Yamada-michi Road

Running east–west across northern Asuka

In the north of Asuka Village, around the Ishigami site and Ikazuchi Hill, a route runs east to west. This stretch, where a prefectural road now runs, is thought to follow the line of the ancient Yamada-michi.

From the east it came south from the direction of Iware in Sakurai, passed through Asuka, and ran west to Karu no Chimata (in Kashihara), its junction with the Shimotsu-michi road. It was a main artery cutting east–west across Asuka.

The Nihon Ryōiki, a Heian-period collection of tales, mentions "the road in front of Abe-Yamada" in a story set in the time of Emperor Yūryaku. Because it passed through Abe (Abe, Sakurai) and Yamada (Yamada, Sakurai), it is also called the Abe-Yamada-michi.

The road that welcomed the Sui envoy

In 608, the Sui envoy Pei Shiqing came to Japan together with Ono no Imoko, Japan's envoy to Sui China. The party entered Yamato from Naniwa and headed for the Oharida Palace, and this is thought to be the road they took.

It was a road used to receive foreign envoys. That means it was not a farm lane between the paddies but a properly built official road, wide and lined with side ditches.

The road to Yamada-dera

The road takes its name from the place called Yamada in Sakurai. Yamada-dera Temple was built in that Yamada.

The temple was founded in 641 by Soga no Kurayamada no Ishikawamaro and stood at the end of this road heading east from Asuka. The temple faced the road, and the road led to the temple. Asuka's temples and roads were usually linked in this way.

Still a road today

Yamada-michi is not designated a national Historic Site. It is one of the component properties of the Japan Heritage story "The Birth of Japan: Women Who Soared in Asuka."

No remains have been laid out for display; what you can walk today is the prefectural road and its pavement. Yet the line of a 1,400-year-old official road is still in use as today's prefectural road. Walk it with that in mind, and an ordinary straight road looks different.

Visiting

Right by the "Asuka" stop on the Asuka loop bus from Kintetsu Kashiharajingu-mae Station. Within the village, the route is the road that runs east–west between the Ishigami site and the Asuka Mizuochi site.

Go east and you pass through Okuyama to the Yamada-dera Temple site in Yamada, Sakurai; go west and you pass through Toyura to Karu in Kashihara. Whichever way you go, Asuka-period sites line the road.