Sanuki Kokubunni-ji

Sanuki Kokubun-niji ruins
Native name
讃岐国分尼寺跡 (Japanese)
Foundation stone from the Sanuki Kokubun-niji ruins
TypeBuddhist temple ruins
LocationTakamatsu, Kagawa, Japan
Coordinates34°18′35.31″N 133°57′44.88″E / 34.3098083°N 133.9624667°E / 34.3098083; 133.9624667
Founderc.Emperor Shōmu
BuiltNara period
Sanuki Kokubunni-ji is located in Kagawa Prefecture
Sanuki Kokubunni-ji
Location of Sanuki Kokubun-niji ruins in Kagawa Prefecture
Sanuki Kokubunni-ji is located in Japan
Sanuki Kokubunni-ji
Sanuki Kokubunni-ji (Japan)
Map

The Sanuki Kokubun-niji ruins (讃岐国分尼寺跡) is an archaeological site with the ruins of a Nara period Buddhist nunnery in the Kokubunji neighborhood of the city of Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture Japan. Its ruins were designated as a National Historic Site in 1928.[1]

History

The Shoku Nihongi records that in 741, as the country recovered from a major smallpox epidemic, Emperor Shōmu ordered that a monastery and nunnery be established in every province, the kokubunji (国分寺).[2][3] These temples were built to a semi-standardized template, and served both to spread Buddhist orthodoxy to the provinces, and to emphasize the power of the Nara period centralized government under the Ritsuryō system.[4] While the sites of most of the kokubun-ji monasteries are either known or have been discovered, very few sites of the kokubun-niji nunneries are known.

The Sanuki Kokubun-niji site is located approximately two kilometers northeast of the Sanuki Kokubun-ji. The site occupies a trapezoidal compound 180-210 meters east-to-west by 180 meters north-to-south and per archaeological excavations conducted in 1982 was found to contain 19 foundation stones from what is presumed to have been the Main Hall of the nunnery, as well a roof tiles and bricks. The spacing and orientation of the foundations indicates a seven by four bay building. It is believed that the Lecture Hall and residence was lined up from south to north, as a further excavation has found more large foundation stones scatters on the north side of the precinct, with a rain drainage ditch in parallel. However, excavations are hampered by the presence of a later Buddhist temple, Hokke-ji, which now occupies the approximate center of the site, and many details of the original Nara-period temple remain uncertain.[5]

The site is about a 20-minute walk from Hashioka Station on the JR Shikoku Yosan Line.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ 讃岐国分尼寺跡 (in Japanese). Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved August 20, 2020.
  2. ^ Brown, Delmer M. (1993). Cambridge History of Japan vol. I. Cambridge University Press. p. 255.
  3. ^ Yiengpruksawan, Mimi Hall (1998). Hiraizumi: Buddhist Art and Regional Politics in Twelfth-Century Japan. Harvard University Press. pp. 22f.
  4. ^ Shively, Donald H.; McCullough, William H. (1999). Cambridge History of Japan vol. II (p.31f.). Cambridge University Press.
  5. ^ a b Isomura, Yukio; Sakai, Hideya (2012). 国指定史跡事典 [National Historic Site Encyclopedia] (in Japanese). 学生社. ISBN 4-311-75040-4.
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