NEAR SENDAI: HIRAIZUMI, MATSUSHIMA ISLANDS AND POST-2011-TSUNAMI RECONSTRUCTION

NEAR SENDAI

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Rikuchu-Kaigan
Coastal National Park
Miyagi Prefecture, where Sendai is located, covers 7,282 square kilometers (2,812 square miles), is home to about 2.7 million people and has a population density of 42 people per square kilometer. Sendai is the capital and largest city, with about 1 million people. It is in Tohoku on northern Honshu island and has 35 municipalities.

Onahama (in Iwaki, 100 kilometers south of Sendai) is the home of a walk-through aquarium. The 2,050 ton tank is divided into two sections: one that simulates the Kuroshio warm current and the other that simulates the Oyashio cold current. Both currents meet in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture. The aquarium has 1,143 species of sealife and has a virtual reality wooden boat experience. Website: Hotel Pacifico Hotel Pacifico

Kankaku Museum (in Iwadeyama, 40 kilometers north of Sendai) was opened in 2000 to encourage visitors to get in touch with their five bodily senses. Designed by Kijo Rokkaku in collaboration with artists and engineers, the museum has incorporated new technology with basic ideas to create fun, interactive installations, as well as a meditation area for cultivating one’s inner creativity with those honed senses. Location: 100 Shimokawara-machi,Iwadeyama, Osaki-shi, Miyagi 989-6434, Tel: +81-229-72-5588

Matsushima Bay

Matsushima Bay (20 minutes from Sendai) is considered one of Japan's "Three Best Views" along with Miyajima Island near Hiroshima on the coast of Western Honshu and the sandspit at Amonohashidate. Scattered across the bay are over 250 strange shaped islands and islets, many of which are capped with stands of pine trees. The famous haiku poet Basho composed a piece about the islands that simply went: "Matsushima ya/ aa Matsushima ya/ Matsushima ya."

Most of the islands are uninhabited although shrines can be found on some and bridges link others. Near the shore of Matsushima is the Temple of Zuiganji which is placed elegantly among the cedar trees, cliffsides and caves where Zen monks spent many hours in meditation. In the inside are some beautifully-painted screens and wonderful woodcarvings In one room 20 samurai killed themselves after their Lord’s death. Godaido shrine lies on the last island on a chain of small islands connected by arching bridges.

Ferries and sightseeing boats allow tourists to view the sights. A 50-minute cruise through the islands cost ¥1,400, plus ¥600 more if you want to go to the top decks where the best views are. An additional ¥100 will get you some seagull feed that you can toss to the seagulls (many people do this). In Matsushimamachi, the town where you get the boats there is a glass museum with a small collection and a museum with mechanical music machines.

Matsushima-kaigen station on the Seneki line is only 500 meters from the harbor where the boats leave. There is accommodation in Matsushima (often expensive) and Sendai. Restaurants in the are famous for oysters and hoyas (sea squirts).

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Matsushima island
One of the best ways to explore the rugged Miyagi coastline and the bay is by kayak. In the town of Onagawa, an ecotourism firm called Earth Quests sponsors kayaking trips for about ¥7,000 a day into sheltered bay and along the coast. The water is very clear and the coral, seaweed and shells in the sea are just as stunning as the pines, jagged rocks and beaches on the land.

Beginners trips last one day and cover about 10 kilometers and included a visit to an oyster farm. Experienced kayakers can embark on multiday tours that involve camping on islands with monkeys and deer. The trips are sometimes called off when the seas are too rough. For more information check the Earth Quest website at www.h5.dion.ne.jp/

Websites : Japan Guide Japan-Guide ; Wikipedia Wikipedia Map: marubun-kisen.com Budget Accommodation: Japan Youth Hostels Japan Youth Hostels Check Lonely Planet books Getting There: Matsushima is 30 minutes from Sendai by train or bus.

