Saikū

The was a palace complex located in what is now the Takegawa neighborhood of the town of Meiwa, Taki District, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Forming a small village, it was established in the Nara period as the palace and public offices of the Saiō, an unmarried Imperial princess who served at Ise Shrine on behalf of the emperor, and fell into ruins in the Nanboku-chō period. The site was designated a National Historic Site in 1979. The Saikū is also referred to as the "Bamboo Palace", Saigū, Itsuki no Miya, Iwai no Miya or Imimiya

==Overview== The Saikū was located approximately ten kilometers north-west of Ise Shrine, arguably the most significant Shinto shrine in Japan. The Saikū was situated on the right bank of the Kushida River and its tributary, the Harai River, which flows into Ise Bay. The original layout covered an area measuring two kilometers east-to-west by 700 meters north-to-south, or 137 hectares. The town was built on a grid structure based on Chinese traditions and consisted of several large blocks of 120 metres in length, surrounded by high wooden walls. Inside each block were more than 100 buildings in the shinden-zukuri style, with varying size and purpose, built of Japanese cypress in the method of the day, using interlocking blocks of wood to hold the structure together without nails. The buildings were rectangular in shape and built on poles dug into the ground, with a floor raised up to a meter from the ground. Some blocks contained a small well from which to draw water, or shrines or structures for food storage.