The 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 ...

with the ruins of a late

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 ...

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 ...

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhism, Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat, khurul and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in B ...

located in the city of

Ono ONO, Ono or Ōno may refer to: Places Fiji * Ono Island (Fiji) Israel * Kiryat Ono * Ono, Benjamin, ancient site Italy * Ono San Pietro Ivory Coast * Ono, Ivory Coast, a village in Comoé District Japan * Ōno Castle, Fukuoka * ...

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

, in the

Kansai region The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...

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 ...

. The site was designated a National Historic Site in 1980.

Overview

Kōdo temple ruins are located on a

river terrace Fluvial terraces are elongated terraces that flank the sides of floodplains and fluvial valleys all over the world. They consist of a relatively level strip of land, called a "tread", separated from either an adjacent floodplain, other fluvial t ...

in the middle reaches of the Kakogawa River, almost in the center of the Harima region. The temple occupied an enclosed compound approximately 100 meters from east-to-west and 150 meters from north-to-south. The layout appears to have been based on

Yakushi-ji is one of the most famous imperial and ancient Buddhist temples in Japan, and was once one of the Seven Great Temples of Nanto, located in Nara. The temple is the headquarters of the Hossō school of Japanese Buddhism. Yakushi-ji is one of the ...

, with twin east and west

Pagoda A pagoda is a tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist, but some ...

s in a courtyard between the

Kondō Kondō, Kondo or Kondou (近藤 "near wisteria") is a surname prominent in Japanese culture, although it also occurs in other countries. Notable people with the surname include: *, Japanese ballet dancer *, man known for marrying a fictional vocal ...

and the Middle Gate, with a Lecture Hall situated behind the Kondō, and with a

cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

connecting the Middle Gate with the sides of the Lecture Hall. The pagoda foundations were of rammed earth, with a remaining height of 0.7 meters, measuring ten meters square. The Kondo was a 15 x 12 meter structure, and the Lecture Hall was a 23 x 11.5 meter structure. Artifacts excavated include earthenware,

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 ...

pieces, fragments of Buddhist statues, and decorative metal fittings. These relics date the temple to the early Nara period, and indicate that it was once destroyed by fire and revived in the Heian period. It is believed to have declined and eventually disappeared by the end of the Heian period. The name of the temple is unknown as it does not appear in any surviving documentary sources. The site is now a historical park with a museum and a model of the temple on display.

References

External links

Ono city home page
{{in lang, ja Nara period Buddhist archaeological sites in Japan History of Hyōgo Prefecture Ono, Hyōgo Historic Sites of Japan

Overview

See also

References

External links