Hiraizumi (Iwate)
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,
Hiraizumi in the southwestern part of Iwate Prefecture is a town extending
up the Hiraizumi Hill on the west bank of the Kitakami-gawa River, that
prospered for almost 100 years from the 11th to 12th centuries as the
center of the Tohoku region (the northeastern region). During the Heian
Period, the Fujiwara were the most powerful clan in Japan. In 1105, Hiraizumi
was chosen as the seat of the "Northern branch" of the Fujiwara
family. The city steadily grew in cultural sophistication and political
power, so that it even came to rival Kyoto, the national capital.
Access: Guests take JR Tohoku Shinkansen from Tokyo to Ichinoseki Station
(130-150 minutes) and then the JR Tohoku Main Line from Ichinoseki to
Hiraizumi (8 minutes).