Musashi Province

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. Famous Places and Powerspots of Edo　江戸の名所 .
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Musashi no Kuni 武蔵国 Musashi Province / Bushuu 武州 Bushu

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Complete Map of Musashi province 武蔵国全図
Painted by Hashimoto Gyokuran (Utagawa Sadahide)



This is a map of the 22 counties of Musashi Province. Rivers, marshland, and the ocean are drawn in blue, mountainous areas in green, and the confines of the city in deep colors to distinguish from the outskirts. Also, in the blank space an explanation of place names, a brief history, a list of temples and shrines, and a list of famous spots of Musashi Province are noted.
Musashi Province is a large region that covers the present day Tokyo Metropolis, Saitama Prefecture and a large portion of Kawasaki City and Yokohama City in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Initially Musashi Province was formed from the 19 counties of
豊島 Toshima, 荏原 Ebara, 橘樹 Tachibana, 久良岐 Kuraki, 都筑 Tsuzuki, 多摩 Tama, 足立 Adachi, 入間 Iruma, 比企 Hiki, 横見 Yokomi, 埼玉 Saitama, 大里 Ohsato, 男衾 Obusuma, 幡羅 Hara, 榛沢 Hanzawa, 那賀 Naka, 児玉 Kodama, 賀美 Kami and 秩父 Chichibu.
However in the 8th century, the Koma County and the Shiragi County (which later became the Niikura County) and in the beginning of Edo period, a part of the Katsushika County of Shimōsa Province were integrated to make 22 counties.
- source : library.metro.tokyo.jp...

. 稲城市 Inagi City / 穴澤 Anazwaa / Yanokuchi 谷の口 / 矢野口 .

. Chōfu 調布市 Chofu city

. 調布市佐須町 Sazumachi, Chōfu City .

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Musashi Province (武蔵の国 Musashi no kuni)
was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called Bushū (武州). The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama. Musashi bordered on Kai, Kōzuke, Sagami, Shimōsa, and Shimotsuke Provinces.
Musashi was the largest province in the Kantō region.
- Name
The name Musashi, recorded in early records as 牟射志 muzasi, has been conjectured to be of Ainu origin. It has no apparent meaning in Japanese, but mun-sar-i or mun-sar-ihi (weed-marsh-POSS) is a hypothetical Ainu form that would mean "marsh/wetland of (i.e. belonging to) weeds/inedible or otherwise useless plants," with Musashi in the middle of the Kantō Plain.
- History
Musashi had its ancient capital in modern Fuchū, Tokyo, and its provincial temple in what is now Kokubunji, Tokyo. By the Sengoku period, the main city was Edo, which became the dominant city of eastern Japan. Edo Castle was the headquarters of Tokugawa Ieyasu before the Battle of Sekigahara and became the dominant city of Japan during the Edo period, being renamed Tokyo during the Meiji Restoration.
Hikawa-jinja
was designated as the chief Shinto shrine (ichinomiya) of the province; and there are many branch shrines.
The former province gave its name to the battleship of the Second World War Musashi.
- Timeline of important events
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708 (Keiun 5):
The era name was about to be changed to mark the accession of Empress Gemmei; but the choice of Wadō 和銅 as the new nengō for this new reign became a way to mark the welcome discovery of copper in the Chichibu District of what is now Saitama Prefecture.

The Japanese word for copper is dō (銅); and since this was indigenous copper, the "wa" (the ancient Chinese term for Japan) could be combined with the "dō" (copper) to create a new composite term—"wadō"—meaning "Japanese copper".
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- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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. Adachi ku 足立区 Adachi ward .

. Ebara district, Himonya village 武州荏原郡碑文谷村. .

. Fuchuu, Fuchū 府中市 Fuchu city .

. Higashimurayama city 東村山市 and 久米川村 Kumegawa village .

. Itabashi ku 板橋区 Itabashi ward / 武州板橋 Bushu Itabashi .

. Katsushika ku 葛飾区 Katsushika ward .

. Kichijoojimura 吉祥寺村 Kichijo-Ji village .

. Kodaira shi 小平市 Kodaira city and 小川町 Ogawa district .

. Machida shi 町田市 Machida city "city of fields" .

. Musashino Plain 武蔵野 Musashino Uplands .
A part of the 関東平野 Kanto Heiya plain.

. Musashi Fuchu Kumano Jinja Kofun　武蔵府中熊野神社古墳 burial mound .

. Negishi 根岸 Negishi district - Taito ward .
武蔵国豊島郡根岸村

. Sakuragaoka 桜ヶ丘 / Tama .

. Tamagawa 多摩川 / 玉川 River Tamagawa, Tama .

