Археологчид Японы эзэн хааны гүнж нар Исе сүмд бурхдыг тахиж байхдаа амьдарч байсан байж болох ордны гол танхимын үлдэгдлийг олжээ.
Японы Миэ мужийн Мэйва хотод байрлах Сайкү археологийн дурсгалт газарт хийсэн малтлагаар Нарагийн үед хамаарах, 1300 орчим жилийн настай ордны цогцолборын хэсгийг илрүүлжээ. Сайкү түүхийн музейн судлаачид энэ оны зургаадугаар сараас есдүгээр сарын хооронд хийсэн малтлагаар 1.7-2 метр өргөн шонгийн нүхнүүдийг олсон нь томоохон модон байгууламж байсныг гэрчилж байна. Аравдугаар сард үргэлжлүүлэн хийсэн малтлагаар дээрх байгууламжийн хойд талд ордны төв танхим байх магадлалтай хоёр дахь барилгын суурийг илрүүлжээ.
Эдгээр байгууламжийн зохион байгуулалт нь тухайн үеийн эзэн хааны нийслэл болох Хэйжо ордны архитектуртай төстэй байгаа нь судлаачдын анхаарлыг татаж байна. Түүхэн сурвалжуудад дурдсанаар, эзэн хааны гэр бүлийн гэрлээгүй гүнжүүд буюу “Сайү” нар Исе сүмд бурхдад үйлчлэх үүрэг хүлээж, энэхүү ордонд амьдардаг байжээ. Энэхүү уламжлал нь 7-р зууны сүүлээс 14-р зуун хүртэл үргэлжилсэн бөгөөд Сайкү нь хөдөө орон нутагт байрлах эзэн хааны жижиг ордны үүргийг гүйцэтгэж байв.
Малтлагаар Сайкүд хоёр өөр ордны хашаа байсан нь тогтоогдсон бөгөөд энэ нь урьд өмнө төсөөлж байснаас илүү нарийн зохион байгуулалттай цогцолбор байсныг харуулж байна. Судлаачид эдгээр барилгын зориулалт болон хоорондын хамаарлыг тодруулахаар ажиллаж байгаа бөгөөд 8-р зууны үед амьдарч байсан гүнж Иноэгийн түүхтэй холбоотой байж болзошгүй гэсэн таамаглалыг дэвшүүлжээ. Гэсэн хэдий ч эдгээр барилгыг хэн, хэзээ бариулсан нь одоогоор эцэслэн тогтоогдоогүй, судалгааны ажил үргэлжилж байна.
Археологийн баг ирэх арваннэгдүгээр сарын 14-нд малтлагын талбайд олон нийтэд зориулсан мэдээлэл өгөхөөр төлөвлөж байна. Энэхүү нээлт нь Сайкүгийн эзэн хааны засаг захиргаанд эзэлж байсан байр суурийг ойлгоход чухал ач холбогдолтой болохыг Миэ мужийн захирагч Кацүюки Ичими онцолжээ.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
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For more than 600 years, Japan’s emperors sent young women from their own family away from the capital to serve the gods. The women left behind their homes, their places at court and much of the life they had known.
Their new home was not a temple. It was a palace.
That palace disappeared centuries ago. But archaeologists digging in a quiet town in central Japan now believe they have found its heart, buried beneath the ground for roughly 1,300 years.
Postholes as Wide as a Person Is Tall
The site is Saikū, in Meiwa, Mie Prefecture, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the great Shinto shrine of Ise. Archaeologists have been excavating here since 1970. Covering some 137 hectares (340 acres), the ruins rank among Japan’s largest archaeological sites.
Between June and September this year, researchers from the Saikū History Museum excavated part of a fenced compound dating to the Nara period, in the 8th century AD. What emerged was a row of remarkably square postholes. Each measured around 1.7 to 2 meters (5.6 to 6.6 feet) across, with roughly 3.2 meters (10.5 feet) separating them. Such enormous holes would have held the wooden pillars of a substantial building.
Then came another discovery.
