Edo - the EDOPEDIA -

10/18/2015

Shiba port district

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Shiba (芝) is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, located near Hamamatsucho and Tamachi Stations on the Yamanote Line and Mita Station on the Toei Mita Line.
Shiba was a ward of Tokyo City from 1878 to 1947, consisting of a number of districts including Hamamatsucho, Mita, Shiba, Shinbashi, Shirokane, Takanawa and Toranomon.
Shiba is the location of Zōjō-ji temple, the Great Main Temple of the Chinzai sect of Shingon Buddhism.
Shiba is also the location of the main Minato Ward office.
- source : wikipedia -

hon Shiba　本芝 "Main Shiba"
The beginning of the 東海道 Tokaido road was located at the beach of Shiba and 高輪 Takanawa.
Many fishermen lived in this district.
The beginning of the Tokaido road was later relocated to 日本橋 Nihonbashi.

The gate 芝口御門 Shibaguchi Gomon, an outpost of Edo castle, was erected in 1616, now the district South of 田町 Tamachi station.
This gate was jokingly called 日暮の門 Higurashi no mon, because people could sit there all day and enjoy the view over Edo bay to the distand mountains of Chiba.　
The gate was later relocated in 1710, as suggested by Arai Hakuseki, at the time of the 6th Shogun, 徳川家宣 Tokugawa Ienobu. It was built to show the grandeur and power of Japan to the frequent embassies from Korea. But the gate buildings burnt down 15 years later.

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The region to the south of Shiba is called

Shibaura 芝浦 Shiba-Ura ("under Shiba")

source and photos : ndl.go.jp/landmarks/sights
竹芝浦　（たけしばうら）Take-Shibaura
袖ヶ浦　（そでがうら） Sodegaura

In 1486, there is a reference to an area called 芝ﾉ浦 Shiba no ura. This place name uses the “grass/lawn” kanji and not the “brushwood” kanji.
The area is noted for salt production and shipping

Shiba ebi 芝海老 Shiba shrimp and fishing in
. Shibaura 芝浦 Shiba-Ura - Introduction .

The Shiba clan 斯波氏 Shiba-shi
The clan claimed descent from the Minamoto Yasuuji and the Seiwa-Genji.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

. the Shibaura abattoir .
and the Eta, the untouchables of Edo

Railway Steam Engine at Shibaura
Utagawa HiroshigeⅢ

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Why is Shiba called Shiba?
芝 Shiba (grass/lawn)
The first theory I came across was one that said that the grass in this part of the Musashi Plain was particularly lush. A quick search for old art depicting any areas of the vast Musashi Plain will yield pictures of tall grasses. Search for plants of the Musashi Plain and all that you’ll see are lush grasses. I don’t see how an area next to the sea would be particularly more luxurious than any other area.

The second theory is that the 斯波氏 Shiba clan had a residence in the area. During the Ashikaga shōgunate, the Shiba were one the families that could hold the position of 管領 kanrei deputy shōgun (literally controller). While the family line came to an end in the mid 1500’s, it’s not impossible to imagine that some member of the Shiba family had a residence here. However, there doesn’t seem to be any collaborating evidence for this theory.

Another theory is that in the early days, when there were many shallow inlets cutting in to what is now central Tōkyō (and this part of town was literally part of the bay, the area was characterized by brushwood used to grow and harvest 海苔 nori seaweed. The general word for brushwood is 柴 shiba*. As far back as the Sengoku Period, we know there to have been a 柴村 Shiba Mura Shiba Village in the area. In the early Edo Period, 柴町 Shiba Machi Shiba Town is attested. The name change reflects an area whose population had grown substantially.
In the early Edo Period we start to see an alternate writing as 芝町 Shiba Machi.
Over the course of the Edo Period, this new variation becomes the standard and the old variant dies out. Products developed in the area develop a widespread reputation as “Shiba Machi” products – like a brand name.

- read more on this link :
- source : japanthis.com/2013 -

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芝神明宮大鳥居　Torii Gate at Shiba Shinmei Shrine / Shiba Myojin Gu
Utagawa Hiroshige

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Shiba-myōjin Shrine Shōga-ichi 芝明神せうが市 Ginger Market

Shiba-daijingū at Shibadaimon, Minato Ward,
is a shrine that has been well-known as Shiba-shinmei since ancient times.
A festival held there in the nine month of the lunar calendar lasted as long as 11 days
and so it was mocked and called だらだら祭り "Daradara Matsuri (lazy festival)".
During the festival, ginger that is one of the specialties of Yanaka 谷中生姜
was sold everywhere on the temple grounds, lending the place another name, "Shōga-ichi(ginger market)."
-source : Tokyo Metropolitan Library -

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Azuma Asobi 東遊 Leisurely visit to the eastern capital
Asakusa-An Ichindo, Shijin 浅草菴市人 (1755 - 1820)
芝神明宮

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Shiba - A Port District
Edo is criscrossed by rivers, moats and canals, laid out in a regular grid. In fact, the network of canals is much more organized than the narrow and rambling streets. For this reason, the most efficient means of transportation within the city, especially for heavy goods, is by boat. All of the major rivers and canals are bustling with boat traffic, and some people -- particularly fishermen and people who own barges (takase-bune) -- practically live on their boats. In fact, many people have referred to Edo as the "Venice of the East".

Edo can generally be divided into two main areas, a hilly plateau to the north and west, and a low-lying area crisscrossed by rivers and canals. Most of the daimyo and other nobles or government officials live on large estates in the hilly part of the city. This area is called the Yama-no-te (mountain's fingers), referring to the many lines of hills that run towards the coast. This area could be considered the "suburbs" of Edo, although many of these suburbs are quite close to the center of town.

On the other hand, the waterfront area of the city is where most of the common people live. This part of town is called shita-machi, which means "the lower town" or "downtown". About two-thirds of the population of Edo lives and works in the shita-machi area. Much of the land in this area was reclaimed from the bay, and rivers and canals break the area up into hundreds of separate neighborhoods, or "towns" (machi).

Each of the towns is a largely self-contained community, with its own local government and local leaders. Each machi (town) is administered by a group of local leaders called the machi-toshiyori (town elders), who are selected by a democratic vote. Everyone who owns property in the district is allowed to vote. Although the lower-class people who rent their homes do not get a vote, this system provides a certain amount of democratic political power to the people of the city, at least those in the middle class.

Although the Kanto region is one of the most fertile areas in Japan, prior to 1600 it was only sparsely populated. The area where downtown Edo is now located was covered by tidal flats, marshes, and silty islands on the shores of Edo Bay. Apart from a few fishing villages along the shore, the land was not really suitable for habitation. However, when the first Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, established his capital here, one of the first things he did was to reclaim this broad area of marshes, to serve as the site of a new city.

