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Square stone-paved ditch near supposed site of Asuka Kiyomihara-no-miya.
Our great king, a god indeed. has made into a model city Those swampy fields where chestnut ponies trudged I n mud up to their bellies
Man'yoshu 4260
Our great king. god that he is. has turned into his capital A marsh where waterfowl used to mingle
Man'yoshu 4261
(composed after the end of the Jinshin Disturbance in 672 and the establishment of the capital at Asuka Kiyomihara-no-miya)
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ASUKA KIYOMIHARA-NO-MIYA (672-694)
It was here that Emperor Tenmu, who as Prince Oama had defeated Prince Otomo (son of his elder brother, Emperor Tenji) in the Jinshin Disturbance of 672, assumed the throne upon moving the capital back to Asuka from Omi (on the shore of Lake Biwa, present-day Shiga-ken). It was also here that his wife and successor, Empress Jito, completed the legal code known as the Asuka Kiyomihara-ryo.
As befit an era which saw a strengthening of the foundations of the legally administered ritsuryo nation-state, the Asuka Kiyomihara-no-miya boasted several chodo (administrative head quarters for the various ministries), a daianden, and a daigokuden ( imperial council hall).Around the palace an urban zone (kyo) began to develop, and a government office, the kyoshiki. was established to regulate its affairs. The palace is thought to have been located in the vicinity of the present-day Asuka Primary School,within the grounds of which there are vestiges of ancient stone pavements. To the south of the school,excavations have revealed the remains of buildings and a stone-paved drainage ditch laid in a square approximately 22.5 meters per side.
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