, officially Sacred Island of Okinoshima and Associated Sites in the Munakata Region, is a group of sites in northwest
Kyūshū
is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surround ...
, Japan, that was inscribed on the
UNESCO World Heritage List in 2017, under criteria
ii and iii.
Background
The three Munakata
kami are said in the ''
Kojiki
The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...
'' and ''
Nihon Shoki'' to be daughters of
Amaterasu
Amaterasu, also known as Amaterasu Ōmikami () or Ōhirume no Muchi no Kami (), is the goddess of the sun in Japanese mythology. One of the major deities (''kami'') of Shinto, she is also portrayed in Japan's earliest literary texts, the ''Kojik ...
, spawned upon the sun-goddess' consumption of giant swords.
Okitsu-Miya on the island of
Okinoshima is part of the
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 ...
complex of
Munakata Taisha
is a collection of three Shinto shrines located in Munakata, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is the head of the approximately 6,000 Munakata shrines all over the country. Although the name Munakata Taisha refers to all three shrines—Hetsu-gū, ...
; no formal shrine buildings were constructed on the island; instead rock piles or
yorishiro provided the focus for veneration. Over 80,000 artefacts were ritually deposited at the site from the fourth to the tenth centuries.
These have been
designated
Designation (from Latin ''designatio'') is the process of determining an incumbent's successor. A candidate that won an election for example, is the ''designated'' holder of the office the candidate has been elected to, up until the candidate's i ...
a
National Treasure
The idea of national treasure, like national epics and national anthems, is part of the language of romantic nationalism, which arose in the late 18th century and 19th centuries. Nationalism is an ideology that supports the nation as the fundame ...
. They include mirrors and bronze
dragon
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
-head finials from
Wei
Wei or WEI may refer to:
States
* Wey (state) (衛, 1040–209 BC), Wei in pinyin, but spelled Wey to distinguish from the bigger Wei of the Warring States
* Wei (state) (魏, 403–225 BC), one of the seven major states of the Warring States per ...
China; gold rings and horse-trappings similar to those found in
Silla tombs in Korea; and fragments of a glass bowl from
Sassanian Persia.
The , powerful local rulers, controlled the route to the continent and "presided over the rituals".
The many
kofun
are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century CE.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞典』 ...
or tumuli in the area are believed to be their burial ground.
Component Sites
Original submission
The following sites were included in the original nomination, but were excluded from the final inscription:
See also
*
List of National Treasures of Japan (archaeological materials)
*
Yorishiro
*
World Heritage Sites in Japan
References
{{Reflist
External links
Okinoshima Island and Related Sites in Munakata RegionProposal documentPamphlet
History of Fukuoka Prefecture
Japanese culture
World Heritage Sites in Japan