Saga and Yoshinogari 佐賀と吉野ヶ里 Photo Gallery by Matthew Haswell at pbase.com

Saga and Yoshinogari 佐賀と吉野ヶ里

The workaday and somewhat humdrum capital of Saga Prefecture, Saga city was once the castle town of Kyūshū's prominent Nabeshima clan. While most of the original castle was lost to a series of past fires and post-Meiji Restoration dismantling, a thorough reconstruction of its former palace was completed using traditional methods and materials in 2004. East of Saga lies the Yayoi period archaeological site of Yoshinogari - now simultaneously an ongoing research and excavation site as well as a fascinating park of reconstructed ancient architecture.

Replica of a Yayoi-period tower in JR Saga station	A rainy morning outside JR Saga Station	Shachi-no-mon at Saga-jō	Another view of the original gate
Restored Honmaru-goten of Saga-jō	Rear of the Shachi-no-mon	Frontal view of the restored palace	Honmaru-goten exterior detail
Foundations of the former Nanseisumi-yagura	Stone foundations of the former donjon	Saga-jō's restored palace from the Tenshu-dai	Old foundations beside the Tenshu-dai
Modern buildings towering over the outer moat	Rice paddies near Yoshinogari station	Entrance to Yoshinogari Historical Park	Reconstructed Yayoi period moat
Watchtower in the Minami-naikaku	Reconstructed Yayoi-era huts	Watchtower and gate into Minami-naikaku	Thatched roofs of the restored huts
Entrance into a house of the ruling class	Path to a smaller hut	Replica of the king's house	Interior of the house of the king's daughter
Wooden gate and king's hut	Structures of the Kita-naikaku	Between storehouses in Naka-no-Mura	Storage hut and Kita-funkyubo beyond
Path towards the Kita-funkyubo	Reconstructed burial jars	Large burial mound at Kita-funkyubo	Pathway leading to Kita-naikaku
Burial jar pits with Kita-naikaku in the distance	Entrance into Kita-naikaku	Moat and watchtower in Kita-naikaku	Watchtower with Kita-naikaku huts
Recreation of a sacred ceremony in the palace	Meeting of upper class and priests in the palace	Sacred palace in Kita-naikaku	Looking over to the storehouses beyond the wall
View across Kita-naikaku from a watchtower	Looking out towards Kita-funkyubo from the tower	Path leading to Kurato-ichi	Storage huts in Kurato-ichi
Kurato-ichi storehouses and central hall	Low-lying huts in Kurato-ichi	Winding path to Minami-no-Mura	Moat and distant Minami-no-Mura

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