Nanbu-Date border mounds

The Nanbu-Date Border Mounds are a series of earth mounds constructed in the early Edo period to mark the border between the feudal domains of Morioka Domain and Sendai Domain in Mutsu Province of northern Japan. Such boundary markers were common under the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled from 1602 to 1865; however, the number of markers and their excellent state of preservation led the grouping in the modern municipalities of Kitakami and Kanegasaki in Iwate Prefecture to be designated a National Historic Site. on January 31, 2000.

Background

In the year 1642, the Tokugawa shogunate re-confirmed the Nanbu clan and the Date clan in their holdings, and drew a boundary between the two feudal domains from Mount Komagatake in the Ōu Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. The boundary was defined physically by having a series of large earth mounds erected as boundary markers. In 1688, an additional series of smaller mounds was built to further delineate the boundary. In the 11 kilometer stretch currently designated as a National Historic Site, 17 large mounds and 198 small mounds are preserved.
The protected area is currently maintained as part of the “Michinoku Folk Village” open-air museum and is a thirty minute walk from JR East Kitakami Station.