An army of workers dug canals and moats, and leveled a few small hills, using the excavated earth to fill in these mudflats. The flat, hard-packed land was in an ideal location for a commercial district. It was at the head of the bay, and straddled a major river (the Sumida river), providing for good transportation both by sea and to inland areas further upriver. The many canals provided a convenient transportation network within the city, while the ports along the shore allowed the Shogun to ship in materials and goods into Edo from all over the country. Before long, the mud flats had disappeared completely and in their place was a busy, bustling town.

One of the first large-scale canals built by the Tokugawa Shoguns after they established their capital in Edo was the 道三堀 Dosan-bori (Dosan canal), which runs from Edo bay through the Shiba district, and up to the forecourt of the Shogun's palace. This broad waterway was used to carry all the huge stones and other materials that were used to build Edo Castle, and it continues to serve as a main route for transporting goods to the Shogun's court. For this reason, the Shiba district remains one of the three main port districts in Edo. Although Shiba is not quite as busy as nearby Tsukiji, or the major port of Minato, near Nihonbashi, it nevertheless handles a large volume of ships carrying many of Edo's most essential goods and foodstuffs from all over Japan.

Edo has been the largest city in Japan since the late 1600s. The population has soared since it became the Shogun's capital city. However, before the Tokugawa Shoguns moved to Edo, the two main cities were Kyoto and Osaka, in western Japan. Even today, most commerce, farming and manufacturing activity is concentrated in the area of western Japan, around Kyoto, Nara and Osaka. Therefore, most of the high-quality goods and a fairly large portion of the food consumed in Edo is shipped to the city from Western Japan. Because of the tremendous demand created by the one million people living in Edo, thousands of ships are needed to ship in all of the goods that the city consumes.

The traders and wholesalers of Sakai (Osaka), who control most of the shipping in Japan, have become extremely wealthy from this trade. Although merchants are considered the lowest of the social classes, the leading Osaka merchants rank among the richest families in the country. Their wealth has made many of these traders very important people. To meet the tremendous demand from people living in Edo. the ships owned by the Osaka merchants are constantly sailing into and out of the ports, bringing goods from all areas of the country. The barges and ships that fill the city's waterways are the lifeblood of commerce. Therefore, major port districts like Shiba, are crowded and bustling places.

In the dock area, workers rush to and fro unloading a multitude of different goods from the boats tied up at the docks. Purchasing agents from the wholesale "companies" negotiate with the ship owners as they watch the dock workers and unload their cargoes. They keep careful accounts of the cargo unloaded. In most cases, money does not change hands when ships are unloaded. Instead, the seller and the buyer exchange lists of the cargo delivered. These lists are stamped with the hanko (ink stamp) of both parties, and serve as a formal contract. The seller can collect payment later, by simply showing the stamped list of the cargo they delivered.

Usually, the cargo unloaded at a major port like Shiba is immediately shipped to other parts of the city by cart or barge. For example, that group of workers over there is unloading a boatfull of melons. The fruit will be taken by barge to one of the wholesale markets in Edo and sold to smaller fruit vendors. These vendors will then carry the fruit to their shops and sell it to consumers, or they may carry it through the streets selling it to passers-by.

In addition to the cargo ships tied up at the docks, there are also many watashi-bune (ferries) and pleasure boats sailing to and fro, offering travelers a ride through the city canals. Some of these boats even serve food to passengers, sort of like "floating restaurants". I have a friend who works as a ferry boat pilot in this district. If you are interested, we can hitch a ride with him to his home village, on a small island in Edo bay.
- source : Edomatsu

. hori 堀 moat and districts with this name .

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Zoojooji, Zōjō-Ji 増上寺 Zojo-Ji

増上寺朝霧 Zojo-Ji in Morning Mist
歌川広重 Utagawa Hiroshige

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Zojoji was founded in 1393 as an orthodox and fundamental nembutsu seminary for Jodo shu in the Kanto (east Japan) region.
Zojoji was relocated to the present site in 1598 after Ieyasu Tokugawa, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, entered Edo (present-day Tokyo) in 1590 to establish his provincial government. After the start of the Edo Period when the Tokugawa shogunate ruled Japan, Zojoji became the family temple of the Tokugawa family and an unparalleled grand cathedral was built....
..... as the Tokugawa shogunate came to an end and the Meiji Era started, an anti-Buddhist movement got under way. The cathedral, temples and the mausoleum of the Tokugawa family were burned down by air raids during World War II. Thus, Zojoji was profoundly affected by political and social circumstances.

..... Daiden (Hondo), which forms the core of the Buddhist structures of Zojoji, was rebuilt in 1974 by combining the traditional Buddhist temple architecture with a cream of modern architecture.

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nishimuki Kannon bosatsu 西向聖観世音菩薩 Kannon facing West
When the temple Sojo-Ji was relocated here in 1598, this statue of Kannon, made in the Kamakura period, had already been here.

nishimuki Kannon / Nishi-Muki Kannon 西向観音 Kannon facing West
She had been on 観音山 Kannonyama facing West.

- HP of the temple :
4-7-35 Shibakoen Minato-ku, Tokyo
- source : zojoji.or.jp -

. Legends about Temple Zojo-Ji .

- Zojo-Ji - in the Darumapedia .

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Sub-districts of Shiba
Atago
Kaigan (1-chōme) // Kaigan (2, 3-chōme)
Kōnan
. Daiba 台場 Daiba district / Odaiba お台場 .
. Shiba 芝　/ 柴村 Shiba mura / 芝町 Shiba machi district .
..... Shibakōen ..... Shibadaimon
. Shiodome 汐留 Shiodome district .
Toranomon
. Hamamatsuchō 浜松町 Hamamatsucho, Hamamatsu district .
. Mita　三田 /　御田 / 美田　"Three Rice Fields" .
. Mita Shikoku Machi 三田四国町 "Shikoku Town" in Mita .
- 港区 Minato 芝2-5丁目 Shiba second to fifth sub-district
. Shinbashi 新橋 .
- Nishi-Shinbashi West, Higashi-Shinbashi East

sub-districts of Shibaura-Kōnan Area
芝浦 Shiba-Ura ("under Shiba") 　

View of Shibaura Inlet / View of Shiba coast
Utagawa Hiroshige

Kanasugibashi Shibaura 金杉橋芝浦　Kanasugibashi Bridge and Shibaura
Utagawa Hiroshige
The bridge is located at 2-chōme-3 Shiba, Minato City
It still exists today, over the river 古川 Furukawa（渋谷川 Shibuyagawa), along 芝1丁目 Shiba first sub-district and 浜松町2丁目 Hamanatsucho second sub-district.
The modern bridge is 19 m long and 42 m wide. Under the bridge is place for the Yakatabune 屋形船 pleasure boats.
In the Edo period, Kanasugi was a sub-district 芝金杉浦 Shiba-Kanasugi-ura（現在の芝 present-day Shiba）and a port at the estuart of the river.

