The Kii Kokubun-ji is located at the southern end of the river terrace formed on the north bank of the lower reaches of the
Kinokawa River. It is believed to have been one of the original provincial temples authorized by Emperor Shomu in 741, but there is no documentary evidence of its construction or layout. The temple is mentioned in an entry in the
Shoku Nihongi dated 756, so it much have been competed by that time. As built, the temple occupied a 218-meter square enclosure, centered on the Lecture Hall. Per the , the temple was completely destroyed by a fire in 879, as only the Main Hall and monk's quarters were rebuilt. The temple appears in the early
Heian period Engishiki records, but then disappears again from historical records until the beginning of the 14th century, when the Main Hall was rebuilt on the foundations of the original Lecture Hall. The temple subsequently became a subsidiary of
Negoro-ji and was destroyed again during
Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s conquest of
Kii province in 1585. Under the sponsorship of
Kishū Domain in the
Edo period, the temple's current
Main Hall was reconstructed in 1700. It is a five by four bay structure with a tile roof and appears to be a two-story structure from the outside but is single-story inside. This building was relocated to the foundations of the Nara-period Lecture Hall in 1992. It is a Kinokawa city tangible cultural property. In 1928, the foundations of the
Japanese pagoda were designated a National Historic Site. This foundation is made of
chlorite schist stones, 16.4 meters on each side, and the shards of numerous
roof tiles have been found in the vicinity. From its size, it is estimated that the original pagoda was a seven-story structure.
Archaeological excavations from 1973 have found the foundations of many of the original structures, which were arranged in a straight line with a South Gate, Middle Gate, Main Hall, Lecture Hall and Monk's quarters. The pagoda was in between the Main Hall and the Middle Gate, but offset to the east of the central axis. In the corresponding position to the west of the central axis was a pond and garden. A
cloister extended from the sides of the Central Gate to the Lecture Hall surrounding the Main Hall, Pagoda, Bell Tower and
Kyōzō. The ruins have been opened to the public as an
archaeological park and are about a 15-minute walk from
Shimo-Isaka Station on the
JR West Wakayama Line. ==Gallery==