Excavation of the Remains of the Structure "Denmon" at the Isawa Castle Site

Abstract

In Excavation No. 77 at the site of Isawa Castle, Headquarters for Pacification and Defence, the remains of a building designated "gate remains SB 1250" were uncovered at a point 30 m south of the southern gate of the administrative compound, standing in a manner as to block the compound's southern entrance. It was located as one of the main structures of Isawa Castle, facing south along its central north-south axis, and while it was built to the same standard in terms of size as the tile-roofed south gate of the outer compound, and the main and eastern halls of the administrative headquarters, a difference in rank can be noted regarding its structure, as a single-storied embedded-pillar building not provided with a tile roof. The construction of this building dates from the Isawa II phase or later, belonging to a period of great transition within the history of the castle as a whole. It is surmised that the building was called "Denmon, " and as background to its establishment it is thought to have resulted from a reorganization of the fortified government offices of northern Mutsu province from the middle decades of the ninth century, and the concentration of the system for control of the Emishi at the single focus of Isawa Castle. For this reason the Headquarters for Pacification and Defense sought to divest part of its administrative functions, and establish a new facility in the plaza opening to the south of the headquarters compound, which would bear those responsibilities. This facility was "Denmon." Also, as a result of this divestiture, a reorganization of the government offices in the vicinity of the administrative headquarters was carried out.
From that point on, this building served as a symbol of the system for control of the Emishi maintained by the Headquarters for Pacification and Defense, having its own facilities and organization independent of the provincial headquarters at Tagajo castle.