The print by Hiroshige shows a group of pilgrims on their way home from the 池上本門寺 Ikegami Honmon-Ji of the Nichiren sect.

. Temple Ikegami Honmon-Ji 池上本門寺 .
..... erected where Nichiren is said to have died.

Furukawa River Story
A rarely known studied history of the small river and its neighborhood in Tokyo
The Furukawa, a small river that flows from Shibuya, Harajuku, and Omotesando into the Tokyo Bay, is one of the most important waters in Tokyo’s city center. Although a humble river, Furukawa has long been part of the local life in Minato Ward.
This book traces the history of the river and the unique role it played in the towns of Azabu-juban, Higashi-Azabu and Shirokane.
- source : mori-m-foundation.or.jp/wordpress... -

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Hiroo Furukawa River 広尾ふる川

The Furukawa River changes its name from 渋谷川 the Shibuya River in its upper course
to 赤羽川 the Akabane River, 新堀川 Shinhori River and
金杉川Kanasugi River in its lower course, eventually flowing into Edo Bay.
There are four bridges from Ichi-no-hashi to Shi-no-hashi starting from the dock at Azabu Jūban.
- source : Tokyo Metropolitan Musaum -

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. Minato ku　港区 Minato ward, "Harbour ward" .

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

. densetsu 伝説　Japanese Legends - Introduction .

[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
- - - - - #shibaport #shiba #zojoji #shibaura #nishimukikannon - - - -
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Law and Order

[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
. Famous Places and Powerspots of Edo　江戸の名所 .
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Law and Order 　法律 - Pax Tokugawa

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- Michael Hoffman wrote in the Japan Times:
“The lord of Iyo (in Shikoku) lost a favorite hawk,” writes a Nagoya samurai diarist in an entry dated 1692, “and he sought it throughout his domain. One day, a certain farmer went out to tend his fields, while his wife stayed home with her weaving. A hawk flew in and perched on the loom. The wife took her shuttle and struck the bird, which straightway died.”

What was the punishment for accidentally killing (the woman had not struck with murderous intent) a lord’s favorite hawk? Whatever, the lord said it was. That, in essence, was Japanese law during the Tokugawa shogunate (1600-1867) — whatever someone above in the rigid social hierarchy said it was to someone below. Enraged, the lord had the woman crucified. He pardoned her husband, who hadn’t been home at the time — but he didn’t have to. Had his rage been a little greater, the husband would have been similarly dealt with, without anyone crying injustice or rising up in protest.

This trivial episode tells us much about Tokugawa rule — its gross cruelty, its boundless arbitrariness, its utter blindness to any moral standard beyond absolute submission to absolute power. As historian Charles Dunn tells us, “(The) criminal code, such as it was, could be changed without warning. This was in keeping with the fundamental Tokugawa attitude, derived from Confucian precepts” — selectively interpreted — “that the people should not be instructed as to what the law might be, but should be content to do what they were told.”

Astonishingly, they more or less were. They were not always docile. Famine drove peasants to riot thousands of times in the course of the Tokugawa Period. Impoverished townsmen too erupted from time to time. But on popular demands for individual freedom, human rights, minimal human dignity, the rule of law, the contemporary literature is silent. The poet Matsuo Basho (1644-94), whose unfettered lifestyle and supposed enlightenment should perhaps have given freedom some value in his eyes, wrote instead, “The august light of Tokugawa rule illumines the whole firmament, and its beneficent rays reach into every corner of the land so that all the people may live in security and peace.”

Peace, unquestionably, was an asset. Pax Tokugawa had been preceded by two centuries of civil carnage. A people forged in such fires might well give peace priority over freedom. Besides, freedom has many meanings. There is political freedom, which Tokugawa Japan knew nothing of; there is social freedom, which to the extent that it means a poverty-stricken peasant child may by dint of ability and application rise beyond his station, was practically nonexistent; and there is individual freedom, which was restricted enough but did exist, here and there, in isolated corners of this grim prison-society.
- source : Japan Times

Pax Tokugawa lasted 265 years, from 1603 to 1868
- source : reference -

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Edo Period Japan: 250 Years of Peace
Legal Systems Very Different From Our Own
Meg vanSteenburgh / Spring 2006

Introduction
“Unreason is less than reason.
Reason is less than law.
Authority is greater than law,
but heaven is supreme.”
-Tokugawa saying

The hallmark of the Tokugawa dynasty (1603-1867) was a strong belief in the Neo-Confucian ideals of morals, education, and strict hierarchical class structure in both government and society. After hundreds of years of civil wars, the fifteen Tokugawa shoguns made their foremost goals political stability and complete isolationism. The rice-based economy of Tokugawa period Japan was a complex form of feudalism. It was a country symbolically ruled by the emperor in Kyoto, while in actuality ruled by his shogun, or chief military advisor, in Edo.
The shogun implemented an administrative system which effectively organized Edo period society into a strict hereditary caste system in descending order of Neo-Confucian merit: warrior, farmer, artisan, merchant.[i] The different classes were separated by bungen, or lines of demarcation, which were almost impossible to cross.

Below the merchants in the hierarchy were the eta, or untouchables, who were not actually considered people and were largely outside the purview of any governmental body. Another group, the buke, or clergy (both Shinto and Buddhist) existed outside of the regulation of the feudal government to a large extent. The buke were required to pay tribute to the feudal government but effectively regulated themselves and did not go to the shogunate for the settlement of disputes; which was one of the only ways that the peasant class ever interacted with the shogunal government. The Confucian system was based on the idea that superiors ruled by example; their subordinates had no rights, per se, but rulers had a moral duty to treat subordinates correctly. Theoretically, the law would only step in to punish a failure of this moral duty, not to vindicate the rights of the victims.[ii]

Shogunal power rested on three key strategies. The first was using divine power in the name of the emperor to maintain legitimate authority that was beyond question, though the emperor himself was little more than a puppet and was virtually imprisoned in the imperial palace in Kyoto. The second was complete control of the daimyo, or feudal lords, in order to prevent a repetition of the internal strife and intrigue that had plagued the country until its unification in by Tokugawa Ieyasu in 1603 after the battle of Sekigahara. And the third was isolation, or sakoku, from not only the West but also from the Chinese mainland to minimize the threat of foreign influence or inspired rebellion. In fact, by 1635 the Japanese people were forbidden to travel abroad and those who were already abroad were not permitted to come home.[iii] All foreign trade was suspended, except for trade with the Dutch[iv]. However, the entire Dutch trading mission was expelled to Dejima, an artificially made island in Nagasaki harbor.[v] When the Portuguese attempted to re-establish trade relations with the shogunal government their entire delegation was summarily executed upon arrival.[vi]

