Kichijojimura village Musashino

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Kichijoojimura 吉祥寺村 Kichijo-Ji village
武蔵野市 Musashino-Shi 吉祥寺 Kichijoji, 北 Kita, 南 Minami, 東 Higashi districts



Its former name was
北多摩郡吉祥寺村 Kita-Tama district, Kichijoji mura

It was a village along the beginning of the
. 五日市街道 Itsukaichi Kaido Highway. .
Itsukaichi-kaido was constructed in the early Edo Period as a route to transport charcoal produced in Akikawa valley to Edo.

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Kichijōji (吉祥寺) is a neighborhood in the city of Musashino in Tokyo, Japan.
It is centered on the compact but very popular commercial area to the north of its train station and to the south a little and has an artistic, fashionable, from discount to the highest end shops and restaurants, bars and coffee houses.


Kichijōji Station
is served by the Chūō Line which go up to Tokyo central station just in 30 minutes, Sobu Line, Tozai Line and is also a terminus of the Keiō Inokashira Line, which takes passengers as far as Shibuya, another one of most fashionable shopping centers in Tokyo.
The area is one of the most popular areas for younger people to spend their weekend, because it features one of Tokyo's most varied and complete shopping areas, as well as the almost constantly crowded Inokashira Park together with its zoo. Supporting the fact of its popularity is that it's been voted to the number 1 place every year where people in Japan wish they would live since 1990s according to poll by a magazine.
- - - - - History
This town was named after the Kichijō-ji Temple which was located in Bunkyō City, Tokyo, before being destroyed by fire in the year 1657. This temple, in turn, derived its name from the Hindu goddess Lakshmi, corresponding to Kisshōten in Japan.
During the Great fire of Meireki,
the town in front of Suwazan Kichijō-ji Temple gate, Edo's Hongo Motomachi was destroyed by fire. Afterwards, based on town planning, the Shogunate rebuilt the area for Daimyō residences. Since the residents who used to live in front of Kichijo-ji gate had suffered great loss of residence and farm land, the shogunate's official reed lands named "Reno" and "Mureno" were provided as substitute land for them. Those hoping to apply were given a rice stipend and house construction loans with a 5 year limit. Kichijo-ji samurai, 佐藤定右衛門 Sato Sadaemon and 宮崎甚右衛門 Miyazaki Jinemon, in cooperation with local farmer 松井十郎左衛門 Matsui Jurozaemon, opened up the eastern district of present day Musashino and relocated the residents there.
Soon after,
with the opening of the 玉川上水 Tamagawa Aqueduct, the previously poorly watered uninhabited Musashino Plateau was cultivated, turning it into a vast farmland. In the process, the neatly partitioned thin rectangular shaped plots of land along Itsukaichi Kaidō (currently Tokyo Metropolitan Route 7, Suginami Akiruno Line) were formed. Some migrants were granted great lengths of land of more than 1000 meters long in the land area extending from Itsukaichi Kaidō to the Tamagawa Aqueduct, up to where the 千川上水 Senkawa Aqueduct divides. But the soil was not particularly fertile, so all of the farmland became dry soil fields, with no wet rice fields. Because of the residents who still had attachment to the former Kichijo-ji,
the new fields were named Kichijōji Village. .....
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

. Inokashira　井の頭 "Head of the Well" .

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. Kichijōten 吉祥天 Kisshoten, Lakshmi, Shrii Mahâdevi .
Wife of Vishnu in Hindu myths; wife or sister of Bishamonten in Buddhist myths.


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. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .

.................................................................................　Kyoto 京都府
南区 Minami ward

ijuu 異獣 a monster animal
Around 1675, in Kichijomura in the South of Kyoto, the statue of 吉祥天女 Kichijoten was open for public viewing.
Many people from the nearby villages came, chanting the 六斎念仏 Rokusai Nenbutsu prayer. They made a lot of noise with their prayer gongs and prayer drums. Suddenly a huge monster animal came out and run away to hide under the veranda of a village house. They managed to catch it.
If had the face of a tanuki 狸 badger and was black from the nose to the top of the front. The neck was white, the back was black and the stomach was white. Its buttocks looked like a tokkuri 徳利 sake container. It had no tail and looked more like a mole. Its back legs were long like that of a dog.
For its food it would only eat 串柿 dried persimmons on a stick.

. rokusai nenbutsu 六斎念仏 "six memorial days" prayers .



.................................................................................　Tokyo 東京都
吉祥寺村 Kichijojimura

yooji 楊枝 toothpick
In the compound of the 井の頭弁天堂 Bentendo Hall at Inokashira there was yanagi 柳 an old willow tree.
The toothpicks for the third Shogun Iemitsu have been made from its branches.


Night view of Benten Shrine Snow at Inokashira Park
Kawase Hasui 1928


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- reference : nichibun yokai database -

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- - - - - H A I K U and S E N R Y U - - - - -

新人の穴新しく吉祥寺
shinjin no ana atarashiku Kichijooji

攝津幸彦 Settsu Yukihiko



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. Musashino 武蔵野 Musashino Uplands .


. Edo bakufu 江戸幕府 The Edo Government .

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

. Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

. shokunin 職人 craftsman, craftsmen, artisan, Handwerker .

. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .

. Japanese Architecture - The Japanese Home .

. Interior Design - The Japanese Home .

. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .


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