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 Hakuho period

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 Shōda neighbourhood of what is now Naka-ku in the city of

Okayama is the prefectural capital, capital Cities of Japan, city of Okayama Prefecture in the Chūgoku region of Japan. The Okayama metropolitan area, centered around the city, has the largest urban employment zone in the Chugoku region of western J ...

, in the

San'yō region The San'yō Region (山陽地方 ''San'yō-chihō'') is an area in the south of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It consists of the southern part of the Chūgoku region, facing the Seto Inland Sea. The name ''San'yō'' means "southern, sunny ( ...

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 temple no longer exists, but the temple grounds were designated as a National Historic Site in 1972.

History

The Shōda temple ruins are located northeast of the city center of Okayama, at the southern foot of Mount Tatsunokuchi. It has been known for a long time that there is a temple site here, as fragments of

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 have often been found, but the name of the temple is unknown as there are no records. It is presumed to be a temple associated with the Kibi-no-Kamimichi clan, a powerful family in the ancient

Kingdom of Kibi was a kingdom of fourth century Western Japan. The Kingdom of Kibi covered most of what is today Okayama Prefecture. Today, the Kibi Road crosses the plain between Okayama and Soja, what was once the heartland of ''Kibi no kuni''. Etymology In Ja ...

. Around this site, there are several ''

kofun are megalithic tombs or tumulus, tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century AD.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞 ...

'' such as the Tojinzuka Kofun, as well as the ruins of the Bizen ''

Kokufu were the capitals of the historical Provinces of Japan from the Nara period to the Heian period. History As part of the Taika Reform (645), which aimed at a centralization of the administration following the Chinese model (''ritsuryō''), the '' ...

'' and the Hata temple ruins, and the surrounding area was one of the centers of ancient Kibi into the Nara period. A small hall was originally built on this location in the first half of the 7th century. A full-fledged temple was built in the

Asuka period The was a period in the history of Japan lasting from 538 to 710, although its beginning could be said to overlap with the preceding Kofun period. The Yamato period, Yamato polity evolved greatly during the Asuka period, which is named after the ...

in the middle of the 7th century, and reached its peak in the

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 that, it declined and survived in a much reduced state until 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 ...

in the 13th century, although 2001 excavations confirmed the existence of some kind of Buddhist facility surviving into 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 ...

. The

archaeological excavation In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. These locations range from one to several areas at a time during a project and can be condu ...

in 1970 revealed that the temple was roughly one ''chō'' (approximately 110 meters square), and the foundation stones of the Main hall,

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 ...

, west gate,

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 ...

, and parts of the surrounding moat and palisade were discovered. In addition, it was found that major improvements were made twice during the

and the Nara period. During the excavation, artifacts such as ceramics (including Nara

Sancai ''Sancai'' ()Vainker, 75 is a versatile type of decoration on Chinese pottery and other painted pieces using glazes or slip, predominantly in the three colours of brown (or amber), green, and a creamy off-white. It is particularly associated ...

), and roof tiles from each era were unearthed. The base of the pagoda used a

tuff Tuff is a type of rock made of volcanic ash ejected from a vent during a volcanic eruption. Following ejection and deposition, the ash is lithified into a solid rock. Rock that contains greater than 75% ash is considered tuff, while rock co ...

stone platform, which was common in major temples 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 ...

, but is extremely rare among local temples. Together with the unearthed Nara Sancai, this indicates a strong connection between the Kamimichi clan and the Yamato kingdom. A tile kiln was also discovered to the northeast of the temple, where the roof tiles for this temple were fired. The 2001 excavation confirmed the layout of the temple buildings, and discovered that the foundations for what was thought to be the west gate was actually that of a west tower. This gives the temple a layout similar to that of

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 ...

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 ...

. Consequently, the Kondō was found to be not on a straight south-to-north line as originally assumed, but was located east of the center line between the east and west pagodas. The reason for this placement is unknown; however, the Kondō was built in the Asuka period in the 7th century, and its foundations is 15.5 meters from east-to-west and 12.6 meters from north-to-south. It was destroyed in a fire in the 14th century. Nine foundation stones were found on the north side of the west pagoda, which are presumed to be from the subsequent Buddhist temple built in the Muromachi period. After the excavation, the foundations of both the east and west towers were restored and the ruins were maintained as an

archaeological park An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...

. . The site is about a 20-minute walk from Takashima Station on the

JR West , also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) companies and operates in western Honshu. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka. It is listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange, is a constituent of the TOPIX Large70 index, ...

San'yō Main Line The is a major railway line owned by JR Group companies in western Japan, connecting Kōbe Station and Moji Station, largely paralleling the coast of the Seto Inland Sea, in other words, the southern coast of western Honshu. The San'yō Shi ...

References

External links

Okayama Prefectural site

{{in lang, ja Historic Sites of Japan Okayama Bizen Province 7th-century establishments in Japan Asuka period Buddhist archaeological sites in Japan

History

See also

References

External links