Another Western influence that the Tokugawa tried to eradicate was Christianity. In some village codes, which were largely a reflection of shogunal wishes, there appear articles like: “The peasants are investigated every month, and comings and goings are checked with the pertinent temple in each case to verify affiliation. Therefore, should there be a Christian in this village, not only his goningumi [village council] and the headman but the entire village will be punished.”[vii] Christianity was most likely viewed by the shogun as dangerous to the stability of the new nation because of its direct opposition to the Confucian ideal of maintaining the status quo that the shogun was attempting to instill in the people. Another problem with Christianity is that its influence had always been strongest in Kyushu and southern Honshu where the most powerful internal enemies of the shogun had their fiefs and the shogun did not want to allow those lords to gain the sympathy of and ally themselves with the Western powers in any way.[viii]

The stability gained by isolation and strict class control saw feudal Japan double its population from fifteen-million to thirty-million in the first half of the period as well as an increase in urbanization and the influence of the merchant class.[ix] Though Confucian ideals would rank merchants at the bottom of the class structure as economic parasites, since they did not actually produce anything, during Edo period Japan they became the creditors of overlords and samurai alike. While this did not officially increase their status in polite society, holding the purse strings of a powerful overlord could guarantee many perks in a society which continued to emphasize agrarian taxation and failed to tax the ever-expanding urban industries.[x]

Villages, which operated as largely autonomous units, were also expanding their industries with enterprises like silk production, textile weaving, and sake brewing.[xi] However, many of these entrepreneurial villagers failed at their endeavors, went into debt, and migrated into the cities to form the base of the unskilled labor force which fed the increasing urbanization.[xii] This growth and expansion peaked during the Genroku period[xiii] (1688-1704). Another interesting note is that between 1600 and 1720 the percentage of arable land in Japan nearly doubled.[xiv] This was most likely in part due to the fact that the lower classes could pursue their enterprises, be it sake brewing or irrigation projects, fairly single-mindedly since they were completely excluded from political activity outside the village unit.[xv] In fact the legal system of Tokugawa Japan had two very distinct jurisdictions which interacted very rarely: the shogunal government and the village government.

- - - - - Politics, Government and Social Structure
- - - - - Law and Punishment
snip
- - - - - Conclusion
Towards the end of the Tokugawa period the villages became less and less autonomous as the pressures of urbanization and the swollen bureaucracy of the bafuku closed in on them. The strict class structure gave way to the more modern entrepreneurial spirit of Japan that we see today, even though history and tradition still play a large part in Japanese family life. The Meiji restoration brought a still antiquated Japan into the glare of the modern world and old traditions like the samurai and eta faded away along with status restrictions and wars fought without guns. Isolationism may have been the best way to bring order to a country which had suffered from civil strife and turmoil for so long, but in the end the temptations of trade and modernity were too much for Japan to resist.
- - - Full text available here
- source : daviddfriedman.com -

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. Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 (1543 - 1616) .

- reference - pax tokuwawa -

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Pax Tokugawana: The Cultural Flowering of Japan 1603-1853
By Haga Tōru (Japan Library, 2021) Transl. Juliet Winters Carpenter

Lightning -
girdled by waves
the islands of Japan

This haiku by Yosa Buson (1716-1784) captures a snapshot of Japan in the Tokugawa era: isolated, peaceful, self-contained.
The Tokugawa era (aka Edo period),
which stretched from 1603 until its fall in 1868, has generally been considered a dark, feudal age run by a draconian police state. To be sure, the samurai could come down hard on dissidents and were inveterate party poopers, but this period also witnessed the flourishing of practically every gentle art that Japan has become famous for: tea, horticulture and landscape gardens, kimono textile design, woodblock prints, haiku and its satirical cousin senryū, kabuki and the puppet theatre, and a few forms like kyōka (“mad poems”) and gesaku pop literature that would be less known to the layperson. In his book, Pax Tokugawana: The Cultural Flowering of Japan, 1603-1853, Haga Tōru covers all these, as well as the advances made chiefly in medicine and natural history by Japanese philosophers and scientists. This collection of Haga’s essays is elegantly translated by Juliet Winters Carpenter, capturing the voice of this engaging writer. ...
--- From the early 17th century—when Japan booted out Christians and most other Europeans except a few Dutch merchants—until Commodore Matthew C. Perry steamed into Edo Bay in 1853 (forcing the country to open to foreign trade), Japan had been a closed country, sakoku in Japanese. ...
- - - Review by Cody Poulton
- source : booksonasia.net/2021/06/24 ... -

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. Japanese Architecture - Interior Design - The Japanese Home .

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

. - Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .

. densetsu 伝説　Japanese Legends - Introduction .

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10/17/2015

Abekawa

There are many hot springs at the river head, which is also known for its numerous landslides and for the Abe Great Falls, one of Japan's Top 100 Waterfalls. Unlike the nearby Tenryū River and Ōi River are no dams on the Abe River.

Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu carried out extensive construction and formed the present route of the lower course of the river. Abekawamochi (安倍川餅, a mochi rice cake dusted with kinako (soybean flour) has been a local speciality of this area since at least the Edo period.
- source : wikipedia

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Abe Kaido 安倍街道
From Shizuoka city along 安倍川 the river Abekawa to 井川湖 the lake Ikawako.

yuurei 幽霊 ghost
At the crossing of the Abe Kaido along the 薩摩土手 Satsumadote river bank there are ghosts walking around.
People say it is a very scary place.

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Hiroshige, Crossing the Abekawa river
広重「府中宿」この安倍川の渡し
Fuchuu juku 府中宿（ふちゅう） Fuchu Station at the Tokaido Road

江尻より２里２７町。いまの静岡市で、安倍川のほとりにある。ここには、徳川家康が諸侯につくらせた駿府城があり、かれは晩年をここに送ったのである。図は安倍川の渡渉を描いたもので２人の女の輦台渡のありさまをつたえる。輦台渡とは各種渡渉法の一つで２種の方法があり，高貴の人は輿に乗ったままわたし、他は梯子形のものに乗ってわたる。これは武家の娘とその供の女であろうか。『広重　東海道五十三次』
- source : おやじのつぶやき -

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. Asakusa 浅草 district in Edo .

source :　chuukyuu.info/who/edo
浅草下谷の阿部川町と称念寺

Asakusa Abekawachoo　阿部川町 Abekawa machi
To the South of Asakusa Hongan-Ji 本願寺.
Since 1636 a lot of government workers called "o kobito shuu"　(okobito) 御小人衆 lived here, working for Metsuke office. At that time, the district did not have a special name yet. Since having no name was confusing as Edo grew, in the year 1696 it came under the directive of 細井九左衛門　Hosoi Kuzaemon, who gave it the name.
The leader of the Okobito, 川村太四郎　Kawamura Taishiro, had come from the Abekawa region of Shizuoka.
The ABE spelling changed from 安倍　to 阿部.

