| Mimasaka Kokubun-ji 美作国分寺 | |
|---|---|
 Mimasaka Kokubun-ji Hondō | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Buddhist |
| Deity | Yakushi Nyōrai |
| Rite | Tendai |
| Location | |
| Location | 483 Kokubunji-chō, Tsuyama-shi, Okayama-ken 708-0843 |
| Country |  Japan |
  Mimasaka Kokubun-ji Show map of Okayama Prefecture Mimasaka Kokubun-ji (Japan) Show map of Japan | |
| Geographic coordinates | 35°03′00.16″N134°02′30.76″E / 35.0500444°N 134.0418778°E /35.0500444; 134.0418778 |
| Architecture | |
| Founder | Emperor Shōmu |
| Completed | c.741 |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
Mimasaka Kokubun-ji (美作国分寺) is aTendai sectBuddhist temple in the Kokubunji neighborhood of the city ofTsuyama, Okayama,Japan. Itshonzon is ahibutsu statue ofYakushi Nyōrai. The temple claims to be the successor to one of theprovincial temples established byEmperor Shōmu during theNara period (710 – 794).[1] Due to this connection, the foundation stones of the Nara period temple were designated as aNational Historic Site in 2004 with the area under protection expanded in 2009.[2]
TheShoku Nihongi records that in 741, as the country recovered from amajor smallpox epidemic,Emperor Shōmu ordered that a monastery and nunnery be established in everyprovince, thekokubunji (国分寺).[3][4] These temples were built to a semi-standardized template, and served both to spreadBuddhist orthodoxy to the provinces, and to emphasize the power of theNara period centralized government under theRitsuryō system.[5]
The Mimasaka Kokubun-ji ruins are located on a plateau near the Yoshii River in the northeastern part of Okayama Prefecture. The current Kokubun-ji is located on the ruins and foundation stones of the Nara period temple are scattered around its grounds. The Tsuyama City Board of Education conducted a four-yeararchaeological excavation from 1976 which revealed that the original temple grounds occupied a moated and walled compound approximately 218 meters square. The foundation stones of the South gate, Middle gate,Kondō, Lecture hall and monks quarters are all arranged in a row from south to north, with acloister connecting the middle gate with the main hall. Apagoda was located in the southeast. This was a typical Kokubunji-style temple layout and from the excavated relics (which included earthenware,roof tiles, andbronze mirrors, it is estimated that the temple was built soon after the imperial edict for the construction of Kokubunji system in 741, and that the temple declined at the end of theHeian period.[6] Among the excavated items, it is particularly noteworthy that the patterns on the eaves tiles from the foundation period are similar to the roof tiles of theHeijō Palace.
According to temple legend, it was destroyed in a fire in the year 1172. The modern temple was built in 1623, when theMori clan weredaimyō of theTsuyama Domain, and was later reconstructed in 1828 by the Echizen-Matsudaira clan, who had succeeded the Mori clan as rulers of Tsuyama.
The temple is about a 20-minute walk fromHigashi-Tsuyama Station on theJR WestKishin Line.[6]
About 450 meters to the west is the site of Mimasaka Kokubun-niji nunnery.[6] As with the Mimasaka Kokubun-ji, it was built in the middle of the 8th century and is believed to have been abandoned at the end of the Heian period or the earlyKamakura period. It is not covered by the National Historic Site designation.