Shark Museum

Shark Museum (in Kesennuma, 140 kilometers northeast of Sendai) welcomes visitors with life-size model of a great white shark but is not so sophisticated and was set up mainly to draw customers to its seafood market. Kesennuma was devastated by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami and the museum for closed for three years. After it reopened in 2014, Tamotsu Saito wrote in the Yomiuri Shimbun: “A mouth with sharp white teeth opens wide, as if it were about to bite into some prey. The realistic, full-sized model of a great white shark, measuring four meters long, is certain to surprise you. It could easily swallow a man. “Please don’t touch its teeth since they are real and very dangerous,” says Yoji Niinuma, who works at the Shark Museum in Kesennuma. It is the only museum in Japan specializing in sharks. It opened in 1997 as a tourist attraction in Kesennuma, a fishing community, where the catch of sharks is the largest in Japan. [Source: Tamotsu Saito, Yomiuri Shimbun, August 17, 2014]

“On the day of the disaster, the Umi-no-ichi (marine market) building, which had a gift shop on the first floor and the museum on the second floor, was struck by a great seismic shock. At that time, there were about 100 tourists and others in the building. With the alarm ringing, the facility staff evacuated all the visitors. Shortly after the staff climbed to the third floor, the colossal tsunami hit the building. The first floor was flooded. The tsunami reached 20 centimeters above the second floor. Niinuma and other employees huddled together and spent the night on the third floor. The first floor was completely ruined and the live sharks that had been kept on the second floor all died. Since the building still has sufficient quake resistance, Toshiya Shimizu, president of Kesennuma’s semipublic company that manages the marine market, proposed to the staff that they reopen the facility. Though the company did not have enough operating capital, Shimizu said, “We must hand down memories of the earthquake, which could happen once in a thousand years, to later generations.” Everybody agreed to reopen the facility.

“The museum completely changed its exhibitions specializing in sharks and added sections showing scenes of the city right after the disaster and the process of restoration through interviews with residents of the city. Another section on kizuna, or bonds between the local residents and people around the country, displays messages written by visitors to the museum on a large screen. The museum has become a place to show the way we live with the sea through such themes as the disaster, restoration and the sharks that symbolize Kesennuma,” Niinuma said proudly.”With resumption of business on the first floor last month, the marine market is open completely for the first time in three years and four months.”

Rikuchu-Kaigan Coastal National Park

Rikuchu-Kaigan Coastal National Park(north of Sendai) runs for 110 miles along the Pacific Ocean. Noted for its narrow beaches and terraced shores, this relatively inaccessible park has remained largely unspoiled. The northern part of the park features rugged scenery and caves. The southern part boasts hundreds of beautiful bays, inlets and sandy beaches.

Miyako is a small city at the Sanriku Reconstruction National Park (Rikuchu-Kaigan Coastal National Park). Jodoga-hama beach is a pleasant white sand beach with some nice hiking trails. There are expensive boat trips to local fishing villages. Other interesting spots in the general area include Mt. Iwate-san, a 2,039-foot-high volcanic peak with many hiking trails, and Ryusen-do Cave, a stalactite cave with an underground lake. Websites: Government National Park Site National Parks of Japan ; JNTO PDF file JNTO

Sanriku Fukko (Reconstruction) National Park

Sanriku Fukko National Park (in Aomori, Iwate and Miyagi prefectures) integrates parks damaged by March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Opened it 2013, the park comprises Rikuchu Kaigan National Park, which straddles Iwate and Miyagi prefectures, and Tanesashi Kaigan Hashikamidake Prefectural Natural Park, which straddles Hachinohe and Hashikami in Aomori Prefecture. The Environment Ministry said it launched the park to draw tourists to the shores of the Sanriku region and help support reconstruction of the disaster-hit areas. Sanriku Fukko means Reconstruction. [Source: JapanNews, May 28, 2013]

The Japan News reported: “The new national park includes 14,635 hectares on land and 41,300 hectares offshore. The city government of Miyako, Iwate Prefecture, will preserve a camp facility that was damaged in the disaster as a memorial site dedicated to education on the threat of tsunami. The city government also plans to integrate nearby parks into the site. The Tanesashi Kaigan coast, which forms part of the new national park, boasts a microthermal climate in which cool winds called yamase blow in the summertime.

