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 recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

containing the ruins of a large-scale ''

shōen A was a field or Manorialism, manor in Japan. The Japanese language, Japanese term comes from the Tang dynasty Chinese language, Chinese term "莊園" (Mandarin: ''zhuāngyuán'', Cantonese: ''zong1 jyun4''). Shōen, from about the 8th to th ...

'' manor from the

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 ...

, located in what is now part of the city of

Ichinoseki, Iwate is a city located in Iwate Prefecture, in the Tōhoku region of northern Japan. , the city had a population of 114,476 and a population density of 91 persons per km2 in 46,375 households. It is currently the second largest city by population in t ...

in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, , or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains ...

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 ...

. A portion of the site (48.8 hectares) was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 2005.

Overview

The Honederamura Shōen ruins are located in the Genbi neighborhood of Ichinoseki City on a terraced plain on the left bank of the Iwai River east from Mount Kurikoma. The plain is surrounded by low mountains with heights of around 300 meters, and is a well-watered area with natural springs and the Honedera River flowing eastward through the plain to the Iwai River. The ''shōen'' dates from 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 Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

and was originally a donation by the monk Jizaibō Renkō to provide for the upkeep of the ''

Kyōzō in Japanese Buddhist architecture is a repository for sūtras and chronicles of the temple history. It is also called , , or . In ancient times the ''kyōzō'' was placed opposite the shōrō, belfry on the east–west axis of the temple. The ea ...

'' sutra repository at

Chūson-ji is a Buddhist temple in the town of Hiraizumi in southern Iwate Prefecture, Japan. It is the head temple of the Tendai sect in Tōhoku region of northern Honshu. The temple claims it was founded in 850 by Ennin, the third chief abbot of the se ...

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 ...

. It as administered by a ''

bettō is a term which originally indicated the head of an institution serving temporarily as the head of another one, but which came to mean also the full-time head of some institution.Iwanami Japanese dictionaryEncyclopedia of Shinto, Bettō The Kama ...

'' from Chuzon-ji, an arrangement with continued after

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the first ruling shogun in the history of Japan.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako ...

defeated of the

Northern Fujiwara The Northern Fujiwara (奥州藤原氏 ''Ōshū Fujiwara-shi'') were a Japanese noble family that ruled the Tōhoku region (the northeast of Honshū) of Japan during the 12th century as their own realm.

clan and redrew the borders of the ''shōen''. Under 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 ...

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

, the estate came under the control of the

Date clan The is a Japanese samurai kin group.Edmond Papinot, Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Date", ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 5 retrieved 2013-5-5. History The Date fam ...

Sendai Domain The , also known as the , was a domain of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan during the Edo period from 1600 to 1871. The Sendai Domain was based at Aoba Castle in Mutsu Province, in the modern city of Sendai, located in the Tōhoku region of ...

. Chūson-ji has preserved two illustrated maps of Honederamura Shōen drawn in the Kamakura period, which indicate that the landscape is almost unchanged since that time. The estate is also mentioned in the Kamakura period chronicle ''

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 ...

''. In addition to a portion being designated as a National Historic Site, the rice paddies, residences and surrounding land of 761 hectares (approximately 7 kilometers east–west by 2 kilometers north–south) is designated as a “landscape planning area” in accordance with the Landscape Act, and the central portion of 366 hectares has been designated an Important cultural landscape under the Cultural Properties Protection Act.

References

External links

{{commons category-inline, Ichinoseki-Hondera rural landscape
Ichinoseki city official site

Official guidebook
Kamakura period History of Iwate Prefecture Ichinoseki, Iwate Archaeological sites in Japan Historic Sites of Japan

Overview

See also

References

External links