Hirao Hara Kyozuka Excavated Items and Memorial Tower

Hirao Hara Kyōzuka is a memorial mound for the offering of sutras, built in commemoration of the practice of copying sutras while visiting sacred sites across more than sixty provinces during the Edo period. It is known that the sutra offering tower that stood on the mound was erected in the 5th year of the Hōei era (1708). Currently, the offering tower is located at 1-49-7 Hirao, but originally it was situated about 20 meters to the west, next to the Hirao branch of the agricultural cooperative (see the photo above). It was moved to its current location in 1992 for the construction of a building.
The mound itself began to be constructed among the nobility during the Heian period under the influence of the Mappō thought, and the practice of visiting sacred sites to copy sutras, known as the 66-part pilgrimage Kyōzuka, became prominent in the 16th century and continued until the Edo period. Hirao Hara Kyōzuka belongs to the late phase of this tradition. There are 25 sutra offering towers in the city, of which 13 are 66-part pilgrimage Kyōzuka, and Hirao Hara Kyōzuka is the oldest among them, with a well-preserved stone tower.

Hirao Genkizuka Surveyed

The investigation of stone structures by the Board of Education revealed that this is the oldest sutra memorial tower in the city. Based on the inscription carved on the stone tablet, "Number of merits, all donors, no omissions, recorded in the one placed stone Buddha below," an excavation survey of the sutra mound was conducted in 1976. The mound itself is an oval shape measuring approximately 6 meters by 4.5 meters, with a height of about 70 centimeters, and the sutra memorial tower was built about 20 centimeters south of the top of the mound. The excavation began by removing the earth from the top of the mound. Beneath the surface soil, natural gravel believed to be river stones was laid, and digging about 1 meter down from this pavement revealed the underlying soil (loam layer), where a circular pit about 1 meter in diameter was discovered.
Inside the pit was a large Bizen ware jar (height 32.7 centimeters, mouth diameter 32.5 centimeters), which contained a bronze sutra tube (height 30.5 centimeters, diameter 17.7 centimeters). Traces resembling wooden pieces were found on the lid of the sutra tube, suggesting that the jar may have had a wooden lid.
From inside the sutra tube, three sutra boxes, a bronze mirror, and what appeared to be decayed sutras were discovered. All three sutra boxes were wooden, and sutras were housed inside them, but due to significant decay from moisture, it was not possible to extract and spread the sutras. One of the lids of the sutra boxes had an inscription that read, "Bushu Toyoshima District, [illegible]," and "Transmission of Heart." The bronze mirror was 6.5 centimeters in diameter and, although small, was complete. Additionally, two ends of sutra rolls and one Kan'ei Tsuho coin were found among the artifacts inside the sutra tube.
Given the current scarcity of excavation reports on the sixty-six sects' return to the sutra mound, it can be said that clarifying the relationship between the artifacts and the stone tablet through excavation is a very valuable achievement.