Post by washi on Apr 19, 2015 5:27:45 GMT
Kyūhōji Jinai Chō is a now a district in Yao City, Japan. It has likely existed as an organized community at least as far back as the early 7th century, when Kyūhōji temple was built somewhere near there. (I am assuming such an early date because there is evidence that other temples built in this early Buddhist period quickly attracted market places, which in turn soon became villages. It may, indeed, be even older. The building site for Kyūhōji was selected in part at least because Koma Jinja, the shrine that serves the town, had already established the site as a sacred area, and therefore a suitable place to build a temple of the new religion.)
There were countless civil wars during Japan's medieval period. Many towns and temples were destroyed in the fighting. Many Buddhist sects participated in these wars, fighting not only with other sects, but also with secular forces as well. In the 15th century, members the True Pure Land Sect fortified this village, because they feared attack by older rival sects, particularly the Tendai. In later times True Pure Land Sect was also a fierce enemy of Oda Nobunaga, the first of Japan’s great unifiers, but this village, as far as I can determine, was not involve with this fighting. The principal True Pure Land temple at that time was only about 5 miles (8.5 km) northwest of this village, and it was surrounded by one of the strongest fortifications built in the civil war era. Some of the content of this post digresses to mark and map that site.
Kyūhōji Jinai Chō was fortified in 1470. (Jinai Chō means "town inside the temple," but “temple town” may be a better English rendering.) It was surrounded by moats and earthen ramparts, with bridges and gated entrances. Remains of the ramparts and a small stream are still present just south of Kenshōji Temple, and the footprint of the moat can be read in the positioning of many houses. Just when the moat was filled in is not known, but apparently it happened gradually over time. The fact that wooden entry passes still exist suggests that the moats and gates must have persisted well into the Edo Period.
Fortified villages were not rare in the medieval period. (I counted 18 on a map showing the Osaka and Nara plains.) The most noteworthy, Imai Chō near Kashiwara’s Yagi Nishiguchi Station is now in hi-res imagery and others (Tondabayashi Chō in southern Kawachi, for example,) are clearly visible from GE.
The small museum at the Yao City Street Appearance Center was my principal source of information, and I am grateful for the assistance of the staff and their tolerance of my bad Japanese language skills. Graphics other than my own photos come from public domain materials published by the City of Yao Education Committee.
This post was significantly revised in June, 2009. Little new content was added, but the many changes were made in an attempt to make the file more user friendly, particularly in regard to the overlay maps, which have been restored to the main file. Further major revision was done in 2012 and 2015.
This project was extended to other old villages along the once much larger Nagase River, and is available through a link in one of the placemarks in this folder, but not in the Google Earth Community layer.
Post last revised March 11, 2023.