Monograph No. 38

ASUKA, AND FUJIWARA IMPERIAL PALACE SITES EXCAVATION REPORT III

CONTENTS

KANEKO Hiroyuki: Wooden Ritual Imitations of the Nara Period                          1

MORIMITSU Toshihiko: Demon-faced Ridge Tiles of the Nara Period                   29

MORI Ikuo: Roof Tiles Bearing Seal Inscriptions from the Heijo Palace Site                       67

KUROSAKI Tadashi: Burials of the Kinai Area in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries               85

YAMAZAKI Shinzi: Heian Period Roof Tile Production in Yamato                          127

 

WOODEN RITUAL IMITATIONS OF THE NARA PERIOD

by KANEKO Hiroyuki

 

 Imitations (mozohin) of various objects were often used in ceremonies of the protohistoric and historic periods of Japan. These imitations were usually slightly smaller and more coarsely made than the objects they represented. They can be divided into groups based on their material of manufacture - stone, clay, metal and wood - each of which was popular at different times.

 Imitations began to he used in rituals during the fourth century and they were most often made of stone. A few wooden imitations appeared in the fifth and sixth centuries, but it wasn't until the time of the Temmu and Jito courts in the latter half of the seventh century that the kinds of wooden imitations began to multiply, becoming most numerous in the ninth century.

 Among the ninth century imitations are weapons (swords and arrows), agricultural tools (sickles and knives), musical instruments (koto bridges), vehicles (boats), and living things (people, horses, birds), etc. Most of the wooden imitations are found concentrated around the respective capitals of the Nara and Heian periods and at the sites of the provincial capitals.

 It is postulated that the proliferation of wooden imitations from the latter seventh century resulted from the political policies of the Temmu and Jito courts whereby the traditional imitations of the fifth century were infused with new life through the addition of ceremonial objects of Chinese origin. This postulation rests on the evidence of change in type and distribution of imitations during the late seventh century and on evidence that among the horse and human figures, the human figure were ceremonial objects of Chinese origin which accompanied the importation of the Chinese Ritsuryo system of government into Japan.

 Because the use of wooden imitations was established in conjunction with state ceremonial policies, one portion of them continued to be used after the eighth century as part of the ceremonial paraphernalia of state.

 

DEMON-FACED RIDGE TILES OF THE NARA PERIOD

by MORIMITSU Toshihiko

 

 In Asia, the hips of a ridge-roofed building are often decorated with special roof tiles. In Japanese, these are usually called oni-gawara, literally meaning “demon tiles”; however, since their decorations are not exclusively confined to demon-face motifs, oni-gawara will be rendered here as “ridge tiles”.

 The ridge tiles of the Nara period in Japan can be roughly divided into two groups: those which have lotus flower motifs as their basic pattern, and those which bear a demon’s face. In this paper, the circumstances of the appearance of demon-faced ridge tiles in Japan and their subsequent development will be considered.

 Demon-face motifs have been recognized on a few of the decorative eaves tiles from temples in the Kinai region dating from the middle through the end of the seventh century. However, there are no demon-faced ridge tiles that can be dated prior to the eighth century with any certainty. The demon-face patterns appearing on the eaves tiles of the above temples are related to similar tiles on the Korean Peninsula from Koguryo in the Three Kingdoms period and Silla in the Unified Silla period. It is thought that those temples decorated with demon-faced eaves tiles in Japan were the clan temples of naturalized residents of Japan originally from the Korean Peninsula.

 The first appearance of ridge tiles in Japan was at the beginning of the eighth century when they were used in building of the Heijo Palace, which formed the nucleus of the Ritsuryo government system, and in building Dazaifu, the Kyushu headquarters for maintaining foreign relations with the continent. The use of ridge tiles at these places is postulated to be due, then, to the Chinese T’ang Dynasty influence which formed the basis for the establishment of the Ritsuryo system rather than any direct transference from the Korean peninsula.

 After the initial appearance of ridge tiles at the Heijo Palace and Dazaifu, they began to be used in temple construction around the capital and the Kyushu headquarters. In the middle of the eighth century, the manufacturing of demon-faced ridge tiles exclusively for temple use began in the seven great temple area in the Heijo capital. Eventually that kind of tile was employed in the construction of state temples (kokubunji) in all the provincial capitals, and demon-faced ridge tiles became common throughout the country.

 

ROOF TILES BEARING SEAL INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE HEIJO PALACE SITE

by MORI Ikuo

 

 Among the many kinds of roof tiles of Japan's Nara period are moji-gawara (lit. “character tiles”), which have character inscriptions stamped on them. Many of these tiles have been recovered from the site of the Heijo Palace, and this article discusses the meaning and significance of the tiles stamped with square character seals excavated from there.