“In the coastal areas, at least about 670 species of vegetation, including alpine plants, grow. Meisho Tanesashi Kaigan, Samemachi no Shizen o Mamoru Kai is a local residents association dedicated to preserving the coastal scenery and the Samemachi district of the city. The group was established 15 years ago. Currently, the association’s 100 members regularly patrol the areas to prevent precious plants from being stolen. Mariko Fukuda, 63, the head of the association, said: “Flowers here endure salty wind and severely cold weather in winter, and still they blossom. I hope the area’s designation [as a new national park] will encourage many people to visit to see the flowers.”

“According to Fukuda, the disaster greatly affected plants along the Tanesashi Kaigan coast. Pine forests were engulfed in sand carried by the tsunami and plants from the benibana-ichiyakuso flower species disappeared. Fukuda said she was also surprised to see many patches of unran, a variety of toadflax, blossoming in pine forests, as previously the plant was only found on sandy beaches. She was struck by the toughness of nature, she said.

“Some local people voiced concern that an increase in tourists could lead to the theft of valuable plants or plants on the sides of trails being trampled. But Fukuda replied: “Because [the visitors would likely] want to view the flowers, I don’t believe they would do such harmful things. We want to pass on the importance of the wonderful nature on the Tanesashi Kaigan coast to later generations through the flowers.” Shigeru Chiyokawa, 59, is a representative manager of Sanriku Hana Hotel Hamagiku, which was flooded by tsunami. He aims to reopen the hotel in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, in late August. “It’s meaningful that the name of the park contains the word fukko. We want to contribute to reconstruction through promoting tourism,” he said.

“The hotel inside Rikuchu Kaigan National Park was named Namiita Kanko Hotel before the disaster, but will change its name before reopening. A sandy beach in front of the hotel has shrunk due to ground subsidence, but Chiyokawa said: “The natural environment will return to its previous state some day in the future. I want to tell our guests how strong nature is.” Kesennuma is the only municipality in Miyagi Prefecture that is inside Rikuchu Kaigan National Park.”

Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami of March 11, 2011

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On March 11, 2011, an earthquake struck off the coast of Japan, at almost the same latitude as Sendai, producing a devastating tsunami that sent walls of water washing over coastal towns, cities and farmland in the northern part of the country and set off warnings as far away the west coast of the United States and South America. Recorded as 9.0 on the Richter scale, it was the most powerful quake ever to hit Japan and the seventh strongest ever recorded globally (tied for forth since 1900). It was also Japan's worst natural disaster since World War II (earlier earthquakes and tsunamis killed more people).

In Japan it became known as the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami or the Tohoku Pacific Offshore Earthquake (Japanese refer to northern Honshu, especially the northeast side of the island as Tohoku). The coastal areas of Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures suffered particularly severe damage, due to devastating tsunami more than 10 meters high. Joshua Hammer wrote in the New York Times, “The devastation stretched along hundreds of miles of seacoast; towns washed away by mudslides; trains carried out to sea; thousands of survivors left stranded on roofs, awaiting rescue. The quake also led to... the partial meltdown of at least two nuclear reactors. Only the fact that the epicenter was not near a densely populated area prevented far greater casualties.”

The 9.0- magnitude earthquake was so powerful it shifted the position of the Earth’s figure axis by as much as 15 centimeters and moved Honshu, Japan’s main island, two and half meters eastward. The tsunami generated by the earthquake obliterated towns and damaged hundreds of thousands of buildings, including four reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The cost of disasters worldwide was the highest ever in 2011 ($380 billion), mainly due the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

The total number of casualties confirmed by Japanese National Police Agency in March 2019 was 18,297 dead, 2,533 missing and 6,157 injured. A total of 196,559 buildings were destroyed or damaged. More than 460,000 were made homeless and sought refuge in shelters. This included 150,000 in Miyagi Prefecture, 47,000 in Iwate Prefecture and 130,000 in Fukushima Prefecture. In the first three days after the disaster Japan’s Self Defense Forces (the Japanese military) rescued 66,000 people, many of them stranded on hilltops and rooftops and among debris. Because reaching them by land was so difficult many had to wait to be retrieved by helicopter, which could carry only a few people at a time. Thousands of others evacuated their homes due to the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

