was a late

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

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

settlement in what is now part of the city of

Ōshū Oshu or Ōshū may refer to: *Another name for Mutsu Province, a former Japanese province *Ōshū, Iwate, Japan, a city *Northern Fujiwara The Northern Fujiwara (奥州藤原氏 ''Ōshū Fujiwara-shi'') were a Japanese kuge, noble Japanese c ...

Iwate Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It is the second-largest Japanese prefecture at , with a population of 1,210,534 (as of October 1, 2020). Iwate Prefecture borders Aomori Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefectur ...

, Japan. It is protected by the central government as a National Historic Site.

Overview

In what is now the city of Ōshū, the

Kitakami River The is the fourth largest river in Japan and the largest in the Tōhoku region. It is long and drains an area of . page 793 It flows through mostly rural areas of Iwate and Miyagi Prefectures. The source of the river is the Mount Nanashir ...

makes a 180 degree bend. This was a naturally defensive location, and the 8th son of Abe no Yoritoki built a fortified settlement at this location towards the end of the Heian period. This was destroyed by the

Minamoto clan was one of the surnames bestowed by the Emperors of Japan upon members of the imperial family who were excluded from the line of succession and demoted into the ranks of the nobility from 1192 to 1333. The practice was most prevalent during the ...

during the Former Nine Years' War of 1051 to 1063. At the time of the

Gosannen War The Gosannen War (後三年合戦, ''gosannen kassen''), also known as the Later Three-Year War, was fought in the late 1080s in Japan's Mutsu Province on the island of Honshū. History The Gosannen War was part of a long struggle for power ...

(1083-1089),

Fujiwara no Kiyohira was a samurai of mixed Japanese-Emishi parentage of the late Heian period (794–1185), who was the founder of the Hiraizumi or Northern Fujiwara dynasty that ruled Northern Japan from about 1100 to 1189. Biography Kiyohira was the son of Fujiw ...

occupied this location and built a palace. As a result of archaeological excavations in 2003 and 2017, it was confirmed that this location was fortified with a moat and earthen rampart, and had a pier and a crafts production area. It appeared to be both a center for riverine traffic on the Kitakami River, but also a manufacturing location supporting the Northern Fujiwara capital of

Hiraizumi is a town located in Nishiiwai District, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 7,408 and a population density of in 2,616 households. The total area of the town was . It is noted for the Historic Monuments and Sit ...

. A number of crystal beads (1.8 cm in diameter) that closely resembles the beads on statues at the temple of Chuson-ji were found, along with many Chinese and domestic ceramics shards and broken

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. The remains of a blacksmith's forge were also found. A porcelain kiln remained functioning at this location into the Kamakura periods and a village existed until 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 characteriz ...

. The site received protection as a National Historic Site in 1997, together with the

Yanagi-no-Gosho The was the late Heian period palace complex of the Northern Fujiwara clan, the rulers of Hiraizumi, in what is now southern Iwate Prefecture, Japan. It is protected by the central government as a National Historic Site. Overview Victorious i ...

ruins in Hiraizumi and the Chōjagahara temple ruins in Ōshū. It was included in the original 2006 nomination of "Hiraizumi - Cultural Landscape Associated with Pure Land Buddhist Cosmology". However, it was removed from the nomination after the failure to secure inscription in 2008, although there are continuing efforts to secure its inclusion through future extension. The site is about 3 kilometers southeast of Maesawa Station on

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

References

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External links

Iwate prefecture site
Ōshū, Iwate Historic Sites of Japan Archaeological sites in Japan History of Iwate Prefecture Mutsu Province

Overview

See also

References

External links