Hiraizumi – Temples, Gardens and Archaeological Sites Representing the Buddhist Pure Land

In the 11th and 12th centuries Hiraizumi was the political centre of northern Japan and a rival to Kyoto. Around 1100 Fujiwara no Kiyohira moved his seat from Fort Toyoda to Mount Kanzan and built Chūson-ji there. The Northern Fujiwara ruled for about 100 years over four generations, Kiyohira, Motohira, Hidehira and Yasuhira, on wealth from the gold dust of the north and trade with the lands beyond.

The Konjikidō, the Golden Hall of Chūson-ji, was completed in 1124 and decorated with gold leaf, mother-of-pearl and lacquer. It holds the remains of Kiyohira, Motohira and Hidehira and the head of Yasuhira. According to the Azuma Kagami, the temple once had more than 40 halls and pagodas and over 300 monks' residences.

Hidehira sheltered Minamoto no Yoshitsune and refused Minamoto no Yoritomo's demands to hand him over. After Hidehira died, Yasuhira drove Yoshitsune to suicide in 1189, but Yoritomo sent an army that same year and the Northern Fujiwara fell. A fire in 1337 destroyed much of Chūson-ji, but the Golden Hall had been enclosed in a wooden cover building in 1288, and since 1965 it has stood inside a concrete hall. Matsuo Bashō came in 1689 and wrote of summer grasses as all that remains of warriors' dreams. In 2011 Chūson-ji, Mōtsū-ji, the sites of Kanjizaiō-in and Muryōkō-in, and Mount Kinkeisan were inscribed as a World Heritage site.