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Nowdays it's hard to imagine HIRAIZUMI as the resplendent capital of the Fujiwara clan, who chose this spot on the banks of the Kitakami-gawa for their "paradise on earth". At first sight it's a rather dull little town on a busy main road, but the low western hills conceal one of the most important sights in northern Honshu, where the gilded Konjiki-do has somehow survived war, fire and natural decay for nearly nine hundred years. You can easily cover this and the nearby gardens of MotSu-ji in a day, with the option of staying in Hiraizumi itself or Ichinoseki. In the early twelfth century Fujiwara Kiyohira, the clan's first lord, began building a vast complex of Buddhist temples and palaces, lavishly decorated with gold from the local mines, in what is now Hiraizumi. Eventually, the Fujiwara's wealth and military might started to worry the southern warlord Minamoto Yoritomo , who was in the throes of establishing the Kamakura shogunate. Earlier, Yoritomo's valiant brother, Yoshitsune , had trained with the warrior monks of Hiraizumi, so when Yoritomo turned against him , Yoshitsune fled north with his loyal servant Benkei. Though at first he was protected by the Fujiwara, they soon betrayed him on the promise of a sizeable reward, and in 1189 Benkei - peppered with arrows and spears - held off the attackers while Yoshitsune committed suicide. According to one legend, however, Yoshitsune escaped to Mongolia where he resurfaced as Genghis Khan. Meanwhile, Yoritomo rewarded the Fujiwara by annihilating them, destroying their temples and leaving the town to crumble into ruin. Basho, passing through Hiraizumi five hundred years after Yoshitsune's death, caught the mood in one of his famous haiku: "The summer grass, 'tis all that's left of ancient warriors' dreams." The flight of Yoshitsune to Hiraizumi is commemorated with a costume parade during the town's main spring festival (May 1-5), which also features open-air No performances at Chuson-ji. Other important events include an ancient sacred dance, Ennen-no-Mai, held by torchlight at Motsu-ji on January 20 and during the autumn festival (Nov 1-3).
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