2000 Volume 7 Issue 10 Pages 71-85
Ancient Buddhist temple remains are located in Ninji, Kashiba City, in the northwest part of Yamato. Identified by some as the Kataoka niji temple remains, they have for a long time been known to consist of two locations where the same style of eave tile can be found: the vicinity of the present Hannyain temple, and the area around the remains of a pagoda podium lying east of Shiroyamahime shrine, just to its north. These remains have also been hypothesized as related to Hannyaji temple. In recent years investigations have been conducted at both locations, with the pagoda remains to the north being excavated, and an extremely large central foundation stone, with seats carved for the main and supporting pillars, has been found together with items treated as relics. With this discovery, these remains became the attention of renewed interest, prompting new opinions likening it to Katsuragi niji temple, or the view put forward by those involved in its investigation, based on the use at this temple of round eave tiles made from the same mold as those used for roofing Sakatadera temple in Asuka, that it was constructed by royalty descended from Emperor Bidatsu.
However, if this temple was indeed constructed by descendants of Bidatsu, then no clear explanation exists for the process of its construction, in which it was later brought close to completion using tiles of the Kawaradera style. The lack of clear knowledge about the specific activities of the builder is another difficulty left by this view.
In considering the identity of the builder of the abandoned temple at Ninji, despite the limitation of not being able to clarify fully the relation between the northern and southern precincts, if the distributions of same type eave tiles as the Sakatadera style tile used at the time of the temple's founding are included in the examination, along with those of same mold (duplicate) tiles, it will be noted that same type round eave tiles were concentrated at early temples in the Ki River drainage area, such as the abandoned temples at Nishikokubu, Mogami, and Kitayama. Accordingly, it is highly possible that the clan that built these three temples in the Ki River area and the one that constructed the temple at Ninji were members of the same extended clan organization. If this type of relationship can be admitted, then the possibility of seeing it as the Ki clan, which had its main base in Yamato, becomes high. In the vicinity of the abandoned Ninji temple there are Late Kofun period tombs like Misato Kofun, having a stone niche which is a prominent feature of horizontal chambers of the Ki River region, as well as the Heguri niimasu Ki shrine, an Engishiki registered shrine, where the Ki clan deity is worshiped. Also, from the relationship between the Ki and Heguri clans noted on a Ki clan genealogy, it may be inferred that the Ninji temple was a clan temple closely related to the establishment from the sixth century on of the headquarters of the entire Ki clan organization in this region. Further, if this is indeed seen as a clan temple of the Ki family, it becomes necessary to take a renewed look at Kidera temple located in the Asuka region.
