The , is a

Nara period The of the history of Japan covers the years from 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 capita ...

Buddhist relic located in the Dotō neighborhood of Naka-ku, in the city of

Sakai, Osaka is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It has been one of the largest and most important seaports of Japan since the medieval era. Sakai is known for its ''kofun'', keyhole-shaped burial mounds dating from the fifth century. The ''kofun' ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It is also referred to as the after the temple on whose grounds it is located. It was designated as a National Historic Site in 1953, with the area under protection expanded in 2005.

Overview

According to the , a

Kamakura period The is a period of History of Japan, Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the G ...

semi-apocryphal biography of

Gyōki was a Japanese Buddhist priest of the Nara period, born in Ōtori county, Kawachi Province (now Sakai, Osaka), the son of Koshi no Saichi. According to one theory, one of his ancestors was of Korean descent. Gyōki became a monk at Asuka-d ...

, the famed priest established the temple of Ōno-ji in 727 AD, and the ''Dotō'' was built per his instructions at that time. This earthen

stupa In Buddhism, a stupa (, ) is a domed hemispherical structure containing several types of sacred relics, including images, statues, metals, and '' śarīra''—the remains of Buddhist monks or nuns. It is used as a place of pilgrimage and m ...

measures 53 meters on each side, with a height of approximately nine meters, and is orientated towards the four cardinal directions. It consists of 13 layers arranged like a

step pyramid A step pyramid or stepped pyramid is an architectural structure that uses flat platforms, or steps, receding from the ground up, to achieve a completed shape similar to a geometric pyramid. Step pyramids – typically large and made of several la ...

constructed by stacking clay blocks side by side, and compacting with soil in the spaces in between. The exposed portion each layer was covered with clay

roof tile Roof tiles are overlapping tiles designed mainly to keep out precipitation such as rain or snow, and are traditionally made from locally available materials such as clay or slate. Later tiles have been made from materials such as concrete, glass ...

s, totaling about 60,000 in all. Of the tiles excavated, some 1300 are inscribed with letters written using spatula-shaped tools. Most of the inscriptions are the names of people various social strata such as monks, gentry, and commoners, who are believed to have donated the tiles as votive offerings. Some of the tiles have the date Jinki 4, which corresponds to the year 727 AD, and thus providing corroboration for the story in the ''Gyōki Nenpu''. The temple of Ōno-ji was abandoned in the

Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...

, but was later revived in the

Edo Period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

. Some of the artifacts recovered from the site (780 engraved roof tiles, 2 round eaves tiles, 4 examples of

Sue ware was a blue-gray form of stoneware pottery fired at high temperature, which was produced in Japan and southern Korea during the Kofun, Nara, and Heian periods of Japanese history. It was initially used for funerary and ritual objects, and orig ...

pottery and 2 coins) were collectively designated a National Important Cultural Property in 2016 and are kept at the Sakai City Museum. The site itself has been restored to what archaeologists and historians believe to have been its original appearance, and opened to the public as a park in 2009. A structure similar to the''Dotō'' is the ''

Zutō The , is a Nara period Buddhist relic located in the Takabatake neighborhood of Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It was designated as a National Historic Site in 1953, with the area under protection expanded in 1922. It is an earthen step pyramid ...

'' in the Takabatake neighborhood of

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

city.

Gallery

File:大野寺跡（土塔）出土「神亀4年」銘軒丸瓦.JPG, Roof tile fragments with date File:Dotō, Panoramic View 001.jpg, view from southwest corner File:Dotō, Tiled Roof 001.jpg, The roof tile of the restored File:Doto002.jpg, View from above File:Oono-ji (Sakai), sanmon.jpg, Modern Ōno-ji File:大野寺跡（土塔）出土品.JPG, Excavated items at Sakai City Museum

References

External links

Sakai city home page

{{in lang, ja Buddhist temples in Osaka Prefecture Sakai, Osaka Izumi Province Nara period Historic Sites of Japan Buddhist archaeological sites in Japan Pyramids in Japan Important Cultural Properties of Japan

Overview

Gallery

See also

References

External links