, 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
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage List
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...
in 2017, under criteria
ii and iii.
Background
The three Munakata
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 ...
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; no formal shrine buildings were constructed on the island; instead rock piles or
yorishiro
A in Shinto terminology is an object capable of attracting spirits called , thus giving them a physical space to occupy during religious ceremonies. are used during ceremonies to call the for worship. The word itself literally means "approach ...
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 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 China; gold rings and horse-trappings similar to those found in
Silla
Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of K ...
tombs in Korea; and fragments of a glass bowl from
Sassanian
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
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)
The term " National Treasure" has been used in Japan to denote cultural properties since 1897.
The definition and the criteria have changed since the introduction of the term. These archaeological materials adhere to the current definition, and ...
*
Yorishiro
A in Shinto terminology is an object capable of attracting spirits called , thus giving them a physical space to occupy during religious ceremonies. are used during ceremonies to call the for worship. The word itself literally means "approach ...
*
World Heritage Sites in Japan
Japan accepted the UNESCO World Heritage Convention on 30 June 1992. As of July 2021, twenty-five properties have been inscribed on the World Heritage List: twenty cultural sites and five natural sites. A further five sites and one site extensio ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Okinoshima Island and Related Sites in Munakata RegionProposal documentPamphlet
History of Fukuoka Prefecture
Japanese culture
World Heritage Sites in Japan