Matsumae Fukuyama Kaido

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. Kaido 街道 Highways - ABC Index .
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Matsumae Kaido 松前街道 Matsumae Highway
Fukuyama Kaido 福山街道 Fukuyama Highway

1900: Fukuyama town was founded.
1940: Fukuyama changed its name to Matsumae.

The Matsumaedō 松前道 Matsumaedo connected 仙台 Sendai via Matsumae
with 函館 Hakodate, 北海道 Hokkaidō.

Also called
Hamamichi 浜道 beach road
Sotogahama Kaido 外ヶ浜街道
Sotogahama is a town in Aomori.

. Ōshū Kaidō 奥州街道 Oshu Kaido Highway .
Sendai and the Oshu Kaido

- Postal stations along the Matsumae Highway in Hokkaido
Matsumae 松前
Fukushima 福島
Shiriuchi 知内
Kikonai 木古内
Hakodate 函館

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. Matsumae city 松前宿 Hokkaido .

. Matsumaebune 松前船 Matsumae trade ships to Hokkaido .
Kitamaebune 北前船 North-bound trade ships

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Matsumae Castle 松前城, Matsumae-jō
is a castle located in Matsumae in Hokkaidō, Japan, and is the northernmost castle in Japan.
The only traditional style Edo period castle in Hokkaidō, it was the chief residence of the han (estate) of the Matsumae clan.
- History
First built in 1606 by Matsumae Yoshihiro under orders from the Tokugawa shogunate requiring his clan to defend the area, and by extension the whole of Japan, from the Ainu 'barbarians' to the north, it burned down in 1637 but was rebuilt in 1639. It once controlled all passage through Hokkaidō to the rest of Japan.
The present castle complex,
which dates from 1854, was constructed to deter attacks by foreign naval forces. Only the 30-metre-high tenshu (main tower) and a gatehouse survived destruction following the Meiji Restoration, which began in 1868. However, the tenshu burned down in 1949 and a concrete replica was built in 1960.
All of the castle site is today a public park.
- source : wikipedia

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source and more photos : hakodate.travel...

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Hakodate (函館市, Hakodate-shi)
is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture.
- History
Hakodate was Japan's first city whose port was opened to foreign trade in 1854, as a result of Convention of Kanagawa, and used to be the most important port in northern Japan. Also, the city had been the biggest city in Hokkaido before the Great Hakodate Fire of 1934.
... Pre-Meiji restoration
Hakodate (like much of other parts of Hokkaido) was originally populated by the Ainu. They lived in the Oshima Peninsula.
The name "Hakodate" might originate from an Ainu word. Another possibility is that it means "box" or "building" in Japanese which refers to the castle built by the Kono (Kano) clan in the fifteenth century.
Hakodate was founded in 1454,
when Kono Kaganokami Masamichi constructed a large manor house in the Ainu fishing village of Usukeshi (the word for bay in Ainu).
... Hakodate flourished during the Hoei period (1704–11), and many new temples were founded in the area. The town's fortunes received a further boost in 1741 when the Matsumae clan, which had been granted nearby areas on the Oshima Peninsula as a march fief, moved its Kameda magistracy to Masamichi's house in Hakodate. ...
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .

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Genko 玄狐 / Kurogitsune 黒狐 black fox
A black furred fox that incarnated into a Big Dipper.
Before becoming a manifestation of a constellation, Genko was an ordinary black fox that served under the Shinto agricultural deity Ukanomitama as it migrated to Northern Japan. In the historical manuscript "Hokuho-bunmei-shiwa" [北方文明史話] (1930) by Shunzo Nakajima [中島峻蔵] , the descendant of the Matsumae Feudal Family [松前藩], Genko was originally from Kujo [九条] in Kyoto that travelled to Hokkaido with Princess Hatsuhime [初姫] the daughter of Lord Tokimasa Kazanin [花山院常雅] during the Edo Period.
Since the day she began to live with the Matsumae Family in the year 1771, Princess Hatsuhime continued her devotion towards Ukanomitama and for this, whenever she went to the land of Ainu people in Ezo [蝦夷地], a horde of foxes discreetly followed her as guards under the command of Ukanomitama and Genko was one of them.
Unfortunately, Princess Hatsuhime died due to illness only a few years later, but Genko remained in Northern Japan instead of returning to Kyoto for he made a family there.
Then in the year 1788, Genko reappeared as a vulpine spirit at the Benten Buddhist Monastery [弁天堂] in Hakodate City [函館市], Hokkaido.
Discovered by the yamabushi mountain monk Daishoin [山伏大昌院] one night after his spiritual training. Genko told the Yamabushi how it died after being shot down by a hunter for its fur and how it waited for him for 99 days in the monastery to ask Yamabushi a favor.
The favor was to build a shrine for Genko since its soul was never able to pass-on to the afterlife and in return, Genko promised to become a guardian of Northern Japan, forever.
Yamabushi fulfilled Genko’s request and thus the Genko Inari Shrine [玄狐稲荷神社] in Matsumae City was established during the Kyowa Era (1801-1804).
This story above is one of the several legends regarding Genko.
- reference source : kaldibeta/7-types-of-kitsune-spirits-in-japan...-