A large number of victims were from Miyagi Prefecture. Ishinomaki was one of the worst-hit cities. When the death toll topped 10,000 on March 25: 6,097 of the dead were in Miyagi Prefecture, where Sendai is located; 3,056 were in Iwate Prefecture and 855 were in Fukushima Prefecture and 20 and 17 were in Ibaraki and Chiba Prefectures respectively. At that point 2,853 victims had been identified. Of these 23.2 percent were 80 or older; 22.9 percent were in their 70s; 19 percent were in their 60s; 11.6 percent were in their 50s; 6.9 percent were in their 40s; 6 percent were in their 30s; 3.2 percent were in the 20s; 3.2 percent were in their 10s; and 4.1 percent were in 0 to 9.

Tsunami Damage in Ishinomaki

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Flooding and Damage in Ishinomaki
Ishinomaki, a rice-shipping port in Miyagi prefecture founded in the fourth century, was known for its huge fish market, a its manga museum, a replica of the Statue of Liberty on a small island in the Kitakami River and a unique smell made by factories that produced pink fish paste, fermented miso, paper and soy sauce. Home to 162,000 people, it sprawled over wedge of land that included a city and a host of towns and villages,

The disaster hit Ishinomaki — a farming and fishing community of 160,000 about 50 kilometers northeast of Sendai — hard. Of 8,000 people still missing across northeastern Japan, 2,770 are from Ishinomaki; it also has the highest confirmed death toll, 3,100.

Ishinomaki was not only ravaged by the tsunami it was drowned by it. “Nearly a week after the massive earthquake and tsunami hit the city large portions remain underwater, an instant lake clearly visible on NASA satellite photographs,”Mark Magnier wrote Los Angeles Times: “Now, the still-proud statue looks out over legions of logs liberated from a hidden loading dock. Downtown streets, replete with KFC and Coco's Restaurant signs, can best be reached by boat.” [Source: Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times, March 17, 2011]

“Two-thousand pound cars have punched their way into tractor trailers, through plate-glass windows, up into trees, defying logic as they to rest bumper-to-bumper in seemingly impossible embraces, all a few hundred yards from blocks of untouched Japanese-style strip malls just beyond the high-water mark, stores with names such as "Beauty Shiny," "Hotel Kiss" and "Restaurant Joyfill." Nearby, battered and bruised residents, bracing for the latest aftershock, walk their bicycles on elevated rail lines, the only high-water refuge for many in this flooded The road wasn't designed to end here. But now, the newly formed lake extends into his neighborhood, which abuts the sea, its roads and byways still flooded to neck level.”

Harlan wrote in the Washington Post : “In Ishinomaki and the surrounding towns, one’s fortune is explained by garbage. For thousands who lived closest to the water, their home is a wreck, and the lucky ones — arriving on bikes — pull out a few supplies. For those who lived at higher elevations, where the wall of water reached only waist high, their house can be salvaged, but the damp first-floor contents are piled outside in columns five or six feet high. Women wearing galoshes and track suits drag tatami mats onto their driveways. Young volunteers go house to house, offering help. Possessions pile outside: bookshelves, magazines, stuffed animals, ironing boards, jugs of panko bread crumbs.” [Source: Chico Harlan, Washington Post March 31, 2011]

Water Pushing Fire and Floating on a Mattress in Kesennuma

NHK television showed images of a huge fire sweeping across Kesennuma, a city of more than 70,000 people in Miyagi Prefecture known best for exporting shark fins to China. Whole blocks appeared to be ablaze. Describing the experience of one family there Barbara Demick wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “The afternoon of March 11, Tomiko was home in bed, being cared for by Hideo Sasaki, one of her sons-in-law. The bluff above the bay afforded a graphic view of the calamity following the earthquake, something nobody could have imagined happening because the bay was set back far from the open sea. But as the tsunami wave roared inland, the narrowing of the channel only increased its height and ferocity. Among the ships in the bay was a tanker that burst into flames, spewing burning oil as it slammed into shore. [Source: Barbara Demick, Los Angeles Times, March 19, 2011]

"I could see the big wave covering the town below me. All the houses were like toys under the great power of nature," Sasaki told the Los Angeles Times. "On the top of the wave, there was fire. You would think that the water would put it out, but instead it rode into shore and then everything caught fire."