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Abekawacho in Sunpu 阿部川町(あべかわちょう) - Shizuoka
駿府城下町の伝承

There used to be five sub-districts
昔は上町・中町・旅籠町・新町・揚屋町

-. . . . . To study history about Tokugawa Ieyasu . . .
- source : visit-shizuoka.com -

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- quote -
Magozoo Shrine　孫三稲荷神社 Magozo Inari Jinja
3 chome 19-7, Moto-asakusa
The record "Gofunai Biko" of the Edo era says this neighbourhood was called Abekawacho because a village shrine called "Magozo Shrine" at Abekawa in Shizuoka prefecture was moved to here.

A legend has been handed down in this district that at the end of the Sixteenth century, Tokugawa Ieyasu had a spiritual experience while traversing the river Abe allowing a man called Magozo to hold the bit of his horse. Later this man was found to be an incarnation representing Magozo Shrine located near the river Abekawa.

Another record "Machikata-kakiage" shows this shrine was attended by people living in the district and there was an enshrined wooden statue of about 10 cm in size.
The location of the original shrine in the Shizuoka prefecture is not known and all the records and building of this shrine here were completely lost due to the Great Kanto Earthquake and Tokyo air raids during World War II.
The present shrine was constructed by the neighborhood association and a festival is performed here annually in March.
- source : taito-culture.jp -

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. Abekawa Mochi 安倍川餅 / 安倍川もち rice cakes from Abekawa river .
with kinako soy bean flour

Once eaten by Tokugawa Ieyasu, because the local producers told him the kinako flower was really gold powder.
kinako - kin na ko 安倍川の金な粉餅 pun with Gold Powder

Some are covered with with kinako soy flour and a load of white sugar.
They soon became a speciality at Fuchu Station along the Tokaido Road.

Tokugawa Yoshimune 徳川吉宗 also liked them a lot.

Now they are made as favorite souvenirs at many stores, the most famous ones are along the Eastern side of the 安倍川橋　Abakawa bridge 葵区弥勒二丁目 Aoi Ward, Miroku.

府中 Fuchu in Shizuoka - 広重Hiroshige

In the detail you can see the traveler enjoying his mochi.
And in the shop, a young woman is pounding the mochi rice.

. Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 ( 1543 - 1616) .

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Daruma Stone from River Abekawa, Shizuoka
安倍川鉄丸石　... ダルマ石

. Suiseki 水石 Stones for Appreciation .

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. Abe-kawa River Fireworks Festival 　安倍川花火大会 .
last Saturday in July
- - kigo for late Summer - -

An established summer tradition, Shizuoka City’s largest fireworks festival boasts 15,000 fireworks and tens of ground based “exhibition” fireworks which spectacularly color the summer night sky. In addition to city residents, the celebration attracts tourists from Shizuoka and other prefectures.
- source : shizuoka-guide.com -

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. densetsu 伝説　Japanese Legends - Introduction .

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kitsunemochi kudaya 狐持，クダヤ being posessed by a fox

kuda is a monster that likes to posess people.
It lived along the river valley of Kamanashigawa 釜無川、Fujigawa 富士川 and Abekawa 安倍川.
From the end of the Edo period toward Meiji there were many tales about a fox posessing people (kitsunemochi), and the people who got posessed were driven out of the villages.
Around 1667 a creature called "Fox with seven colors" 七色狐 showed up in the village, went to the great Fushimi shrine in Kyoto 京都伏見 to get an amulet and then read the Hanya Shinkyo sutra 大般若経 in the village temple to expel the fox.

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tanuki 狸 Badger legends

小河内のある家に富士宮から和尚が来た。飯の時に人を寄り付けない。安倍川の渡しで一もうずの犬に食い殺されたとき、正体を現して狸になった。その和尚が筆を口にくわえて書いたという、絵とも字ともつかぬものが残っている。

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名主の家に鎌倉建長寺の僧が来た。やたらに犬を嫌って遠ざけた。飯の時に人を寄り付けない。安倍川で犬に追いかけられたとき、正体を現して狸になった。
- or
名主の作之丞の家に鎌倉建長寺の大僧正が来た。やたらに犬を嫌って遠ざけ、飯の時に人を寄り付けない。安倍川でしっぺい太郎という犬に食い殺されたとき、正体を現した。なにか獣が化けていた。その大僧正の書いた「柳に鳩」の絵が残っている。

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研屋町と弥勒町の宿に2人の供を連れた旅の僧が来た。灸をすえて好評だったが、安倍川で犬に食い殺されたとき、正体を現して狸になった。狸が死ぬと、お灸で癒えた病がぶり返した。

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- source : nichibun yokai database 安倍川 -

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

. - Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .

. densetsu 伝説　Japanese Legends - Introduction .

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10/14/2015

Asakusa

[ . BACK to DARUMA　MUSEUM　TOP . ]
. Famous Places and Powerspots of Edo　江戸の名所 .
. Asakusa densetsu 浅草伝説 Legends from Asakusa .
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Asakusa 浅草 district in Edo
台東区元浅草 Taido ward, Moto-Asakusa and others

The Chinese characters can be read in two ways
asa kusa 浅草 asakusa (Japanese reading)
sen soo, sensō 浅草 senso (Chinese reading)

. Asakusa Kannon　浅草観音 - Temple 浅草寺 Senso-Ji, Asakusadera .
- Introduction -

"Edo, Asakusa Fair"

Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重 (1797 - 1858)

. Kuramae 蔵前 / 倉前 Kuramae district, 浅草御蔵 Asakusa Kuramae .

. Taitoo, Taitō 台東区 Taito Ward .
Asakusa and Asakusabashi are sub-districts of this ward.

