The Ruins of Abandoned Kinugawa Temple

In 1975, an excavation survey was conducted, and two building ruins that were deemed to be the tower and the Kondo Hall, and the ruins of a tile kiln were discovered. Judging from the artefacts such as round-shaped-eaves-end tiles and flat eaves-end tiles, this temple was probably built around the mid-7th century and is the oldest temple in Shiga Prefecture.

A survey for other hall buildings and the southern main gate was carried out; however the remains of these buildings were not found at all. It shows that this temple had only the tower and the Kondo hall. It is also clear that the temple layout was extremely unusual, judging from the facts such as these two buildings that are closely located to each other.