Dazaifu Academy Ruins
| Location | City of Dazaifu |
|---|---|
| Designation | National Historical Site |
| Emblem |  |
This was the site of an institution used to train government officials in Dazaifu. Children of the officials working in Saikai-do (Kyushu) area studied here. Oe no Masafusa, the Provisional Governor-General of Dazaifu at that time, wrote in “Goke-shidai” (ritual protocol of the Oe family) that there was a facility that housed a portrait of Confucius that was brought back from the Tang Dynasty by Kibi no Makibi. Presently Chinese pistache trees are planted along the prefectural road. Their seeds were taken from the pistache trees at Confucius’ Mausoleum and offered by a descendant of Confucius.
＊Because of a typhoon in the summer of 2015, two of three Chinese pistache trees were broken.
Official Training School
In Dazaifu, there were official training schools called “fu-gakko” (“government school”) in the six provinces of Chikuzen, Chikugo, Bunzen, Bungo, Hizen, and Higo, where roughly 200 children of district governors and other influential people went to learn. Gakkoin (“school hall”), also the name of the historical site, refers to the area where the school was located. At these schools, students were educated by imperial instructors in a variety of fields, with “Gakushou” (general students) learning basic education as an official using Confusion scriptures as textbooks, “Isei” (medical students) studying medicine, and“Sansei” (arithmetic students) who study arithmetic. They served as officials of the Dazaifu, six provinces, and the county governments. Dazaifu was a place for these young people to learn as well as to deepen their connections.
Dazaifu City Characters/Tabito the Traveler, Otomo no Tabitto, Princess Reiwa
Flanked to the east and west by Dazaifu and Kanzeon-ji, the governmental and religious centers of their time, this was an important place. To the north were hills, while to the south the grid-shaped city sprawled.
Students from all over Kyushu likely studied hard here and developed into government officials. This once bustling place is now a sprawling rural landscape.
Gakkoin is also called “Gakugyoin”, a name that has been inherited by the nearby Gakugyoin Junior High School.
Access Information
Address
818-0101 4-17-21 Kokubu, Dazaifu, Fukuoka
By Train
About 13min on foot from Nishitetsu Gojo Station
About the Western Capital
The “Western Capital”, created in Tsukushi 1300 years ago. Cultural assets speaking to the magnificence of this city of international exchange that flourished in East Asia are scattered across the cities of Chikushino, Kasuga, Onojo, Dazaifu, Nakagawa, and Umi in Fukuoka Prefecture as well as the town of Kiyama in Saga Prefecture.