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The Origin of Asakusa
During the Jomon era, Asakusa was under the sea. They say it came over the sea in the Yayoi era.
By the way, what is the place name"Asakusa" based on? According to the historical materials of Tokyo-fu, "the name Asakusa came from little grass, meaning that there was little grass in the area in Musashino region where weeds overrun. Thus the sandy banks of river Sumidagawa were easily ready for construction works and dwellings.
This is the common theory.
When we are requested to tell some story about Asakusa, we will tell about "Sensouji temple".
- source : asakusaimahan.co.jp-

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Asakusa at night - 1932
Ishiwata Koitsu (1897-1987)

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- quote
What does Asakusa mean? Asakusa (Low Grass)
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The areas that preserve this place name today are:
浅草 Asakusa -- Asakusa
浅草橋 Asakusabashi -- Asakusa Bridge
西浅草 Nishi-Asakusa -- West Asakusa
元浅草 Moto-Asakusa -- Old Asakusa

However, it should be noted that an 浅草区 Asakusa-ku Asakusa Ward existed from 1878-1947. At that time, the places called Asakusa increased. After 1947, the number of Asakusa place names decreased dramatically until what is today considered is Asakusa is defined by little more than a train station here or there and a few vestigial postal addresses. But some 江戸っ子 Edokko 3rd generation Tōkyōites might consider some nearby neighborhoods as Asakusa, when technically they are not.

Miyatogawa 宮戸川 Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳

The Story So Far
The beginnings are purely mythical. In 628, some brothers were fishing in the 宮戸側川 Miyato-gawa Miyato River[iii] and – surprise, surprise – they caught a statue of 観音 Kan’non the goddess of mercy in their fishing nets. The brothers enshrined the statue in their home and kept it for private worship. It’s interesting to note, that this year, 628, just happened to be the same year as the death of 推古天皇 Suiko Tennō Empress Suiko, whose reign had seen great encouragement of Buddhism. This time in general is seen as a tipping point for the broader acceptance of Buddhism in Japan.
In 645,
having been shared with the local villagers from time to time, the statue was made into a 秘仏 hibutsu, image of Buddha hidden from the public. Then a proper temple was established.
Both dates, 628 and 645, are considered the founding of Asakusa-dera or Sensō-ji (we don’t know which pronunciation was prevalent at the time). Also both dates would still earn it the title of the oldest temple in Edo-Tōkyō. It seems that by 942, the first 雷門 kaminari mon thunder gate had been established, although in a different location.

From here on out we will see a dichotomy between
Asakusa (the area) and Sensō-ji (the temple).

Remember, all of this is preserved in the legends and records of the temple itself. There doesn’t seem to be any corroborating evidence elsewhere. In fact, the area isn’t recorded by non-temple sources until around 1266. At that time it is mentioned in a Kamakura Period text called the 吾妻鏡 Azuma Kagami Mirror of the West.
The common understanding is
that the temple was founded on a small plateau on the west bank of the Sumida River. A 門前町 monzenchō / monzenmachi formed around the temple precinct and continued growing from that time. Because of the town’s location on the Sumida River, which was good for trading, the town not only prospered, but attracted the best craftsmen of the region. Temple records indicate thriving trade between the Kamakura area and this region.
Legend has it
that when 源頼朝 Minamoto no Yoritomo Minamoto Yoritomo chose Kamakura as his capital (thus establishing the first of the 3 great shōgunates), he couldn’t find sufficiently skilled craftsmen in the area. On one occasion, he camped along the Sumida River near Asakusa. He visited the temple, as one does, and was so impressed with the builders that he hired them to come to Kamakura to build 鶴岡八幡宮 Tsuru-ga-oka Hachiman-gū which is still one of Kamakura’s grandest shrines. It’s said that trade between Asakusa and Kamakura was so intense that by the time the shōgunate collapsed, many of Kamakura’s merchants and artisans had relocated to Asakusa.
Temple and shrine building wasn’t a big deal in the Sengoku Period, but carpentry and building skills were definitely in demand. It’s not hard to imagine some of the craftsmen of Asakusa being hired to help the Toshima, the Hōjō, the Edo Clan, or even crazy ol’ Ōta Dōkan in their building efforts.
Prior to the Edo Period,
Asakusa was just a prosperous temple town on the river. But with the coming of the Tokugawa, everything changed. Urban sprawl from nearby by Chiyoda/Edo soon brought the area under the influence of the shōgun’s capital at such an early stage that Edo Period people and modern Tōkyōites generally just considered the area to have been part of Edo since time immemorial – even though for most of its existence, Asakusa was a separate town from the hamlet of Edo.
The temple
came under a particularly special patronage by the shōgun family because the head priest of Zōjō-ji had claimed that Asakusa Kan’non was the strongest deity in the Kantō area and that she had served Minamoto Yoritomo well. Tokugawa Ieyasu believed this deity helped him achieve total victory at the Battle of Sekigahara and as such it received great honors from the shōgunal family. While the temple was endowed by Edo’s most elite, its main mission was catering to the common people – a brilliant PR move on both Ieyasu and the temple’s parts[xii]. The temple has always been important to the commoners of Edo-Tōkyō.
In 1657,
after the Meireki Fire burned Edo down to the fucking ground, the licensed pleasure quarters called Yoshiwara was relocated from Nihonbashi to the area north of Asakusa because this was just a northern suburb at the time. Remember, we’re only 57 years into the Edo Period, son. Anyways, this transformed the area from just a pilgrimage spot to a proper tourist destination. And not just any old tourist destination; a tourist destination with a happy ending – if you know what I mean.
As lively as the area had become, its fame was only getting greater. In the 1840’s, after some crack downs on unlicensed kabuki theaters[xiv], the three prominent licensed kabuki theaters were forced to relocated to the Asakusa area. The area’s reputation as a center of nightlife was already secured, but adding popular theater to the area guaranteed this legacy for several more generations.
In the Meiji Era,
kabuki received imperial patronage and the underground kabuki theaters were as legit as the formerly licensed ones. Soon cinemas opened up in the area which showcased a foreign art form that the Japanese immediately became infatuated with. The area was now a bigger destination than ever; home to one of Tōkyō’s grandest temples and a vibrant theater district. Nearby Yoshiwara was still going off like crazy. Until WWII, Asakusa and Yoshiwara defined nightlife Japanese style.

It should be noted that in the Meiji Period, the temple lands were made into a park, naturally called 浅草公園 Asakusa Kōen Asakusa Park. The area was not unlike modern 上野公園 Ueno Kōen Ueno Park. The centerpiece of the park was Sensō-ji, but the real attractions were the theaters, cinemas, izakaya, and pleasure quarter overflow.
- snip -
What’s the Etymology?
The etymology of Asakusa has been researched by people since the Kamakura Period[xviii] and people have been coming across the same roadblock every time.
浅草寺 Asakusa-dera - 浅草寺 Sensō-ji
Same Kanji, Different Readings

Asakusa-dera is the native Japanese reading. This reading is plainer than the Chinese reading, Sensō-ji.
As most of the major Buddhist teachings came to Japan via China, the Chinese reading would be more prestigious – more in touch with this new foreign and exotic religion.
There are no written records
to support this but common sense would lead one to the conclusion that the name Asakusa is the older name – it most likely predates the temple. Once a proper temple was built and Chinese learning was imported, the temple assumed the local name but used the Chinese reading. So 浅草 asa kusa became 浅草 sen sō in the Chinese reading. The village continued to use its native Japanese name.
Today the area is still called Asakusa, even though the temple is called Sensō-ji.
- snip -
- source : Marky Star

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Asakusa Hachiman Jinja　浅草八幡神社　Hachiman Shrines in Asakusa

西浅草八幡神社 Nishi Asakusa Hachiman Jinja
八幡神社は江戸時代当地域にあった田島山誓願寺が宇佐八幡宮の御神霊分神を勧請して元禄13年（1700）に創建された。昔は田島町といってその氏子区域は、現在の西浅草二丁目の東町会と西町会の2町会のみです。
隣接する北側の芝崎と南側の西浅草一丁目は三社の氏子区域です。
- source, more photos : rekishi-roman.jp -

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. Asakusa Abekawachoo　阿部川町 Abekawacho, Abekawa machi .

