Study on the historical landscape of ancient Japanese temples and manors

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The early temple's grounds and estate lands are depicted in a collection of maps from Saidaiji Temple that were produced in the Kamakura period. Part of the collection is currently held by the Faculty of Letters of the University of Tokyo, the rest by Saidaiji Temple. The maps have long drawn attention for the valuable light they shed on the historical landscape of Nara in early and medieval Japan. In recent years, with historical research affirming the importance of visual materials as objects of study, research into the Saidaiji maps has proceeded along a diverse range of disciplinary approaches including archival history, archaeology, geography, Buddhist studies, and art history. Thanks to these advances, the historical landscape is coming into ever sharper focus.