The was the 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. ...

palace complex of the Northern Fujiwara clan, the rulers 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 ...

, in what is now southern

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

Victorious in 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 ...

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 ...

relocated his seat from Iwayadō Castle, in present-day Esashi Ward,

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 ...

City, Iwate prefecture, to a new location on Mount Kanzan in what is now Hiraizumi, sometime between the year 1090 to 1100 AD. There appear to be three main reasons for his choice of site. First was its location directly on the

Ōshū Kaidō The was one of the five routes of the Edo period. It was built to connect Edo (modern-day Tokyo) with Mutsu Province and the present-day city of Shirakawa, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. It was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu for government of ...

, the main highway leading south to the capital and other major cities and north to the lands he controlled. Secondly it was determined to be the center of his realm, as measured from the

Shirakawa Barrier The is the location of a frontier fortification on the Ōshū Kaidō highway in what is now the Hatajuku neighborhood of the city of Shirakawa, Fukushima Japan, three kilometers south of the border of Tochigi Prefecture The site was designated a ...

in the south to Sotogahama in present-day

Aomori Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan in the Tōhoku region. The prefecture's capital, largest city, and namesake is the city of Aomori. Aomori is the northernmost prefecture on Japan's main island, Honshu, and is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the eas ...

in the north. Thirdly the location is on the south side of the Koromo River, in what had traditionally been Japanese (as opposed to Emishi) territory. The palace was used by his son

Fujiwara no Motohira was the second ruler of Northern Fujiwara in Mutsu Province, Japan, the son of Fujiwara no Kiyohira and the father of Fujiwara no Hidehira. Fujiwara no Motohira is credited with expansion of Hiraizumi, the residence of Northern Fujiwara. In par ...

, grandson

Fujiwara no Hidehira was the third ruler of Northern Fujiwara in Mutsu Province, Japan, the grandson of Fujiwara no Kiyohira. During the Genpei War, he controlled his territory independently of the central government; however, he was the official imperial governor f ...

and great-grandson

Fujiwara no Yasuhira was the fourth ruler of Northern Fujiwara in Mutsu Province, Japan, the second son of Hidehira. At first protecting Yoshitsune, according to his father's will, he was finally forced by Minamoto no Yoritomo to attack Yoshitsune. Yoshitsune, rat ...

. However, the palace was burned to the ground in 1189, when

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 ...

destroyed the North Fujiwara clan. The name "Yanagi-no-gosho" is not contemporary and appears to have been derived from the legend of

Minamoto no Yoshitsune was a military commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. During the Genpei War, he led a series of battles which toppled the Ise-Heishi branch of the Taira clan, helping his half-brother Yoritomo conso ...

during 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 ...

. In the ''

Azuma Kagami is a Japanese historical chronicle. The medieval text chronicles events of the Kamakura Shogunate from Minamoto no Yoritomo's rebellion against the Taira clan in Izokuni of 1180 to Munetaka Shinnō (the 6th shōgun) and his return to Kyoto in 12 ...

'', the palace is referred to as simply the "Hiraizumikan" (Hiraizumi residence). The site was lost for many years and there was speculation that it had been swept away by changes in the course of 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 ...

over the centuries. However, from 1969, excavations confirmed the location and a detailed survey was conducted over six years from 1988. The palace site has a length of 725 meters and maximum width of 212 meters, and is bordered by the Kitami River to the east and the Nekomagafuchi River to the west. The two rivers are joined by moats, and the center section of the palace was protected by a wooden

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymology ''Palisade' ...

. Excavated artifacts were abundant, and include Chinese white porcelain vases, large

Tokoname is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 57,872 in 24,872 households, and a population density of 1,035 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Tokoname is located on the western coast ...

ceramic pots, various wooden artifacts and earthenware dishes. The foundations of several buildings and the outlines of what was once pond in the gardens were uncovered. The area received protection as a National Historic Site in 1997, together with two sites in the city of

Ōshū, Iwate is a city located in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 114,620 and a population density of 120 persons per km² in 45,728 households. The total area of the city is . Ōshū is famous for its Maesawa Beef, numero ...

; the Shirotoridate ruins and the Chōjagahara temple ruins. 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 was opened as a park in April 2010, with many of the artifacts discovered on display at the Yanagi-no-Gosho Museum at site.

References

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External links

Hiraizumi Tourism Information
11th-century establishments in Japan Hiraizumi, Iwate Historic Sites of Japan Archaeological sites in Japan History of Iwate Prefecture Museums in Iwate Prefecture 1090s establishments in Asia

Overview

See also

References

External links