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source : project.lib.keio.ac.jp...
Evening View of Asakusabashi Bridge / 浅草橋夕景
井上安治 Inoue Yasuharu

- quote -
Asakusabashi 浅草橋
The district is traditionally known for many wholesale stores, and recently known for its large stores selling traditional Japanese dolls (although some of the largest doll stores, such as Kyugetsu and Shugetsu, are located across Edo-dori avenue, thus belonging to the Yanagibashi neighborhood), or packaging materials, and it hosts a very large concentration of beads stores.
The Ryuhoku campus of the Lycée Franco-Japonais de Tokyo (Franco-Japanese High School of Tokyo) is also located in this neighborhood.

- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

Miyatogawa 宮戸川 river Miyatogawa
Hiroshige - 広重「浅草川大川端宮戸川」

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Asakusa Hanakawadochoo　花川戸町 Hanakawado machi

Since the beginning of the Edo period a lot of merchants lived in this area. The main road was the beginning of the Ōshū Kaidō 奥州街道 Oshu Kaido main route leading to Tohoku. It was lined with tea stalls and entertainment etablissements.

hana 花 referes to the cherry blossoms
kawa 川 is the Sumidagawa river and do 戸 refers to the many houses that could be seen from the river among the cherry blossoms.

One famous resident of Hanakawado was
. Banzuin Chobei 幡随院長兵衛 Chobei of Bandzuin . - (1622–1657)
who led of a band of machi-yakko street toughs to fight against injustice.

Kuhonji 光照山九品寺 Kuhon-Ji
台東区花川戸2-11-13 / Kuhon-ji Temple, 2 chome 11-13, Hanakawado

The temple was founded in 1598. During the Great Meireki fire in 1657 a statue of a seated Amida Buddha was erected to pray for the souls of the many dead people. The statue sits on a lotus podestal with engravings of the names of the people who contributed.
- source : asakusanioideyo.com -

- - - - - 九品寺大仏 Daibutsu Great Buddha from Kuhon-Ji

Another famous statue of the temple :
- - - - - . kutsubaki Jizo son 沓履地蔵尊 Jizo Bosatsu wearing shoes .
In Hanakawado there lived many craftsmen making straw sandals and other kinds of shoes (hakimono 履物). Even now there are more than 70 dealers in this district.

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Hanakawado Hakidaore-ichi Shoe Market 花川戸はきだおれ市
Hanakawado wholesale district in Taito-ku
Every year the Hanakawado wholesale district in Taito-ku, assemble up to 40 retailers and wholesalers stalls to line-up around Hanakawado Park to sell a wide-range of products. From footwear to handbags, accessories, leather goods, scarves, hats, and more. All the items at the market are sold at bargain prices.
- source : tokyocheapo.com -

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. Hanakawado no Sukeroku 花川戸助六 - Kabuki Play .
Monument of Sukeroku Inscribed with Ichikawa Danjuro's Poem

Remains of Uba-ga-ike (Ubagaike Pond)
Hanakawado park, 2 chome 4-15, Hanakawado

Ureshi-no-mori Inari
1 chome 15-13, Hanakawado

Yamanoshuku no Watashi Ferry
Sumida park, 1 chome 1, Hanakawado

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Asakusa Heiemonchoo 平右衛門町 Heiemon machi

At the confluence of the rivers Sumidagawa and Kandagawa. It is named after
村田平右衛門守勝　Murata Heiemon Morikatsu.
When Tokugawa Ieyasu came to Edo in 1590, Heiemon came with him from Hamamatsu, Shizuoka. He also followed Ieyasu on the visits to temple Senso-Ji 浅草寺 and was then ordered to built a town here. In 1616 he had finished his own machiya 町家 "town house" and the district was named after him.
Heiemon helped with the official planning of the town of Edo and was involved in the building of bridges too.

source : kiyoto-midori.blog.so-net

The true Edoites called the main road
Asakusa Saemonchoo　浅草左衛門町

Others say it is a pun with right 右 and left 左 of the road from the Asakusa gate toward the river.
- source : city.taito.lg.jp -

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Asakusa Kaminarimon 雷門 Kaminarimon district
- 一丁目、二丁目 first and second sub-district

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. Kuramae 蔵前 "before the store houses" .

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Asakusa Tame 浅草溜（あさくさため）/ （あさくさだめ） Asakusadame
A place behind the Asakusa temple where ill and dying prisoners had to find their last rest.
It was abolished in 1699.

. rooyashiki 牢屋敷 prison .
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Asakusa Tanboo 浅草田圃（あさくさたんぼ) Asakusa Tambo "fields"
A space between Asakusa temple and the old Yoshiwara district.

Asakusa Rice Fields and Torinomachi Festival (Asakusa tanbo Torinomachi mode)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重
- Photos -

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Asakusa Tawarachoo 田原町 Tawara machi, Tawaramachi

This district of former fields (tahara 田原 ) belonged to the compound of Senso-Ji. The fields were turned to human settlements from first to third 丁目 Chome.
It was also called kamisukichoo 紙漉町 Paper Making District / kamisukichoo かみすき丁 / 紙すき町.
The paper made here is the Asakusagami 浅草紙 Paper from Asakusa.
..... the very first Paper factory in Edo tha was here and prosperd from the late 17th Century through the 19th Century.
- source : tokyotaito.blog.shinobi.jp -

. sukikaeshi, suki-kasehi 漉き返し業者 recycled paper from Asakusa .
Asakusagami to hiyakashi

The third Chome of Tawaracho ended in front of the Kaminarimon gate of the temple, so this street was very lively with all kinds of entertainment business.
Asakusa hirokooji　浅草広小路

Chayamachi 茶屋町 -
Residence of . Chaya Shirōjirō 茶屋四郎次郎 Chaya Shirojiro .
. chaya 茶屋 tea shop, tea stall and their side business .

