Shikibu's important Heian-era Japanese novel '' The Tale of Genji''. The story describes him as a superbly handsome man and a genius. Genji is the second son of a Japanese emperor, but he is relegated to civilia ...
, was sent when he was a seven years old to see an expert physiognomist from
Goryeo
Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...
staying at the ''kōrokan''. The physiognomist sees signs that Hikaru is destined to achieve a "sovereign's supreme eminence".
External Links
Korokan Ruins MuseumFukuoka City Guide: Korokan Historical Museum
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Korokan
Archaeological sites in Japan
Historic Sites of Japan