Map: GSI Japan The Dazaifu Government Office Ruins preserve the ceremonial center of the largest regional administration under Japan's ancient statutory state. From here officials governed the provinces of the western circuit, handled defense and diplomacy, and coordinated the movement of people, goods, and information between Kyushu, the court, and East Asia. The buildings are gone, but the axial terraces, foundation stones, restored ground plans, excavation evidence, and later memorials make the institution unusually readable. The site should be distinguished from Dazaifu Tenmangū: the ruins are the political-administrative center called Dazaifu, while the shrine developed around Sugawara no Michizane's burial place elsewhere in the city.
