Hirao Hara Kyozuka Excavated Items and Memorial Tower

The Hirao Harakyōzuka is a mound for sutra memorial services, created as a commemoration for having traveled to over sixty sacred sites nationwide during the Edo period and offering hand-copied sutras. The sutra memorial tower that once stood atop the mound revealed that it was erected in the mid-Edo period, in the 5th year of Hōei (1708). Currently, the memorial tower stands at 1-49-7 Hirao, but originally it was located about 20 meters west, next to the Agricultural Cooperative Hirao Branch (see the photo above). It was relocated to its current site in 1992 due to building construction.
The sutra mounds themselves began to be constructed among nobles from the Heian period due to the influence of Mappo thought. The 66-volume pilgrimage sutra mounds, where pilgrims traveled nationwide to offer hand-copied sutras, became popular in the 16th century and continued through the Edo period. The Hirao Plain Sutra Mound belongs to the late period of this tradition. There are 25 sutra memorial towers in the city, of which 13 are 66-volume pilgrimage sutra mounds. The Hirao Plain Sutra Mound is the oldest among them and has a well-formed stone tower.

Hirao Genkizuka Surveyed

The Board of Education's investigation of stone monuments revealed that this is the oldest sutra memorial tower in the city. Based on the inscription on the stone monument reading "数殊一切施主等不残記之入壱安置石仏下," an excavation survey of the sutra mound was conducted in 1976. The mound itself is an elliptical shape approximately 6 meters by 4.5 meters, about 70 centimeters high, with the sutra memorial tower built about 20 centimeters south from the top of the mound. The excavation began by removing the soil from the top of the mound. Beneath the surface soil, natural river stones were laid, and digging about 1 meter below this stone layer reached the natural ground (loam layer). In this natural ground, a circular pit about 1 meter in diameter was discovered.
Inside the pit, a large Bizen ware jar (height 32.7 cm, mouth diameter 32.5 cm) was placed, and inside it was a bronze sutra container (height 30.5 cm, diameter 17.7 cm). Since traces resembling wooden fragments were found on the lid of the sutra container, the jar might have had a wooden lid.
From inside the sutra cylinder, three sutra boxes, a Japanese bronze mirror, and relics believed to be decayed sutras were discovered. All three sutra boxes were wooden, and the sutras were stored inside them; however, due to moisture, they were severely decayed, making it impossible to remove and unfold the sutras. On the lid of one sutra box, ink inscriptions reading "Bushu Toyoshima District Uji □" and "Denshin" were found. The Japanese bronze mirror is 6.5 centimeters in diameter, made of bronze, and although small, it is intact. Additionally, as relics inside the sutra cylinder, two ends of sutra scrolls and one Kan'ei Tsūhō coin were discovered.
Currently, there are few excavation reports on the Rokujūro-bu Kaikoku Kyozuka, so the discovery of the relationship between artifacts and stone monument inscriptions through excavation surveys can be considered a very valuable achievement.