Oct 5, 2015 - 1 min read

Hirasawa Kanga Ruins

One look at the past

By Jennifer Nakajima

Community writer

The largest warehouse was called Hokura in the ancient literature.

Hirasawa Kanga ruins monument sign at the main entrance.

Even though it was built a thousand years ago the building is still standing.

It looks like a typical nipa hut when you look at it from the outside.

This artistic design was made to prevent rats from crawling inside the warehouse.

Shamrock and four-leaf clover in the grounds

Hirasawa Kanga Ruins are ancient Tsukuba City governmental buildings from the 8th to 12th century. Consisting of three warehouses surrounded by a large ditch, they were used as a storage facility for county tax payments which were made in rice and hemp. Some artifacts were found at the site such as tiles and inkstone. We had beautiful blue skies during our trip with many butterflies and a dragonfly dancing in the breeze high above the blanket of green grass.

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By Jennifer Nakajima

Community writer

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Elizabeth S 5 years ago

The buildings are amazingly detailed and faithful restorations of ancient buildings from the Nara Period. I’m a bit of an archaeology buff, and found out that the artisans referenced the construction method from Nara’s ancient temples. It’s startling to see this ancient administrative building under Mt. Tsukuba.