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Historic Monuments and Sites of Hiraizumi

Japan (Asia and the Pacific)

Date of Submission: 06/04/2001
Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)
Category: Cultural
Submission prepared by:
Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan
State, Province or Region:
Iwate Prefecture
Coordinates:
N39 42 E141 09
Ref.: 1528

Description

Hiraizumi was a political and cultural center in northern Japan under the administration of the Fujiwara family in the 11th and 12th centuries. Since the times of the ancient Japanese administration jurisdiction known as the Ritsury6 state, which conquered the aborigines of the northern region, the Hiraizumi area had thrived as a military stronghold essential for those in control of the Kitakami River valley. The days of greatest prosperity based on the ample use of gold came in the times of the Fujiwara family, lasting nearly a century and spanning four generations ?? from Fujiwara no Kiyohira, who moved his residence to Hiraizumi from a location further north at the end of the 11th century, through Fujiwara no Motohira and Fujiwara no Hidehira to Fujiwara no Yasuhira, who was conquered by Minamoto no Yoritomo in 1189.

Chuson ji, as well as the archeological remains of Buddhist temples such as M6tsu ji, Kanjizai6?in and Mury6M?in and of government buildings such as Yanaginogosho, are all precious historic evidence showing that Hiraizumi, a 12th?century town growing in strategic importance, enjoyed a high cultural standard even when compared to that of Kyoto, the palace capital of that time. The remains of M6tsu ji, Kanjizai6?in and Murydk6?in Buddhist temples contain a group of typical archeological gardens of the "J6do Teien" style, which, under the influences of the eschatological philosophy known as Mapp6 that prevailed around Kyoto in the l lth and 12th centuries, underwent a unique development as an architectural attempt to embody the Buddhist heaven. These archeological gardens exerted great influence as an exemplary model of "J6do Teien" style gardens, as the style spread to many other places throughout Japan in the succeeding generations. And the remains of Yanaginogosho, containing residences and gardens, add to the outstanding position of the Historic Monuments of Hiraizumi in the history of Japanese garden culture.

In addition, the luster of the gold?covered wooden Buddha hall called Konjikid6 of Chuson ji, in which the mummified bodies of Fujiwara no Kiyohira, Motohira and Hidehira have been preserved, maintains an imperishable brilliance, showing the splendid prosperity that Hiraizumi's culture boasted back in the 11th and 12th centuries.

Besides those remains of Buddhist temples and the residence of the Fujiwara family, a number of other related excavations remain in good condition and provide information on the town structure of Hiraizumi as well as their surrounding settings.