Hayato Tomb

Japanese: 隼人塚 - はやとづか

The remains of an ancient temple in Hayato-cho, Aira-gun, Kagoshima Prefecture. Three tuff-made multi-storey towers (the tallest middle tower is 2.5m high to the three-storey tower body) are lined up from east to west on a 15m-diameter, 2m-high earthen platform, with two standing statues of the Four Heavenly Kings on either side (the eastern one is 1.8m high, the western one 1.45m high), and two upper body fragments on the southwest. In addition, statues of Nio kings remain. As it is close to Osumi Kokubunji Temple, it is commonly believed to be Osumi Kokubunji Nunnery, but the depiction of the four Buddhas and the Four Heavenly Kings on the tower body indicates that it was created slightly earlier than the Osumi Kokubunji multi-storey tower with an inscription dating back to 1143, and there is nothing to necessarily support the Kokubunji Nunnery theory.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

鹿児島県姶良（あいら）郡隼人町にある古代寺院跡。長径15m，高さ2mの土壇上に凝灰岩製の3基の層塔(最も高い中塔は三層塔身まで2.5m)が東西一列に並び，その両側に四天王立像が2基(東のものの高さ1.8m，西は1.45m)，南西に上半身の残欠2基が配されている。このほかに仁王像も残っている。大隅国分寺に近いところから大隅国分尼寺にあてる説が一般に行われているが，塔身の四方仏や四天王像の表現は康治2年(1143)銘の大隅国分寺重層塔よりやや古いころの作品であることを示しており，必ずしも国分尼寺説を肯定させるものはない。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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