知内の玄古稲荷
- reference source : donan.org/history-legend/kurokitune... -

nishin 鰊 herring， Genko 玄狐 / Kurogitsune 黒狐 black fox
Since the herring dislike foxes, they never came to this area after a Shrine for Genko was erected.
鰊は蝦夷の物産であった。文化三年に、知内山から玄狐を取ってきたことがあった。それからこの狐が祟りをなすようになった。狐を嫌う鰊も、この頃からさっぱり獲れなくなってしまった。
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殿様の行列の前を怪しげな男が通り、家臣がこれを無礼打にしたが、よく見ると1匹の黒狐だった。その家臣が短刀でその皮を剥いで襟巻きにでもしようかと思っていると、彼の子供が病気になり、巫女に口寄せを頼むと狐が祟っているという。家臣は驚いてその皮を祀り、祠を建てて皮を剥いだ短刀を松前神社に奉献したという。
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文政6年に鰊漁をした網を乾かしていたところに、黒狐がひっかかって死んでいた。それを町役所に献上し、同じ年に稲荷ができ、狐の皮を神体とした。鰊は狐を嫌うため、稲荷を建てて狐の祟りを鎮めたのである。
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昔、松前家が7代の公広公のときの話である。殿様は帰途家来を連れていたが、先を歩くものがいたので不審に思って家来に尋ねると、玄古という狐だという。殿様は、殿様を守っているのだからという家来の進言を聞き入れずに目障りだから打ち取れと命じたが、弾はまったくあたらなかった。殿様が羽織を家来に渡し、それを肩にかけた家来が「君命なるぞ」というと、狐は手を広げて腹を打たせたという。その狐を祀ったのが玄古稲荷神社である。

. nishin 鰊 / 鯡青魚 herring .

. Ukanomikami, Uka no Mikami 宇迦之御魂神 / 倉稲魂神 .
Deity venerated at Inari fox shrines.

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- - - - - The three famous Cherry Trees of Matsumae - - - - -

Ezo Kasumizakura 蝦夷霞桜
at the temple 龍雲院 Ryuun-In, the oldest temple in Matsumae
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

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kechimyakuzakura sakura 血脈桜 blood-line cherry
Near the castle of Matsumae there were two temples, 光善寺 Kozen-Ji and 龍雲寺 Ryuun-Ji with two cherry trees, their roots intertwined.
Legend knows this:
Once upon a time, a girl named お芳 O-Yoshi had come from 芳の山 / 吉野山 Yoshinoyama with a branch of a cherry tree. This branch begun to grow into one cherry tree with yaezakura 八重の花 double-flower blossoms. This tree was the first in the line of trees, but for a long time nobody came to visit.

Kechimyaku Zakura from which the Naden descend . . .
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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Meotozakura 夫婦桜 Couple Sakura
. . . CLICK here for Photos !

Hokkaido’s vividly colored cherry blossoms.
- source : en.visit-hokkaido.jp -

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松前領 Matsumae region

reija 霊蛇 "spirit snake"
In the year 1823, the wife of 立之助 Ryunosuke from Ahinoma village was simple and not greedy.
In the sixth lunar month when she worked in the fields, she found a lot of kozen 古銭 old coins. She kept working in the fields but then took some coins home.
On her way back home, a small snake followed her, but was not to be seen any more when she was home.
When Ryunosuke heard this, he checked the basket for carrying soil, there was a small snake inside. He killed the snake with his kiseru キセル metal pipe.
Then he went out to the field, hoping to find more coins, but did not find anything. This was because he had killed the serpent.

. hebi 蛇と伝説 Legends about snakes and serpents .

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yanone ishi 矢ノ根石，yajiri ishi 鏃石 arrowhead stone
Once after a strong rain-storm in Matsumae, it begun to rain stones in the form of an arrowhead.

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松前町 Matsumae town

daifuku mai 大福米 "Good Luck Rice"
At the estate of 蠣崎友広 Kakizaki Tomohiro (1598 - 1658), the chief retainer of the Matsumae domain, a lot of rice came out of a well.
Tomohiro called it "Great Luck Rice" and offered it to his lord. The lord filled them into many bottles and kept them.
This rice kept clean for many generations to come. Each time someone opened a bottle, there was something lucky happening.

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yamabushi 山伏 mountain priest
The fishing for herrings had been very bad, so the villagers asked a Yamabushi for a purification ritual.
The priest fasted for seven days and nights and then had a divine revelation.
The villagers were happy and made new nets.
But how much they waited, the herring did not come. Eventually the herring season was over and they hat caught nothing. Now the village was in deep trouble.

. nishin 鰊 / 鯡青魚 herring .

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Matsumae 厚岸町 Akkeshi town

reiki 霊亀 "spirit turtle"
In the year 1825, in the region of Akkeshi, they caught a large turtle, in fact a suppon スッポン soft-shelled turtle.
When the fish dealer 惣助 Sosuke came, the turtle made him cry. The man who had caught the turtle also felt sorry, so they let it go.
Since then they never had a bad fishing season. This must have been the magical power of the turtle.

. kame 亀 turtle legends .

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爾志郡 Nishi district 乙部町 Otobe town

Sasayama Jinja 笹山神社 Sasayama Inari Shrine
About 200 years ago, there was a traveler visiting the Sasayama Shrine, oan on his way back he saw three shika 鹿 deer.
He felt lucky and performed a 鹿子舞 deer dance at the shrine.
The wife of the Lord of Matsumae had been ill, but this dance helped her to get well again.
This is a pun with
shishimai 獅子舞 lion dance

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- reference : nichibun yokai database -

松前怪談十種
深瀬春一 Fukase Harukazu

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

松前の漁師の厚司波模様

城村貞子 Jomura Sadako

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Edo - the EDOPEDIA -

2/06/2020

Matsumae Fukuyama Kaido

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