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

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 ...

government administrative complex located in what is now part of the town of Watari,

Miyagi prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,265,724 (1 August 2023) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akit ...

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 ...

of far northern

Honshu , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the list of islands by area, seventh-largest island in the world, and the list of islands by ...

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 protected by the central government as a National Historic Site.

Background

In the late

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 ...

, after the establishment of a centralized government under the ''

Ritsuryō is the historical Japanese legal system, legal system based on the philosophies of Confucianism and Legalism (Chinese philosophy), Chinese Legalism in Feudal Japan. The political system in accord to Ritsuryō is called "Ritsuryō-sei" (). ''Kya ...

'' system, the imperial court sent a number of military expeditions to what is now the

of northern Japan to bring the local

Emishi The were a group of people who lived in parts of northern Honshū in present-day Japan, especially in the Tōhoku region. The first mention of the Emishi in literature that can be corroborated with outside sources dates to the 5th century AD, ...

tribes under its control. The site is believed to have been the location of the civil administration of Watari District in the

. The name of Watari District appears in ancient records, including the ''

Shoku Nihongi The is an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 797, it is the second of the '' Six National Histories'', coming directly after the and followed by ''Nihon Kōki''. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Mamichi served as t ...

'', ''

Nihon Kōki is an officially commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 840, it is the third volume in the Six National Histories. It covers the years 792–833. Background Following the earlier national history '' Shoku Nihongi'' (797), in 819 Em ...

'' and the ''

Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku , abbreviated as Sandai Jitsuroku, is an officially commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 901, it is the sixth and final text in the Six National Histories series. It covers the years 858–887. Background Following the earlier nati ...

'', and the site dates from the same 9th to the early 10th century . The site was excavated by the Miyagi Prefectural Board of Education (1986-1988), and by Watari Town (since 2002).

Description

The ruins are located on the south bank of the

Abukuma River The , with a length of , is the second longest river in the Tōhoku region of Japan and the 6th longest river in the country. It is designated as a Classification of rivers in Japan, Class A river. It runs through Fukushima Prefecture and Miyagi P ...

in southern Miyagi Prefecture. The site consists of the remnants of a rectangular enclosure, approximately 180 meters east-west by 200 meters north-south, with remnants of a moat and earthen

rampart Rampart may refer to: * Rampart (fortification), a defensive wall or bank around a castle, fort or settlement Rampart may also refer to: * LAPD Rampart Division, a division of the Los Angeles Police Department ** Rampart scandal, a blanket ter ...

, presumably surmounted by a wooden

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

. Inside the enclosure, there was a secondary wall 50 x 60 meters, containing the elevated foundation base of a large building. There are traces of the gate on the east and south side of the palisade. Earthenware from the 9th century has been excavated from the south gate. To the south of the central complex were two long buildings, 6 meters east and west and 26 meters north and south, in symmetrical positions in the east and west, forming a “U”-shape. Both long buildings have been rebuilt once, and were presumably barracks. Up to ten warehouse ruins on the southern end the ruins were surrounded on all sides by a moat of about 150 meters wide. These warehouses were presumably for storing tax rice. This arrangement was common to

county administrative complexes in other parts of the country. The ruins were backfilled after evacuation, and is nothing to be seen at the site today except for a commemorative stone marker. The site is about 10 minutes on foot from

Ōkuma Station is a railway station in the town of Watari, Miyagi, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Lines Ōkuma Station is served by the Joban Line, and is located 337.8 km from the official starting point of the line at ...

on the

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are in ...

Joban Line.

References

External links

Miyagi Prefectural Agency for Cultural Affairs

Watari Town home page
{{in lang, ja History of Miyagi Prefecture Heian period Watari, Miyagi Archaeological sites in Japan Historic Sites of Japan Mutsu Province

Background

Description

See also

References

External links