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Hiraizumi

Every introduction to Hiraizumi seems to recycle the claim that, at its height during the 12th century, the city rivaled Kyoto in both power and cultural attainments. That may or may not have been true. Certainly, the Emperor remained in Kyoto, and most of Hiraizumi’s Buddhist sculpture was imported from the capital.

It’s clear from what remains, though, that something remarkable was taking place here. Hiraizumi flourished for less than a hundred years from its founding by Fujiwara no Kiyohara. In that brief period, however, a new aesthetic began to take shape, rooted in the culture of Kyoto but beginning to show a distinctive direction of its own from the earliest days. Sometimes called the Golden Culture, 12th century Hiraizumi under three generations of the Oshu Fujiwara family built an astonishing wealth of temples, gardens and houses, very little of which has survived.

It would have been interesting had the culture been allowed to develop. Hiraizumi was the de facto capital of Oshu, a region that claimed approximately a third of Japan’s landmass. With an amazing wealth of gold, along with lacquer, silk, iron and fine horses, Oshu also managed a kind of detente with the non-Japanese cultures of the Emishi and Ainu, at least in matters of trade. In fact, Hiraizumi’s founder Kiyohara was half Emishi himself.
Hiraizumi is best known today as an important final setting for the story of Minamoto Yoshitsune, who sought shelter here from his brother, the warlord Minamoto Yoritomo. The story of their struggle, and of Yoshitsune’s suicide following his betrayal by the Fujiwara, is known to nearly all Japanese. Today, you can see both the spot where Yoshitsune is said to have killed himself, as well as the purported grave of his retainer Benkei, a warrior monk legendary for his physical prowess and his loyalty. After Yoshitsune’s death, the Fujiwara were rewarded for their treachery when Yoritomo razed virtually the entire town, which never recovered.

For visitors passing through the area Hiraizumi is a must, if only to see Chuson-ji Temple and its amazing Golden Hall, the mausoleum for four generations of the northern Fujiwara, as well as the Pure Land garden of Motsu-ji, the best preserved Heian era garden in the country.

■Chuson-ji

No one is sure who founded Chuson-ji. The Tendai sect (as well as Chuson-ji’s own tourist brochures) claim it was established in 850 by Ennin, whom you’ll also remember as the monk who was directed by a prophetic dream to establish the temple at Osorezan, far to the north. Many modern scholars, though, find no evidence of Buddhist activity in the region before 1100 and believe it was all the handiwork of Fujiwara no Kiyohira, Hiraizumi’s founder.

Whichever the case, Chuson-ji Temple is the best reason to stop in Hiraizumi. Chuson-ji was the first major construction project of the Oshu Fujiwara when they set about creating a capital that would soon be said to rival Kyoto. At its height Chuson-ji was an enormous complex of over forty buildings, with umbrella reliquaries leading up the mountain Kanzan to a tall pagoda.
Following the brutal treatment of the town at the hands of Minamoto Yoritomo and the centuries of decline that followed, only two of the original buildings survive, a sutra repository and the Konjikido, or Golden Hall. The latter, though, is a highlight of any trip to northern Japan and really must be seen in person to be believed.

The Konjikido is very small, looking at first almost like a toy temple, but as you slowly take in detail upon detail the structure assumes a dazzling beauty. Built as intricately as a jewel box, the Konjikido is not actually made of gold, but of wood that has been completely covered with the finest lacquer. Over this, the temple’s exterior is covered with gleaming gold leaf. It’s also called Hikarido, or the Hall of Light, and it really does seem to throw off an illumination all its own. Inside, the gold continues but serves mainly to accent the stunning lacquer work, mother of pearl inlay and fine gilt copper ornamentation surrounding the altar, where several images are enshrined, including Kannon, popularly called the Goddess of Mercy, and Jizo, the guardian of children.

In its splendor and flawless construction, the Konjikido is meant to evoke the Buddhist ideal of the Pure Land. It also showcases both the wealth of the Oshu Fujiwara, four of whose mummies lie beneath the altar, as well as the extent of trade indicated by the inclusion of materials imported from outside Japan. Incredibly, for centuries the Konjikido sat outside, exposed to the elements. Later a wooden structure was built to cover it, and today it is housed in a concrete building behind plate glass, which sounds unappealing but isn’t really all that bad.

No trip to Tohoku can really be complete without having glimpsed the Konjikido, and what little else remains of Hiraizumi’s past glory. Be sure to check out the Sankozo, too, a modern building housing some of Chuson-ji’s treasures, including a remarkable collection of sutra scrolls and a statue of the Thousand Armed Kannon. Walking out into the subdued atmosphere of modern Hiraizumi, you won’t be the first to wonder at the magnitude of the loss. The renowned haiku poet Matsuo Basho, passing through Hiraizumi more than 300 years ago, wrote the famous lines:

Ah, summer grasses!
All that remains /
Of the warriors dreams.

>>Access
Tokyo====(150 min. by Shinkansen)====Ichinoseki====(25 min. by taxi)====Chusonji

>>Open Hours
8:00 - 17:00 (8:30 -16:30 from Nov. 11th to March 31st)

>>Holidays
No holidays

>>Fee
Adult: 800 yen, Child: 200 yen

-Matt Mangham

>>Hotels and Ryokans in Hanamaki Area