Dazaifu City

Gathering at ruins, aiming for 6:10 a.m.

Dazaifu Office Ruins, Time Day

Photo by Saigen Jiro (CC0)

01 ／ Rokoku (water clock)

The Shoku Nihongi of 774 recordsa water clock at Dazaifu.

A rokoku (漏刻) is a water clock. The Shoku Nihongi (続日本紀) states in 774 (Hoki 5) that Dazaifu already had one, and the Engishiki (延喜式) also lists six clock keepers each for Dazaifu and Mutsu Province. It is presumed to have stood on Tsukiyama (月山), the hill east of the government office; in 1921 (Taisho 10), a Time Day ceremony was held at the ruins facing it.

Shoku Nihongi, 774 (Hoki 5): "Dazaifu already has a water clock"
Engishiki (927): six clock keepers each
Presumed to have stood on the hill east of the government office (citizens' heritage)
1921 (Taisho 10): ceremony held at the government office ruins (都府楼跡)

02 ／ Kanzeonji's Bronze Bell

The late-7th-century bell is said to bea brother of Myoshinji's bell in Kyoto.

This is the national treasure bronze bell of Kanzeonji (観世音寺), 159.4 cm tall. The city says it was cast in the same mold as Kyoto's Myoshinji (妙心寺) bell, making them brother bells, and considers it older than that bell of 698, judging by the size of its dragon-shaped hook. It is now on deposit at the Kyushu National Museum, where it is displayed.

National Treasure (designated November 14, 1953)
Total height 159.4 cm (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
Myoshinji's bell dates from 698 (city)
On deposit and displayed at the Kyushu National Museum

03 ／ Miyanomoto Site's Land-Purchase Deed

A contract in which the dead bought a gravesurvives as 96 characters on lead.

The Miyanomoto Site (宮ノ本遺跡) is an ancient cemetery for officials on a hill southwest of the Dazaifu government office, where about 100 graves have been confirmed. The land-purchase deed from Tomb No. 1 of the early Heian period is a lead plate 35.2 cm long bearing 96 characters. The city says only two such deeds are currently known nationwide.

About 100 graves (city)
Lead plate 35.2 cm long, 96 characters (city designation)
Only two known nationwide at present (city)
Prefectural historic site (designated March 5, 1981)

Living here

The population has grown to over five timesthat of 1955, the year Dazaifu Town was formed.

about 70,000 people

When Dazaifu Town and Mizuki Village merged in 1955 (Showa 30), the population was 13,264. It grew rapidly with the expansion of the Fukuoka metropolitan area, housing development, the arrival of universities and better transport, and the city was established in 1982. The city describes itself as a residential city of the Fukuoka area, rich in historic sites and greenery.

People living here: 73,164people
Area: 29.6km²
Households: 30,945households
Rent (average for rentals): 53,892yen
Healthcare: 4 hospitals ／ 44 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Children waiting for childcare: —10 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

Shape

Borders 3 municipalities.

Dazaifu City in Japan33.513°N 130.524°E

Territory of Dazaifu City

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

9.5km

筑紫野市, 大野城市, 宇美町

Travel times per leg are not published by the municipality, so they are not shown.

Dazaifu City isthis kind of town.

01The ruins of the Dazaifu government office (大宰府政庁跡) mark the center of Dazaifu, the administrative body that governed Kyushu from the late 7th to the late 12th century, and foundation stones remain today. On June 10 each year, Time Day, people have gathered before its main hall at 6:10 a.m. for a ceremony (canceled for rain in 2025; about 200 attended in 2026).
02The city is where the plum blossom banquet that gave Reiwa its name was held, and calls itself the "capital where Reiwa began." There are Dazaifu Tenmangu, which enshrines Sugawara no Michizane, and the neighboring Kyushu National Museum. Stories certified as citizens' heritage are scattered around, including the prefecturally designated Take-no-kyoku performed by descendants of the six guilds of Gojo, the Hassaku Sento-myo lantern rite Gojo District has held on the evening of September 1, and Kumamaro's grave, which Enoki District residents have kept tending.
03About 16 km southeast of Fukuoka, it is a residential city of the Fukuoka area, with Mt. Shioji to the north and Mt. Homan to the east.

See the town as it is now.

Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Dazaifu City official site ↗Wikipedia ↗