Historic Monuments and Sites of Hiraizumi
{{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
| WHS = Hiraizumi – Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land
| image = 230728 Motsuji Hiraizumi Iwate pref Japan04s3.jpg
| image_upright = 1.2
| caption = Pure Land Garden of Mōtsū-ji
| location = Hiraizumi, Nishiiwai District, Iwate Prefecture, Japan
| includes =
| criteria = {{UNESCO WHS type|(ii), (vi)}}(ii), (vi)
| ID = 1277rev
| coordinates = {{coord|39|0|4|N|141|6|28|E|display=title, inline|format=dms}}
| year = 2011
| area = {{convert|176.2|ha|acre|abbr=on}}
| buffer_zone = {{convert|6,008|ha|acre|abbr=on}}
| locmapin = Japan
| map_caption =
}}
Hiraizumi – Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land is a grouping of five sites from late eleventh- and twelfth-century Hiraizumi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. The serial nomination was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2011, under criteria ii and vi.{{cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1277 |title=Hiraizumi – Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land |publisher=UNESCO |accessdate=3 August 2012}}{{cite web |url=https://whc.unesco.org/archive/advisory_body_evaluation/1277rev.pdf |title=Hiraizumi – Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land |publisher=ICOMOS |accessdate=3 August 2012}}
Hiraizumi
For four generations from c.1087, when Fujiwara no Kiyohira moved his headquarters and residence from further north, until 1189, when the army of Minamoto no Yoritomo put an end to the Northern Fujiwara, Hiraizumi served as an important political, military, commercial, and cultural centre.{{cite book |title=Hiraizumi: Buddhist Art and Regional Politics in Twelfth-Century Japan |author=Yiengpruksawan, Mimi Hall |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1998 |ISBN=0-674-39205-1}}{{cite book |title=Cambridge History of Japan II: Heian Japan |author1=Shiveley, Donald H. |author2=McCullough, William H. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 |page=678 |ISBN=0-521-22353-9}} Several major temples associated with Pure Land Buddhism were founded and endowed, but the demise of their benefactors and a series of fires contributed to their subsequent decline. When Bashō visited in 1689 he was moved to write, in Oku no Hosomichi: summer grass... remains of soldiers' dreams.{{cite book |title=Hiraizumi: Buddhist Art and Regional Politics in Twelfth-Century Japan |author=Yiengpruksawan, Mimi Hall |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1998 |ISBN=0-674-39205-1 |pages=1–4 }}{{cite book |title=Japanese Poetic Diaries |url=https://archive.org/details/japanesepoeticdi0000mine |url-access=registration |author=Miner, Earl |author-link=Earl Miner |year=1969 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=176f}} A series of excavations from the mid-twentieth century onwards combined with references in Azuma Kagami, in particular the Bunji-no-chūmon petition of 1189, and the Shōwa sojō or "monks' appeal" of 1313 from the Chūson-ji archives, has contributed much to the understanding of the sites and the period.{{cite book |title=Hiraizumi: Buddhist Art and Regional Politics in Twelfth-Century Japan |page=26 |author=Yiengpruksawan, Mimi Hall |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1998 |ISBN=0-674-39205-1}}{{cite web |url=http://www.pref.iwate.jp/~hp0909/koto-english/koremae/bunkene/syousaie/bunken2.htm |title=Historical Study by the Historical Documents |publisher=Iwate Prefecture |accessdate=16 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927153318/http://www.pref.iwate.jp/~hp0909/koto-english/koremae/bunkene/syousaie/bunken2.htm |archive-date=27 September 2011 |url-status=dead }}
Component sites
Original submission
The original 2006 nomination of "Hiraizumi - Cultural Landscape Associated with Pure Land Buddhist Cosmology" included five further sites while omitting that of Kanjizaiō-in as a separate component.{{cite web|url=http://www.pref.iwate.jp/~hp0907/sekaiisan/index2.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060517153509/http://www.pref.iwate.jp/~hp0907/sekaiisan/index2.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 May 2006 |script-title=ja:世界遺産の概要 |trans-title=World Heritage Site: summary |language=Japanese |publisher=Iwate Prefecture |accessdate=3 August 2012 }} Four were removed from the nomination after the failure to secure inscription in 2008; the component site of the Yanagi Palace was excluded from the 2011 inscription, although there are continuing efforts to secure its inclusion through future extension.{{cite web |url=http://www.mext.go.jp/english/topics/1308580.htm |title=Report on the 35th World Heritage Committee Session Decision Results for: "Hiraizumi- Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land" |publisher=Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology |accessdate=3 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722201358/http://www.mext.go.jp/english/topics/1308580.htm |archive-date=22 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |url=http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20110618f1.html |title=Temple hopes for UNESCO nod and big cheer for Iwate |author=Corkill, Edan |work=The Japan Times |date=18 June 2011 |accessdate=3 August 2012}}
Gallery
File:Hiraizumi – Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land-122490.jpg|temple interior with mural
File:Hiraizumi – Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land-122493.jpg|temple gates
File:Hiraizumi – Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land-122495.jpg|temple screen
See also
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{{Commons category|Hiraizumi - Temples, gardens and archaeological sites representing the Buddhist Pure Land}}
References
{{Reflist|colwidth=40em}}
Further reading
{{cite book |title=Hiraizumi: Buddhist Art and Regional Politics in Twelfth-Century Japan |author=Yiengpruksawan, Mimi Hall |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1998 |ISBN=0-674-39205-1}}
External links
- [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1277 UNESCO entry]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20121020200054/http://www.town.hiraizumi.iwate.jp/hiraizumi/english/ Hiraizumi - World Heritage (Hiraizumi Town)]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20131221004841/http://www.chusonji.or.jp/en/index.html Chūson-ji homepage]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20100914115946/http://www.motsuji.or.jp/english/index.php Mōtsū-ji homepage]
- {{in lang|ja}} [https://archive.today/20121219170618/http://www.pref.iwate.jp/~hp0907/sekaiisan/index.html Hiraizumi - World Heritage (Iwate Prefecture)]
{{World Heritage Sites in Japan}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Buildings and structures in Iwate Prefecture
Category:World Heritage Sites in Japan
Category:Culture in Iwate Prefecture