“The house on the bluff was just high enough to be spared the fire,” Demick wrote. “But the electricity knocked out by the disaster cut off the respirator. Tomiko's lungs filled up with phlegm and she suffocated. She died at midnight....Meanwhile, her husband, 81, was missing. He had been under treatment for a minor stroke at a nursing home near the waterfront that had been knocked down by the wave.” "The wave was so big. We were sure that Tadashi had died," Sasaki said. After all, 50 others in the nursing home had been killed.”

“The family was mourning him along with his wife, when on Monday, three days after the quake, a neighbor breathlessly ran up to tell Sasaki that his father-in-law had been spotted in one of the shelters set up in the local school. The electricity was out, so nobody had been able to telephone. Against all odds, his mattress has been swept off the bed by the tsunami waves and carried him like a magic carpet to a stairwell that led to the roof. He'd waited there for 48 hours before he was rescued and, despite the cold, was in good enough shape to go directly to the shelter rather than the hospital.”

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Floating Debris Near Sendai

Post-Tsunami Structures in the Sendai Area

After the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Toyo Ito and like minded contemporary architects started Home-for-All, a Japanese NPO that created houses in disaster stricken areas around Tohoku. They were designed as gathering spaces for those in temporary housing, for kids to play in, and for farmers and fishermen to get back on their feet.“Shelters and support facilities should not be dull containers or warehouses but places with a pleasant, uplifting design,” says architect Mark Dytham. He and partner Astrid Klein created a building for children in Soma City with an intricate wooden ceiling and roof structure. Homefor-All members Toyo Ito, Kumiko Inui, Sou Fujimoto, and Akihisa Hirata even used debris and trees broken by the tsunami to create a building in Rikuzentakata where 1,800 people had lost their lives. It was so unusually designed that the prestigious Venice Biennale architecture event exhibited the structure.

Yasuhiro Yamashita, a recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, and disaster relief innovator Shigeru Ban made emergency structures form simple paper tubes and “Earth Bricks”. High salt levels had made farmland along the coast non-arable, but since Yamashita and his practice, Atelier Tekuto, had experience using earth as a construction material, he developed a new method to make use of the damaged earth of Minamisanriku for an emergency supply warehouse.

Onagawa Station (on the JR Ishinomaki Line) was one of the many train stations that lost its buildings and trains to the 2011 tsunami. Designed by Shigeru Ban, the new station is a the wide and soaring three-story structure features a latticed wood ceiling that yields generous amounts of light. It also functions as more than a train station, with retail shops and a spacious hot bath “Yupoppo” decorated with contemporary murals. New businesses, such as the Seapal-Pier Onagawa shopping center, are opening near the station as well. Onagawa Station may be the last stop on the train line, but today the building stands as a starting point for many. Address: 1-10 Ohara, Onagawahama, Onagawa-cho, Oshika-gun, Miyagi 986-2261 Miyagi | Onagawa Station

Hiraizumi Temples and Gardens: UNESCO World Heritage Site

Hiraizumi (80 kilometers north of Sendai) is an old city laid out like Kyoto by the Fujiwara clan, an influential family of warlords that used to live here. It's main attraction in Chusonji Temple. Founded in 1109, it contains the Golden Hall coated with black lacquer and gold foil and inlaid mother of pearl and was created as a representation of the Pure Land, or Buddhist paradise. Hiraizumu has been nominated for the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The Golden Hall houses 11 images of Buddha and the mummified remains of members of the Fujiwara clan. The temples also houses a sutra treasury and a temple treasury with scrolls and coffins. Other sights include Motsu-ji Temple and Takadachi Gikei-do Hall. Nearby is a Takkoku no Iawaya, a temple and garden built into a cave on the side of a cliff and a couple of scenic gorges. Websites:Hiraizumi Tourism Association hiraizumi.or.jp Map: Japan National Tourism Organization JNTO Hotel Website: Hiraizumi Tourism Association hiraizumi.or.jp Getting There: Hiraizumi is 30 minutes from Sendai by train. Lonely Planet Lonely Planet