. Tanashi 田無 and 保谷 Hoya . - Nishi-Tokyo

. Toshima 豊島区 Toshima ward, "Rich Island" .
and 巣鴨 Sugamo district "ducks nest"

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. Shrine Hikawa Jinja 氷川神社 . - Musashi Ichi no Miya 武蔵一の宮
Saitama 埼玉県

. Shrine Musashi Mitake Jinja 武蔵御嶽神社 .
176 Mitakesan, Ome, Tokyo

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. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .



azarashi, suiko 水豹 / 海豹 (あざらし) seal // todo トド,　魹、sea lion, Eumetopias jubatus
Seals have been living in the rivers of Musashi province and many are born in spring near the sea. When they grow up, they become sea lions, but later in their life they go back to be seals.

ryuugyo 鰡魚 bora, striped black mullet; a springer, Mugil cephalus
When the Bora gets older, he changes his form, even becoming a sea lion or a seal. This fish is born in the Musashi province and then moves on South, where he spends about one year in the sea at 紀州 Kishu, Wakayama. He is never caught there in a net or with an angler's hook. A few years older he turns back into a seal. Since he likes the cold, he now moves up to Hokkaido to live there.

. - Suiko 水虎 Water Tiger, Water Beast - .

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Osaki Kitsune をさき狐 / オサキキツネ fox with a split tail
- known in 埼玉県 Saitama，東京都 Tokyo and 神奈川県 Kanagawa


This is a kind of Yokai monster weasel or small fox with a split tail, also written 尾先, 尾裂」「御先狐」or「尾崎狐」. Some see it as a Yokai. It used to be known in the Chichibu area and then spread all over Musashi province. Before choosing a bride or groom, on has to carefully investigate the family to make sure it does not live with the family and comes along. The bride might give birth to foxes and leaves the family soon after giving birth.
Some Kitsune-women also give birth to mice before disappearing, and the whole family becomes unhappy and unlucky.
also known as osakigitsune オサキギツネ

. kitsune densetsu 狐　伝説 fox legends .

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武蔵国多摩郡中野 Nakano hamlet in the Tama district

. The 怨念 grudge of Taira no Masayori 平将頼 (? - 940) .

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武蔵国比企郡 Hiki district

takejo 竹女 "Bamboo woman"
Around 1640, there lived a priest in Hiki who performed austere practises and venerated 大日如来 Dainichi Nyorai. He later went up to 羽黒山 Mount Hagurosan, There he had a dream vision about the servant Takejo (Bamboo woman) who lived in Sakuma. So he went back to Edo and Sakuma and prayed in front of Takejo. Takejo was ill, but his prayers helped her to die in piece, wrapped in a purple cloud on her ascent to paradise.

. Haguro San 羽黒山 . 羽黒出羽三山 Three mountains of Dewa - Yamagata .

. Kanda 神田佐久間町 Sakuma cho district 　 .




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川崎市 Kawasaki

. 河童 / かっぱ / カッパ - Kappa, the Water Goblin of Japan! .
Near 武蔵国河ごえ the town of Kawagoe there is a place called たて Tate.
A child once wanted to wash a horse, but the horse went wild and the child fell in the river. The villagers saw a Kappa nearby, caught it and wanted to kill the Kappa.
A priest from a nearby temple felt pity for the Kappa and asked the villagers to forgive him. The Kappa promised never to attack humans or animals in the river and then went off.
That night, the priest found two buna 鮒 carps at his bedside, a present from the greatfull Kappa.

. buna densetsu 鮒 伝説　crucian carp - kigo and legends .

川越藩 Kawagoe Han 武蔵国入間郡 Iruma district（現在の埼玉県川越市 Now Saitama, Kawagoe town）

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川崎市 Kawasaki 中原区 Nakahara ward

. yoogooseki 影向石 Yogoseki Stone with Yakushi Nyorai Image .

. Nakahara Kaido 中原街道 Nakahara Highway .


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多摩区 Tama ward

koshoo 古松 the old pine
橘樹郡宿河原村 In the Tachibana district, Shukugawara village there is an old pine on the top of the mountain.
Around 1834 is suddenly withered and all villagers were very sad. In this year, a young man from the next village had used some branches for firewood, but he came down with a high fever. So his family took the remainder of the branches, placed them around the old tree and said prayers and apologies. Soon the young man became well again.

. matsu 松と伝説 pine legends .



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川口市 Kawaguchi

zenibashi 銭橋 Zenibashi bridge
When Tokugawa Ieyasu was hunting with hawks, part of the path near 青木村 Aoki village collapsed and he could not go back.
The villagers collected all their zeni coins and burried them here to build a bridge.

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大里郡 Osato district 寄居町 Yorii

. tanuki 狸と伝説 racoon dog, badger legends .
In the ruins of 鉢形 Hachibata castle in Chichibu there live many foxes and Tanuki.
At night when there was a poetry meeting at the nearby temple, there was suddenly a strange laughter from below the brazier, just at the most scary time of the night.
When they moved the brazier, a black monster animal jumped out and run toward the Buddha statue. When they looked at the statue the next morning, the statue begun to laugh. Then they tried to cut the statue into pieces, a black monster animal like a Tanuki run away fast.