Digging just north of the first structure in October, the team uncovered the remains of a second building, with postholes about 1.7 meters wide and spaced approximately 3 meters (10 feet) apart. Its full dimensions remain unknown. The position, however, was hard to ignore: almost exactly at the center of the compound, precisely where researchers would expect to find its most important structure.
The museum believes the second building was the compound’s main hall.
What makes the discovery particularly significant is the arrangement. Two large buildings standing along a south-to-north axis, supported by pillars of this size and spacing, closely resemble the palace architecture of Heijō Palace in Nara, Japan’s imperial capital at the time.
In a November 5 statement, Mie Prefecture said the buildings were very likely part of the palace of the Saiō. The question is what an imperial princess was doing in a palace so far from the capital.
Princesses Sent to Serve the Gods
The Saiō were unmarried princesses of the imperial family, selected to serve the deities of Ise Grand Shrine, Shinto’s most sacred site. Whenever a new emperor took the throne, divination determined which princess would take up the role. A lengthy period of ritual purification followed before she could leave the capital and make the journey to Ise.
Once she arrived, the princess lived not at the shrine but at Saikū, a name meaning “the palace of the abstinent princess.” Three major festivals at Ise each year formed the center of her religious duties. The rest of her time was spent at the palace, attended by court ladies, officials and servants.
Saikū was, in effect, a small imperial court transplanted into the countryside.
The tradition continued for about 660 years, from the late 7th century until the 14th century. Historical records identify more than 60 Saiō, although much of what researchers know about their lives comes from written accounts and later literary works. The places where those women actually lived have been far harder to recover.
And the latest excavations suggest their palace complex was considerably more elaborate than previously understood.
A Palace With a Twin Next Door
The new structures were found in what archaeologists call the western compound. During the Nara period, two square enclosures occupied this central area of Saikū, standing side by side, surrounded by wooden fences and carefully aligned with the compass points.
Researchers had already uncovered something extraordinary in the eastern compound in 2023.
There, excavations revealed the largest building ever found at Saikū. Its architecture was unlike anything else known in Japan: two halls joined together, with an outer eave wrapping around them. Another hall, positioned to the side, was uncovered in 2024.
With those discoveries in hand, the museum shifted its attention westward, looking for signs of a second palace compound. The latest postholes appear to have provided them.
In the 8th century, Saikū apparently contained two palace compounds, each with a main hall of its own.
Why both existed remains unanswered. Perhaps one replaced the other. Or the two compounds may have fulfilled different functions, an idea archaeologists hope to investigate as further excavations reveal the buildings’ dimensions and their relationship to one another.
Their resemblance to the imperial capital is another important clue. Speaking at a November 4 press conference, Mie Governor Katsuyuki Ichimi said the capital-style layout could help researchers understand Saikū’s position within the imperial government.
The princess’s residence was not merely a place of religious seclusion. Its buildings followed the architectural language of the court she had left behind.
Exactly which princess occupied them is another matter.
The Princess Who May Have Lived Here
Archaeologists believe the newly discovered buildings date to the first half of the 8th century, placing them potentially within the reign of Emperor Shōmu, who ruled from 724 to 749.
That timing has drawn attention to Princess Inoe, Shōmu’s daughter, who served as Saiō during his reign. Officials have raised the possibility that the buildings were connected to her, according to Arkeonews. For now, though, the connection is speculation. Researchers have not established precisely when the structures were built or which princess lived there.
The Saikū History Museum plans to open the excavation site to visitors for an on-site briefing on November 14. Further digging will help determine the full size of the halls and how the buildings were arranged.
Princess Inoe’s later life makes the possible connection particularly striking.
After completing her service at Ise, she married the future Emperor Kōnin and became empress in 770. Just two years later, she was accused of using curses and black magic against her husband. Her imperial title was taken away, and she was imprisoned alongside her son, the crown prince.
In 775, mother and son died in custody on the same day. They were probably poisoned.
Years afterward, the imperial court restored Inoe’s title as empress, reportedly out of fear that her angry spirit might seek revenge. By then, the palace where she may once have lived had already become part of a very different chapter in Japan’s imperial history.
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