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Matsushima Islands
Hiraizumi Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites of the Pure Land Buddhist school was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011. According to UNESCO: “Hiraizumi – Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land comprises five sites, including the sacred Mount Kinkeisan. It features vestiges of government offices dating from the 11th and 12th centuries when Hiraizumi was the administrative centre of the northern realm of Japan and rivalled Kyoto. The realm was based on the cosmology of Pure Land Buddhism, which spread to Japan in the 8th century. It represented the pure land of Buddha that people aspire to after death, as well as peace of mind in this life. In combination with indigenous Japanese nature worship and Shintoism, Pure Land Buddhism developed a concept of planning and garden design that was unique to Japan.

“The four temple complexes of this once great centre with their Pure Land gardens, a notable surviving 12th century temple, and their relationship with the sacred Mount Kinkeisan are an exceptional group that reflect the wealth and power of Hiraizumi, and a unique concept of planning and garden design that influenced gardens and temples in other cities in Japan....The Pure Land Gardens of Hiraizumi clearly reflect the diffusion of Buddhism over south-east Asia and the specific and unique fusion of Buddhism with Japan's indigenous ethos of nature worship and ideas of Amida's Pure Land of Utmost Bliss. The remains of the complex of temples and gardens in Hiraizumi are symbolic manifestations of the Buddhist Pure Land on this earth.

“The property encompasses the remains of the temple complexes with their Pure Land Gardens and the sacred mountain of Mount Kinkeisan to which they are visually aligned. Although the sites of Chûson-ji, Môtsû-ji, Kanjizaiô-in Ato and Mount Kinkeisan conserve their visual links in a complete manner, at the Muryôko-in site, houses and other structures have a negative influence. The visual links between the temples and Mount Kinkeisan span areas outside the property in the buffer zone. To protect the spatial landscape relating to Pure Land cosmology, the spatial integrity of these links need to be sustained.”

History of the Hiraizumi Buddhist Pure Land Site

The Japanese government filed a request in 2012 that the Hiraizumi UNESCO World Heritage site be expanded. According to a report submitted to UNESCO for this extension: “Over the course of the 12th century, Hiraizumi was a political and administrative center established in the northern part of Japan’s main island of Honshû, in what was then a borderland between the territories ruled by Japan’s central government and the regions farther to the north, and whose lively commerce with these regions served as its economic underpinning. The ôshû Fujiwara clan had its origins in the samurai traditions, and while on the strength of the tremendous wealth accumulated over four generations, the family did not rely solely on its military power. Rather, they built Hiraizumi with the aim of creating the Pure Land—a Buddhist conception of the ideal world. Hiraizumi came into being as the locus of a unique pattern of regional rule with a religious core. [Source: Permanent Delegation of Japan to UNESCO]

“Based on a form of religious-based administration, a unique culture flourished in Hiraizumi in both the central and surrounding areas of the political and administrative center that directly reflected the political ideals of the statesmen. This was expressed in the temples, gardens, residence-offices, and other related buildings that were built as the manifestation of ideals of governance that relied on Buddhism rather than on military might—as symbolized by the fact that the creators of Hiraizumi, the ôshû Fujiwara clan, were entombed within the Amidadô (Amida hall).. Many of the elements necessary for understanding the ancient culture are maintained in good condition even after the downfall of the ôshû Fujiwara at the end of the 12th century, and these elements make the property unparalleled testimony that Hiraizumi was a political and administrative center built with the aim of realizing the Pure Land as the Buddhist ideal world.