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さいたま市 Saitama city

. yao bikuni 八百比丘尼（やおびくに）nun for 800 years - Legends .
happyaku bikuni 八百比丘尼 / ハッピャクビクニ
武蔵国足立郡水波田村 In the Adachi district, at the temple 慈眼寺 Jigen-Ji, there was a huge enoki 榎 nettle tree cut down, the open cut covering a huge size of the ground.
This tree had been planted by a Happyaku Bikuni nun from 若狭 Wakasa. When the villagers dug deeper, they found the statue of Jizo Bosatsu in a stone box, with an inscription dating to 大化元年 the year 645. This Bikuni must have lived for more than 1000 years.




.................................................................................　Tokyo 東京都
日野市 Hino city

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Taira-mura Burial Mound of Taira no Koremori Tairamura 平村 - 平惟盛古墳

A sacred stone monument believed to have been built in 1271 (the eighth year of Bun'ei)
remains within an orchard located in 南平 Nampei, Hino City.
The monument is said to be the grave of 平惟盛 Taira no Koremori.
This was built by a samurai named 平資綱 Taira no Suketsuna who lived in this area,
in order to pray for the repose of Koremori's soul.
Taira no Koremori was a descendant of the eldest son of 平清盛 Taira no Kiyomori,
and he committed suicide by drowning himself in the sea of Kishū (Wakayama Prefecture)
in 1183 during 源平合戦 the Battle of Genpei.
- source : Tokyo Metropolitan Museum -

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Hino no tsu 日野津 Hino no watashi

Hino-no-watashi, along the Koshū Highway, was an ferry landing officially recognized by the shogunate.
It is said that the ferry landing was finally set up in its current location during the Jōkyō era (1684-1687).
- source : Tokyo Metropolitan Library -

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hakuhatsu no okina 白髪の翁 old man with white hair
In 武蔵国多摩郡久保村 the village of Kubomura in Tama there lived a farmer named 藤五郎 Kikugoro, whose son named 藤蔵 Fujikura died when he was six years old. At the funeral there came an old man with white hair and took away the spirit of Fujikura (some say the body of the boy who was still alive). Fukukura lived in a dark place for three years and then came back to the world of men. Now he was born in the same Tama district in the village of 中野村 Nakano as the second son of 源蔵 Genzo, named 勝五郎 Katsugoro.
When Katsugoro was nine years old, he said he was in fact the son of Kikugoro and could tell all the stories of Kikugoro's family and the son Fujikura.

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港区 Minato ward

In the year 1005 during the reign of 一条天皇 Emperor Ichijo Tenno suddenly it begun to rain 幣 ritual wands and huge fangs from the sky in 武蔵国日比谷村 Hibiya village.
To appease the deity, the villagers built the Shrine
. 芝大神宮 / 芝神明社 / 芝神明宮 Shiba Myojin Gu .


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練馬区 Nerima ward

. Yamata no orochi 山田の大蛇 huge monster serpent .
（八岐大蛇、八俣遠呂智、八俣遠呂知　ー　ヤマタノオロチ）- a legendary 8-headed and 8-tailed Japanese dragon.
When the deity 素盞鳴の尊 Susanoo killed the huge serpent of Yamata there have not yet been metal swords in Japan. The first 鉄剣 iron sword is said to be in the shrine 石神井神社 Shakujii Jinja at the 武蔵国豊島郡下石神井村 Shimo-Shakujii village in the Toshima district.

. Shakujii Park 石神井公園 Shakujii Kōen .

. daija, orochi 大蛇 the huge serpent, great snake .

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渋谷区 Shibuya ward

. Hatagaya Fudo 幡ヶ谷不動 / 荘厳寺 Shogon-Ji .
藤原秀郷 Fujiwara Hidesato came here to pray for victory against 平将門 Taira no Masakado.


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立川市 Tachikawa

reiken 霊験 spiritual achievement
武蔵国多摩郡芝崎村 鎮守八幡宮 Chinju Hachimangu
At 八幡宮 the Shrine Hachimangu in Shibazaki village in the Tama district there is a Buddha statue said to have been made by 弘法大師 Kobo Daishi. People come here to pray for spiritual achievements.
Once upon a time, there was a fire at the Shrine, but the statue had flown away just in time. The temple was reconstructed around 1717. At the pine tree in the compound there was a strange light and when they dug there, they found the statue, safe and secure.

. Kobo Daishi Kukai 弘法大師　空海 . - (774 - 835)
. Chinju Sama, Chinjusama 鎮守様 Guardian Deity Legends .

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Shibazaki Fusai-ji Temple 芝崎 普済寺

Genbu-san Fusai-ji in Shibazaki-chō, Tachikawa City, is a famous temple of the Rinzai Buddhism.
People in the Edo period could see panoramic views of the Tama hillside, the mountains of Tanzawa,
and even Mt. Fuji from this temple.
- source : Tokyo Metropolitan Library -

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- reference : nichibun yokai database -

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. Edo bakufu 江戸幕府 The Edo Government .

. Famous Places and Powerspots of Edo　江戸の名所 .

. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .


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