 In December 1976 alone, 717 character tiles divisible into 32 types and 60 varieties were excavated from the Heijo Palace. All 717 tiles bear one stamped character which is thought to be an abbreviation. Among the different characters are several kinds which are thought to mean “repairs”. Throughout the Nara period, there existed a Bureau of Repairs in the capital, and these tiles indicate that this office was involved in the production of roof tiles. The establishment of the Bureau of Repairs can be estimated from the dating of tiles with the “repairs” seals as having taken place no later than the Tempyo-Shoho phase (749-756).

 Numerous tiles bearing the “repairs” seal have been excavated from the roofed walls running within the palace compounds, from the grand corridor surrounding the palace precincts and from adjoining areas. Judging from this kind of depositional record, it is highly likely that the work of the Bureau of Repairs was focused mainly of the maintenance of the roofed mud walls and colonnades. Furthermore, if this was the nature of work being done by the Repairs Bureau, there is a good possibility that its activities were not confined only to the palace area but extended throughout the Heijo capital.

 

BURIALS OF THE KINAI AREA IN THE EIGHTH AND NINTH CENTURIES

by KUROSAKI Tadashi

 

 This article concerns the existence and changes in the form of burial in the Kinai region during the eighth and ninth centuries. Usually when burials of this time are mentioned, one thinks of the then newly established form of cremation burial; however, I intend to examine the more traditional kind of wooden coffin burial in addition to these. From the relations between the two systems of burial - coffin and cremation - I tried to grasp the changes in burial customs of the period.

 In the Kinai area, 180 instances of cremation burial have been discovered. Beginning in Nara prefecture in the first half of the eighth century and from other prefectures in the middle of the eighth century, instances of cremation burial increased as time went by, most of them clustering in the latter eighth century. Contrary to prevalent thinking, cremation burial declined in popularity upon entering the ninth century.

 Thus far, seven instances of coffin burial are known from the Kinai. Such burials are rich in funerary goods such as small bronze bells, swords, and stone ornaments for the waist sash (obi). A special feature of the burials is the double layer method by which the coffin was surrounded by a wooden frame and embedded in a layer of charcoal. These coffin burials were restricted in date to the early half of the ninth century and form the other side of the coin to the decline in cremation burials.

 By comparing these results with the burial descriptions that can be found in contemporary literary documents, burial customs are seen to have changes in three stages during the 200 years beginning with the early eighth century.

These stages are:

I. From the beginning of cremation burials in 700 to the end of the century: this is the period of greatest popularity for the cremation burial.

II. From 770 to the middle of the ninth century: this period marks a return to the traditional form of burial in a wooden coffin.

III. From 842 after the funeral of Emperor Saga to the end of the tenth century: burial without grave goods was the rule during this period of mixed coffin and cremation burial.

 

HEIAN PERIOD ROOF TILE PRODUCTION IN YAMATO

by YAMAZAKI Shinzi

 

 Between the ninth and twelfth centuries when the capital was located at Heian (modern Kyoto), many temples in Yamato, the site of the former capital, caught fire and had to be rebuilt. The roof tiles made at the time of rebuilding can be dated upon recovery by archeological techniques. Thus, from the dated roof tile series, not only can changes in eaves tile patterns throughout the Heian period be clarified but also changes in the roof tile production system from te the classical to medieval periods can be postulated.

 During the early Heian period (from 794 to 910), tile production workshops were a part of the temples architectural office and not independent. In the first half of the middle Heian period (910-973), a few new production techniques diffused from the Heian capital into Yamato, but overall, tile production in the Yamato area waned. Between 973 and 1040 in the second half of the middle Heian period, a few tiles produced in outlying regions of Japan were imported into Yamato, but most of the roof tiles to be used in temple rebuilding were still manufactured in Yamato.

 Roof tile production in the first part of the late Heian period (1040-1080) was carried out mainly by the tile workers at the temple Yakushiji, and their products began to be employed outside of Yamato as well. We can surmise that this was the beginning of the trend towards the tile workers' independence from the temple’s architectural office. During the second part of the late Heian period (1080-1150), the workshop leading in tile production was located at the temple Kofukuji; by this time, the tile workers’ organization had completely divorced itself from the temple bureaucracy and become independent.

 In 1180, during the third part of the late Heian period (1150-1192), when both the Todaiji and Kofukuji temples were lost in fires, powerful tile production systems emerged at each of these localities. If medieval roof tile production can be characterized by the regional dispersion of workshops run by specialist craftsmen, then the production systems at the Kofukuji and Todaiji can be said to belong to the medieval pattern.

 

昭和55年3月31日 発行

研究論集Ⅵ

奈良国立文化財研究所学報(第38冊)

 

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