An empirical study on the background of the establishment of Kashima and Katori "Shingun" by the Landscape Archaeology

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K01057
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 03050:Archaeology-related
• Research Institution: Ibaraki University
• Principal Investigator: TANAKA Yutaka 茨城大学, 人文社会科学部, 教授 (00451667)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 建評 / 神郡 / 鹿島 / 那賀国造 / 終末期古墳 / 7世紀 / 里

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research focuses on Kashima “shin’gun” described in “Hitachi-no-kuni Fudoki” and explores how the structure of “shin’gun” differs from ordinary counties, and how the administrative divisions were organized in ancient times. The method of research is to restore the Archaeological landscape around the 7th century when “Shin’gun” was established, and to analyze the changes in each period. Specifically, the area under control of “Naka Kokuzo”, which is described in “Hitachi no Kuni Fudoki” as being cut off when “Shin’gun” was cut off when the administrative division was established, was restored, and then conducted Archaeological survey within that area to analyze the location relationship between major Kofun Tumuli around the 7th century and the county offices and village centers, which were the administrative divisions of the ancient times.

Free Research Field

日本考古学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

古代の鹿島神宮と香取神宮は東国にありながら、伊勢神宮とともに三つしかない神宮と称される神社であり、藤原氏の祖先神が祀られていること、その出身氏族である中臣氏や関連の大中臣氏が奉祭すること、両社ともにその所在地が全国で八箇所しかない神郡となることから、古代史上欠くことのできない重要な要素である。藤原氏が勃興するきっかけとなった乙巳の変、大化の改新において、建評の開始とほぼ同時に設置される香島神郡が、激しい地域再編を伴っていること、そして、後の地方行政区画の形が同時に決定づけられることが明らかにできたことは、古代史上大きな意味をもつと思料する。