Komyoji Temple

Nukatabekama

Suiko Shrine

Kakuanji Temple

Memorial Building for Kenkichi Tomimoto

Ando Town Historical Folklore Museum

Naka Family House

Junkei Tsutsui remodeled Koriyama Castle. He governed all Yamato at the end of Muromachi era (mid-16th century). His tomb is located about 200 meters northwest of Hirahata Station. It has a gorinto (five circle tower) and a small building with kawara roof. Both his tomb and the building are important cultural properties. However, the grounds are not well kept, and they are overgrown with grass.

Komyoji Temple is located 400 meters south west of Hirahata Station. It is not clear when this temple was built. There are three Amida Buddha images in the main building, which are made of wood. Those look like they were made in the Muromachi Era, and they are important cultural properties.

A "kama" is a place where kawara were fired. There are three kama, and each of them is less than two meters wide and deep. They are hiragama, rather than noborigama. Nukatabe is the name of this area. Judging from kawara in the area, these were used in the Kamakura Era. There are eight gorinto in the area. They were made in the Kamakura Era. They are important cultural properties.

The main building is located on the Suiko Shrine Tumula, which is the type of tomb that is square in the front and round in the back, and whose depth is 40 meters. In this case, though, it is difficult to for people who are not experts see the tumula.

Shotokutaishi started Kumagorishoja to train priests. It was converted to a temple later and became Kakuanji Temple. Emperess Suiko suffered an injury on her forehead and prayed for healing. She named the temple Kaku (forehead) an (peace) ji (temple). This area was important for water transportation, since rivers ran into it. Many people and goods came there, and a prosperous temple was important to accept them. It was very prosperous during the Heian Era. It has Kokuzobosatsu Buddha image, which is 50 centimeters tall. It is the oldest statue of this kind. The temple was burnt to the ground during the war period, but it was rebuilt during Edo Era. There is a lecture hall now.

Myojo Pond is in front of the temple. Hokyotoin (a pagoda) is located on the island, and it was made in 1260.

photo

The memorial building for Kenkichi Tomimoto is located in the center of Andocho. This is Kenkichi Tomimoto's birthplace. He received the Order of Culture (bunka kunsho) in 1961, because of his excellent work of pottery and other art work. He was a professor at present Musashino Art University and Kyoto Art University. The storage building (kura) and small building (hanare) are original buildings. His pottery, drawing and hanging scrolls (kakejiku) are exhibited. They also had different kinds of pottery for sale, including plates, vases, boxes, and so on, with interesting patterns and glazes. The areas around the buildings are a kind of "sculpture garden," with statues.

This is a birthplace of Kinzo Imamura (1852-1924), who made Nara Prefecture independent from Osaka Prefecture, and Arao Imamura, who was president of present Osaka University. This large house was donated from Imamura family to Andocho, and now it is a museum.

The main exhibits are related with the traditional industries of Andocho. One of the important one was making wicks for lamps and candles. However, the demand is not high and not big industry now.

This temple was built by Shotokutaishi. It has Amidanyoraizazo as its main Buddha image. It is an important cultural property. However, buildings are very new. Only the gate looks like a traditional temple.

The Naka family were originally samurai (soldiers) and served Junkei Tsutsui. Eventually they became a farmer and owned large rice fields. Their house is surrounded by two moats. Bamboo woods are inside the outer moat, and the buildings are located inside the inner mote. There is no outer moat on the south side. The total plot is about 12,000 square meters, but the inside the inner moat is 1,700 square meters.

Visitors can see the 350-year-old main building. The kitchen is very big, and there are 11 fireplaces for cooking arranged in a semi circle, so that one person can take care of all of the pans and kettles. This is the largest one in this area. This building is very famous for its Yamatomune roof, which has a thatched room as a main roof and a kawara roof for the lower part. It has a smoke window in the roof.

There is a steam bath and toilets, which are surprisingly small.

We can also see the main guest rooms where inspectors came every four years. The fusuma are painted, mainly with pictures of plants and animals, and there is a painted screen.

The buildings there are important cultural properties.

Reference

Shimazu, M. (Ed.). (1990). Nara. Tokyo. JTB. (in Japanese)

copyright (2004) S. Kathleen Kitao and Kenji Kitao

Note: This work was partially funded by the Doshisha University Computer Research Fund, 2004.