Hiraizumi’s Cultural Heritage Structural Properties
Muryōkō-in Ato
Muryōkō-in Ato is the site of a temple constructed by the third Oshu-Fujiwara lord, Hidehira. An Amida hall constructed to imitate the Phoenix Hall of the Byōdō-in Temple in Uji, as well as great halls surrounding a pond. In addition, behind the Amida Hall (to the west) Mt. Kinkeisan is in the center of a gentle mountain range.
After the collapse of the Oshu-Fujiwara clan, the great halls went disappeared or went to ruin and the pond was made into a rice paddy, but the site was kept in good condition.
The World Heritage Committee gave high praise to the Jodo gardens of Hiraizumi that form the completed form of Muryōkō-in, calling it, “a scene of an ideal town put together by carefully arranging the Buddhist monastery in connection with ponds, forests and the summit of Mt. Kinkeisan.”