Mino Kokubun-ji
History. The "Shoku Nihongi" records that in 741, as the country recovered from a major smallpox epidemic, Emperor Shōmu ordered that a monastery and nunnery be established in every province, the .These temples were built to a semi-standardized template, and served both to spread Buddhist orthodoxy to the provinces, and to emphasize the power of the Nara period centralized government under the "Ritsuryō" system. The Mino Kokubun-ji is located in western Gifu Prefecture, a short distance to the west of the present-day downtown of Ōgaki. The location was near the "ichinomiya" of Mino Province , the Nangū Taisha, the Hiruiōzuka Kofun and the ruins of the Mino Provincial Capital. The exact date of the temple's foundation is unknown; but is believed that work started around 741 AD and was completed by the 750s. Per historical records, it was repaired in 766, received a donation of rice in 770, and suffered from extensive damage due to a storm in 775. The original temple was destroyed by a fire in 887, and although reconstructed, disappears from history by the end of the 12th century. The site of the original temple has been known since antiquity, and  forms a compound 230 meters east-to west by 205 meters north-to-south. The foundations of the "Kondō" were discovered in 1916, and the site was extensively excavated from 1968 to 1979. The arrangement of buildings mirrored that of Hokki-ji in Ikaruga, Nara, with the "Kondō" in the west and the Pagoda in the east, both of which were in a courtyard formed by the cloister which connected the Lecture Hall with the Middle Gate. This deviated from the standard layout of most "kokubunji" temples, and indicates that probability that the foundation of this temple was from before  the establishment of the "kokubunji" system. The present temple was founded in 1615 just to the north of the ancient ruins. The temple's "honzon", a seated Yakushi Nyōrai statue is 3.04 meters tall and was caved from a single block of "keyaki" wood. Temple legend states that this statue was carved by the famed priest Gyōki in the Nara period, but stylistically, this statue dates from the late 11th century and was extensively repaired in the Edo period. It is a national Important Cultural Property of Japan. Numerous roof tiles were recovered from the site, and the kilns where  these tiles were made has been located in the hills to the northeast of the temple ruins. The site of these kilns was included within the National Historic Site designation in 1921. As this site is a rare completely intact example of a "kokubunji", the National Historic Site designation was expanded in 1971 and again in 1974. A museum was opened on the site by Ōgaki city in 1982. The entire site was opened to the public as an archaeological park in 2007. It is located a 20-minute walk from the "Inaba Danchi" stop on the Meihan Kintetsu Bus  from Ogaki Station on the JR East Tōkaidō Main Line.