“The cultural heritage of 12th-century Hiraizumi shows how the concepts of Buddhist temple architecture and gardens that were conveyed along with the Buddhist religion from China and the Korean Peninsula, as well as the ideals and design concepts of political and administrative centers that originated in the ancient capital cities, evolved as they interacted with Japan’s characteristic form of nature worship belief. It also shows how that developed as a result into not only Japan’s unique Buddhist temples and gardens, but also the concepts, design, and layout of its political and administrative center. The foundation for that was the abundant gold mining in the northern part of Japan’s main island of Honshû, the exchange of cultural products that was being carried out across a broad region stretching from Southeast Asia to China, the Russian maritime region, and the northern seas, and the vast wealth accumulated as a result. This exceptional example of a political and administrative center created with the aim of realizing the Pure Land as the Buddhist ideal world on earth would continue to have a lasting impact on the concepts and forms of Japanese cities.

“Hiraizumi witnessed the flourishing of a unique culture of outstanding quality. Although the leaders were samurai, they applied religious criteria, and their political ideals of trying to create a Buddhist Pure Land in the present world were reflected in the development of the central and surrounding areas of their political and administrative center. The fact that the ôshû Fujiwara clan sought to realize a Buddhist-based governance ideal is reflected in the temples, gardens, residences, and other structures they built, as well as in the unique form and construction of the cluster of buildings that formed the political and administrative center. The downfall of the ôshû Fujiwara clan at the end of the 12th century brought an end to Hiraizumi’s role as the political and administrative center in Japan’s northern territories, and subsequent developments did not bring about any large-scale changes. As a result the various elements that are critical for understanding the culture that flourished there have remained in excellent condition. They totally bear testimony of the culture of Hiraizumi, as a place established with the aim of achieving the Pure Land as the Buddhist ideal world.”

According to UNESCO: “Much of the area was destroyed in 1189 when the city lost its political and administrative status. Such was the spectacular rise and conspicuous wealth of Hiraizumi and its equally rapid and dramatic fall, that it became the source of inspiration for many poets. In 1689, Matsuo Basho, the Haiku poet, wrote: 'Three generations of glory vanished in the space of a dream.’”

Layout of Hiraizumi

The Hiraizumi site covers 190 hectares and a surrounding area of roughly 370 hectares. According to the report submitted to UNESCO: “The central area includes the temples, gardens, and archaeological sites representing the Buddhist Pure Land, which are already inscribed on the World Heritage List, as well as the archaeological site of the buildings and their compounds serving as both residence and government office that was the backbone of the political and administrative power in the region. In the surrounding area, in addition to the sites of temple founded on pre-existing Buddhist thought that formed the basis for the Pure Land thought, there are also archaeological sites such as the manor that formed the wealth of Hiraizumi as the Pure Land, the workshops that were run with those wealth, and other sites. Among the important points in both the central and surrounding areas there are the existence of the remains of religious structures that were laid out deliberately, demonstrating a unique placement and construction intended to represent the Pure Land as a whole. [Source: Permanent Delegation of Japan to UNESCO]

”These component parts have been well maintained up to the present day, and as such Hiraizumi offers an exceptional example of a political and administrative center that embodies the Buddhist Pure Land. Hiraizumi, as a representation of the Buddhist ideal world known as the Pure Land, took as its point of departure the ideals and design concepts of Buddhist temple architecture and gardens that had been transmitted from China and the Korean peninsula, as well as the ideals and design concepts of constructing political and administrative centers that originated in the ancient capital cities. These were fused with the unique Japanese sense of nature worship, and in that process, Buddhist thought (particularly Buddhist Pure Land thought) developed in a unique and influential manner that would create a new ideal and design concept upon which this political and administrative center would be constructed in the 12th century. It was created with the vast wealth accumulated by four generations of the ôshû Fujiwara clan thanks to the abundant gold mining in the region and the exchange of cultural products that was being carried out across a broad region stretching from Southeast Asia to China and the Russian maritime region, and up to the northern seas. At the same time, it was constructed in a way that sought to incorporate the ever-changing natural topography, while achieving the Pure Land as the Buddhist ideal world.

