November 3, 2009

No.1 Digest

Kumagaya City KONAN Cultural Properties Center
329, Sendai, kumagaya, saitama, 360-0107 Japan http://www.kumagaya-bunkazai.jp/Introduction

The Kumagaya City KONAN Cultural Properties Center has the basic concept of thetheme of "making, seeing and touching". We are collecting, storing, investigating andresearching "cultural assets" that have been passed down as cultural heritage in the city.
We are promoting the utilization of these cultural assets and promoting the disclosure ofmany cultural resources.
The newly launched “BUNKAZAI Information” is an information magazine that
introduces such activities. The purpose is to convey the importance of protecting culturalproperties to many people through information magazines.

TOPICS

Municipal administration delivery course "touching real earthenware"
On October 16th, the staff member of the municipal Arakawa Children's Club held amunicipal administration delivery course "Pottery Stoneware Course". Eleven children
participated and experienced the history of Kumagaya.
In the course, we talked about the history of Kumagaya from the Paleolithic era to theHeian era, showing the earthenware and stoneware excavated during excavation andshowing pictures.We are holding the course to learn about the ancient times ofKumagaya by bringing genuine excavated items. If you are interested, please contact us.

Haiku poetry event at Seikeien-Introduction to haikuWe held a total of six "Haiku Introductory Lectures" from October to November at thecity's designated cultural property, Scenic Garden (KamakuraTown). Mr. Isayama, chairman of the Kumagaya Haiku
Federation, was instructor. Participants learned the basics ofhaiku and had a good time, such as holding a haiku meeting. TheSeikeien was built at the end of the Edo period by the idea of Takei
Tanjyo, who made great achievements in the industrial field ofKumagaya City. The strolling garden, the Tamanoike, and thethree restored Japanese-style buildings give visitors a quiet time.

City excavation information
Nishibeppu Sites "Ancient government office ruins found in Kumagaya"
Our research team excavated the ruins of the West Beppu area from May to June.
In this area, in addition to the Nishi-Beppu archaeological site, there is an importantarchaeological site called the Nishi-Beppu archaeological complex, which consists of
the Nishi-Beppu Abandoned Temple and the Nishi-Beppu Shrine.
In this survey, we found a huge excavated pillar building and ancient building
traces from the Heian period (the latter half of the 9th century to the latter half ofthe 10th century) in a space divided by a double ditch with an earthwork. On June
27, We held a reseach information session for local residents.

Mae-Nakanishi Sites “Discovered many pit dwellings from the Yayoi period”
The excavation survey is being carried out at the Maenakanishi site in theKamino district along with land readjustment projects. The research teamconducted an excavation.For the sites of the Yayoi period, the following points
have been found by previous surveys. The sites are bordered by the rivercalled Koromogawa that meanders in the center of the region, and there arevillage traces such as pit dwellings on the north side, and graves such as asquare gutter tomb on the south side.

SerialsProtection activity of buried cultural properties
Chapter 1 Prospecting survey and range confirmation survey
In Kumagaya City, there are more than 1,100 developments andconstructions a year. On the other hand, about 350 archaeological sites(reserved cultural property enclaves) are confirmed in the city. If the planneddevelopment site is a ruin, it is necessary to take measures to protect the buried
cultural property. First of all, the person in charge of starting construction isrequired to submit a notification based on the Cultural Property Protection
Law. After that, we will confirm the development contents and carry out "trialdrilling" etc. to check the existence and depth of the ruins.

Reports
Special exhibition"My Town Kumagaya Site Tour"
Theme Exhibition-Maruyama Site and Maruyama Burial MoundsIn the Minowa area of Kumagaya City, many archaeological sites were
distributed on the plateau overlooking Arakawa, but they have almost
disappeared by around 1985 due to soil collection and factory expansion. The ruinsin this Maruyama area have been excavated and investigated for ancientdwellings, including tombs from the Yayoi period to the Kofun period. In order toshow these achievements, the Cultural Heritage Center holds a special exhibitionin the lobby of the museum.

Ancient human experience events
At the Cultral Properties Center, the annual summer vacation project "You arealso an ancient person" was held 12 times from late July to mid August. This event
provided an opportunity to think of ancient people, experience making magatama,making fire, and touching earthenware and stoneware. Every event we held was fulland lively.

City designated cultural property confirmation survey
There are different types of cultural assets such as tangible cultural assets, intangible
cultural assets, folk cultural assets, and memorials. (In addition, cultural landscape,traditional buildings, buried cultural properties, preservation technology). Of these culturalproperties, the government (Nation/prefecture/municipalities) has designated and selected
the most important ones, which are designated as protected cultural properties. Kumagaya
City has a total of 250 cultural properties after being merged twice. This is an extremely
large number even in Saitama prefecture. The person in charge is conducting a
confirmation survey to know about these cultural properties.

Cultural Properties Column
Encounter with ancient times 1 Glass beads in Ippongi Mae site
There was a burial facility for a rectangular grave in the early Kofun
period at the Ippongi Mae site in Higashi Beppu. Beautiful blue glass beads
were attached to the human bones that excavated from there. The column
describes the findings. Many buried cultural properties and artifacts havebeen found in Kumagaya City. This series of columns will focus on the storyof underground cultural properties.
November 3, 2009 Kumagaya Cultural Properties Information
Kumagaya City KONAN Cultural Properties Center（Board of Education Social Education Division Conservation of Cultural Properties Unit）
329, Sendai, kumagaya, saitama, 360-0107 JapanTELL 048-536-5062 FAX 048-536-4575
Mail c-bunkazai@city.kumagaya.lg.jp
Homepage：[Cultural Properties of Kumagaya] http://www.kumagaya-bunkazai.jp/[Kumagaya web museum] http://www.kumagaya-bunkazai.jp/museum/index.htm: Translated by Yamashita Yuki