Hōki Provincial Capital
kokufu ruin in Tottori, Japan
The Hōki Provincial Capital Site (伯耆国庁跡, Hōki Kokucho ato) is an archaeological site consisting of the ruins of the Nara period to early Heian period Provincial Capital of Hōki Province, located in the Kokufu, Kokubunji, neighborhood of the city of Tottori, Tottori Prefecture in the San'in region of Japan. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1985 with the area under production expanded in 2000.
Overview
Following the Taika Reform (645 AD) which aimed at a centralization of the administration following the Chinese model (ritsuryō), provincial capitals were established in the various provinces, headed by an official titled kokushi, who replaced the older Kuni no miyatsuko. With a square layout, the provincial capitals were patterned after the Capital of Japan, first Fujiwara-kyō and then Heijō-kyō, which in turn were modelled on the Tang capital Chang'an, but on a much, much smaller scale. Each had office buildings for administration, finance, police and military and the official building of the governor, as well as granaries for tax rice and other taxable produce. In the periphery there was the provincial temple (kokubun-ji), and nunnery (kokubun-niji) and the garrison. This system collapsed with the growth of feudalism in the Late Heian period, and the location of many of the provincial capitals is now lost.
The Hōki Provincial Capital was located on a hill with an elevation of about 40 meters, on the western outskirts of Kurayoshi city. On the east side of the same hill are the Hōki Kokunbun-ji ruins and the provincial nunnery ruins, and the area is thought to have been the political, economic, and cultural center of Hōki Province at the time. Archaeological excavations beginning in 1969 and continued from 1973 through 1978 confirmed that the site measures 273 meters from east-to-west, 227 meters from north-to-south, and was surrounded by two-meter wide moats on all sides, and that it was divided into an inner enclosure (government area) where ceremonies were held and an outer enclosure (kanga area) where practical work was conducted.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Hōki Provincial Capital” is kokufu ruin in Tottori, Japan. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Hōki, Provincial and Capital, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “kokufu ruin in Tottori, Japan” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11381492. The first chronological checks are 1985, 2000, 1969 and 1973.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Hōki Provincial Capital”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Hōki Provincial Capital primary sources, Hōki Provincial Capital archive and Hōki research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Hōki Provincial Capital”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Hōki Provincial Capital” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.