”The unparalleled layout and construction patterns of this political and administrative center that emerged in Hiraizumi would have an impact on the ideals and forms of future construction of Japanese cities. Within the global religion and thought of Buddhism, Pure Land thought played an important role in developing a unique perspective on life and death in the Asian region, and this is also strongly reflected in the construction and layout of Hiraizumi as a political and administrative center that was built with the aim of realizing the Pure Land as a Buddhist ideal world here on earth.

”As seen from the above, the cultural heritage of Hiraizumi is the property of an important political and administrative center that was formed as the result of an interchange of values among the peoples of East Asia, and it remains as testimony of the effort to create the Pure Land as the Buddhist ideal world here on earth. In addition, underlying the creation of this unparalleled political and administrative center that sought to achieve the Buddhist Pure Land here on earth was the global religion and thought of Buddhism. Accordingly, the property possesses Outstanding Universal Value and is thus significant in terms of the balance and representativeness of the World Heritage List.

“The cultural heritage of Hiraizumi unquestionably represents the diffusion of Buddhism throughout the broad Asian region and, within that context, the fusion of Buddhism with Japan’s indigenous ethos of nature worship and the unique development in Japan of the ideas of Amida’s Pure Land of Utmost Bliss. The layout and construction of the cluster of component parts symbolize the fact that the political and administrative center at Hiraizumi was constructed with the aim of achieving a Buddhist Pure Land in the present world.”

Hiraizumi Gardens

According to UNESCO: “The four Pure Land gardens of Hiraizumi, three focused on the sacred mountain Mount Kinkeisan, exemplify a fusion between the ideals of Pure Land Buddhism and indigenous Japanese concepts relating to the relationship between gardens, water and the surrounding landscape. Two gardens are reconstructed, with many details recovered from excavations, and two remain buried. The short-lived city of Hiraizumi was the political and administrative centre of the northern realm of Japan in the 11th and 12th century and rivalled Kyoto, politically and commercially. The four gardens were built by the Ôshû Fujiwara family, the northern branch of the ruling clan, as symbolic manifestations of the Buddhist Pure Land on this earth, a vision of paradise translated into reality through the careful disposition of temples in relation to ponds, trees and the peaks of Mount Kinkeisan. The heavily gilded temple of Chûson-ji-the only one remaining from the 12th century-, reflects the great wealth of the ruling clan.

”The temples and Pure Land gardens of Hiraizumi demonstrate in a remarkable way how the concepts of garden construction introduced from Asia along with Buddhism evolved on the basis of Japan's ancient nature worship, Shintoism, and eventually developed into a concept of planning and garden design that was unique to Japan. The gardens and temples of Hiraizumi influenced those in other cities, notably Kamakura where one of the temples was based on Chûson-ji.

”There is no doubt of the authenticity of the excavated remains. Two of the gardens have been reconstructed and this work has been underpinned by rigorous analysis of the built and botanical evidence. For the surviving structures, the main building Chûson-ji Konjikidô is a remarkable survival and has been conserved with great skill in a way that ensures its authenticity of materials and construction. The authenticity of the temple in its landscape has to a certain extent been compromised by the concrete sheath building that now surrounds it. To sustain the ability of the property to convey its value, it is essential that the four temples are able to convey in an inspiring way their association with the profound ideals of Pure Land Buddhism.”

Image Sources: 1) May Japanese Guest Houses 2) itako 3) Aomori City site 4) Aomori Museum site 5) Onsen Express 6) 7) Hirosaki City site 8) 9) Akita Prefecture site 10) 11) Sendai City site 12) 13) Wikipedia 14) Japan National Parks site 15) 16) Yamagata Prefecture 17 ) Samurai Dave blog 18) Aizu Wakamatsu city 19) Niigata city site 20) 21) Sado Island site

Text Sources: JNTO (Japan National Tourist Organization), Japan.org, Japan News, Japan Times, Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan Ministry of the Environment, UNESCO, Japan Guide website, Lonely Planet guides, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Bloomberg, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Compton's Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

Updated in July 2020


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