The , also known as "Yuge-ji", or under the alternative ''
kanji
are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...
'' "弓削寺跡", 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 ...
with the ruins of a
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 ...
Buddhist temple
A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism represen ...
located in the Higashiyuge neighborhood of the city of
Yao, Osaka,
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 temple no longer exists, but the temple grounds were designated as a
National Historic Site in 2018.
Overview
The temple ruins are located on in former Yuge-go, Wakae-gun,
Kawachi Province
was a province of Japan in the eastern part of modern Osaka Prefecture. It originally held the southwestern area that was split off into Izumi Province. It was also known as .
Geography
The area was radically different in the past, with Kawachi ...
, which was the ancestral home of the Yuge clan, local gentry whose most famous member was the monk
Dōkyō
was a Japanese monk of the Hossō sect of Buddhism and a prominent political figure in the Nara period.
Early life
Dōkyō was born in Kawachi Province. His family, the Yuge no Muraji, were part of the provincial gentry. He was taught both by ...
(700-772), the favorite of
Empress Shōtoku
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...
who made a failed attempt to usurp the
Imperial throne. From the name of the temple, it is assumed that this was the clan temple for the Yuge clan, and the ruins are located near the Yuge Jinja, a
Shinto shrine
A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion.
Overview
Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings.
The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...
in which the ancestors of the Yuge clan are venerated as ''
kami
are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...
''. The temple appears in documentary literature at the end of 742 AD. It is also mentioned in the ''
Shoku Nihongi
The is an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 797, it is the second of the ''Six National Histories'', coming directly after the '' Nihon Shoki'' and followed by ''Nihon Kōki''. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Mamichi ...
'' in an entry dated 765 AD, in which the Empress Kōken sponsored a memorial service at the temple with a donation of food for 200 families. It reappears in an entry for 770 AD noting the building of a
pagoda. The year 770 is significant, as this was the period during which Empress Shōtoku had attempted to make Dōkyō emperor. A new imperial palace, the had been constructed in Wakae-gun, and the surrounding area had been earmarked for a new capital city, which was have replaced
Heijō-kyō
was the Capital of Japan during most of the Nara period, from 710 to 740 and again from 745 to 784. The imperial palace is a listed UNESCO World Heritage together with other places in the city of Nara (cf. Historic Monuments of Ancient ...
. These plans ended with the deposition and subsequent exile of Dōkyō, and Yuge-dera also disappears from the historical record; however, there is a theory that the temple of which appears in the ''Shoku Nihongi'' after this date is the same temple, and a temple named "弓削寺", which has the same pronunciation as "由義寺" is recorded in documents dated 1186.
The site of Yuge-ji was located in 2016, when a large quantity of
roof tiles from the latter half of the Nara period were found. These tiles are identical to those used in the great national temples of
Tōdai-ji and
Kōfuku-ji. In subsequent
archaeological excavation
In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...
s, the foundations of a pagoda measuring 20 meters on each side were unearthed. This would correspond to a tower on the same scale as
Daian-ji
was founded during the Asuka period and is one of the Seven Great Temples of Nara, Japan.
History
The Nihon Shoki records the founding of the , predecessor of the Daian-ji, in 639 during the reign of Emperor Jomei. A nine-story pagoda was ...
in
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 i ...
, which was a seven-story tower, and would correspond to a temple sponsored by Dōkyō.
The pagoda was destroyed by fire before the
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 ...
. In August 2017, further foundations of various buildings were found, along with the remains of a canal approximately 500 meters to the northeast of the pagoda foundation. It is believed that this canal was constructed to transport building materials needed to construct the temple. The site was proclaimed a National Historic Site in February 2018.
See also
*
List of Historic Sites of Japan (Osaka)
References
External links
Yao city home page{{in lang, ja
Yao, Osaka
Kawachi Province
Nara period
Historic Sites of Japan
Buddhist archaeological sites in Japan