Dakotsu nagaya 蛇骨長屋 (bones of a huge serpent have been found here)
Hettsui yokochoo へっつい横丁 / 竈横丁 (craftsmen making hearths (kamado) lived here)
Tomogire nagaya　朋切長屋 (naming unclear)

Gensui yokocho 源水横丁 (where the famous street performer 松井源水　Matsui Gensui worked)
. kyokugoma, kyoku-goma 曲独楽　acrobatics with spinning tops .
The Matsui Gensui Family history.

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The Nori Seaweed shop of Nakayamaya Heizaemon 中島屋平左衛門
中島屋平左衛門 - - - Nakajimaya Heizaëmon, Nakajima Heiemon or Nakajima Hirazaemon.

- quote -
Advertisement for the Culinary Seaweed Shop of Nakajimaya Heiemon, Official Purveyor to the Tôeizan Temple, at Asakusa Tahara-machi sanchôme, on the North Side (Tôeizan goyô, gozen nori dokoro, Asakusa Tahara-machi sanchôme kitagawa, Nakajimaya Heiemon)
東叡山御用　御膳海苔所　浅草田原町三丁目北側　中島屋平左衛門

by Katsushika Hokusai
- source : mfa.org/collections -

. Asakusa nori 浅草海苔 Seaweed Past and Present - Introduction .

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. Yamabushi cho 牛込山伏町 Ushigome Yamabushi district .

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The Torinomachi Pilgrimage in Asakusa
Asakusa Ricefields and Torinomachi Festival
浅草田甫酉の町詣
Asakusa tanbo Torinomachi mode
Utagawa Hiroshige

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

浅草や一厄おとす寺参り
Asakusa ya hito yaku otosu tera mairi

my dear Asakusa -
to cast off old impurities
I visit the temple

Kobayashi Issa　小林一茶

. yakuotoshi, yaku otoshi 厄落 Casting off the Old Impurities and Sins .

. WKD : Asakusa 浅草 .
- - kigo for all seasons - -

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. Asakusa densetsu 浅草伝説 Legends from Asakusa .

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

. - Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .

. densetsu 伝説　Japanese Legends - Introduction .

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- - - - - #asakusa #asakusaedo #tawara #heiemon #hanawakado #abekawa #kaminarimon #miyatogawa - - - -
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Rokugo Watashi

川崎六郷渡舟　Kawasaki Rokugo watashibune
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重　東海道五拾三次

. The Kawasaki district 川崎　 .

Rokugoo, Rokugō 六郷 Rokugo district
Ota ward 大田区, 東六郷 East, 西六郷 West, 南六郷 South and 仲六郷 Central

In 1889, the following villages were grouped together asl 六郷村 Rokugo Mura.
雑色村 Zoshiki Mura、八幡塚村 Hachimanzuka Mura、町屋村 Machiya Mura、高畑村 Takahata Mura、古川村 Furukawa Mura.
In 1928, Rokugo Mura was renamed to 六郷町 Rokugo Machi.
In 1932, Rokugo Machi was renamed, now 蒲田区 Kamata district.

The name 六郷町 Rokugo Machi was abandoned in 1923.

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Rokugo no watashi - The Rokugo Ferry Crossing
The 玉川 / 多摩川 (Tamagawa) Tama river forms the southwestern geographical boundary of Musashi -- the prefecture where Edo is located. It is not a particularly large river, flowing down into Edo Bay from the mountains just to the west of the city. But here, near the coast, where the Tokaido crosses the river, it is far too wide and deep to cross on foot or on horseback. All of the people and goods passing up and down the great highway have to cross the river by ferry boat. Just ahead of us is the ferry landing at Rokugo-no-Watashi. As usual, there are dozens of ferry boats out on the river, carrying travelers and goods back and forth on their way to and from Edo.

The Tokaido is probably the busiest highway in the world. It is certainly a more important thouroughfare than any of the roads in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. This is confirmed by reports from Europeans who have visited Japan. For example, here is a comment from the Dutchman Engelbert Kaempfer, who traveled along the Tokaido on his way to Edo, during an official trade visit in 1691:

"(In addition to) the great barons passing to and from Yedo, and escorted by trains of hundreds or even thousands of men . . . . the roads are always thronged by ordinary citizens on business or on pilgrimage at certain seasons to one of their numerous holy sites. . . It is scarce credible that even here (in the countryside), it is on most days more crowded than a public street in any of the most populous towns of Europe."

The Tokaido is one of three main roads that leads from Edo (the military and political capital of the country) to Kyoto (the religious and cultural center, where the Emperor lives). The other two highways -- the Kiso Kaido and the Nakasendo -- lead through the mountains, and are not as suitable for heavy traffic. Most of the traffic on the Kiso Kaido and the Nakasendo is by foot, though riders on horseback can manage to cover all but a few of the steepest mountain passes. By contrast, the traffic on the Tokaido is very heavy, with many riders on horseback, large groups of soldiers marching in columns, small groups of pilgrims on foot, and groups of wealthy samurai or merchants being carried in carriages.

Although there are not many steep mountain ranges to cross, one major barrier does interfere with traffic on the Tokaido -- the many broad rivers that flow down from the mountains and into the Pacific Ocean. Japan is a very mountainous country, and although the Tokaido runs along a flat plain near the coast, there are many rivers running down from the hills that need to be crossed. Since the rivers have their source in the steep mountain valleys, they are subject to frequent floods, especially during the rainy season (from early May to late June). Some of these rivers are shallow enough to cross on foot. At such river crossings, there are usually large settlements of porters, whose job is to transport people and goods from shore to shore. The people and their belongings are loaded onto platforms, and groups ranging from four to several dozen men carry the loads across to the opposite shore. The fare charged for transport across the river is fairly cheap -- just one or two small copper coins.
However, the porters get a great deal of business, because there are so many people and goods that need to be carried across the rivers. Although the job of a river porter can be backbreaking and exhausing work, the pay is pretty good, and the porters usually need to form local kumi-ai (unions) to prevent competition.

歌川国芳 Utagawa Kuniyoshi

While many of the rivers along the Tokaido can be forded on foot, a few, such as the Tama river, are too deep. Where the rivers are too deep or too swift to be crossed on foot, there are usually ferry boats to handle the traffic. Rokugo-no-Watashi is one of the busiest of these crossings, and the ferry boats do a brisk business carrying travelers and goods to and from the southern suburbs of Edo. There is a constant stream of travelers across the river, and the area has become a bustling center of activity. Small clusters of shops have sprung up on both river banks to serve the people waiting to cross. In addition to the large shops and inns along the road, food-sellers pass through the crowd or set up small stalls near the river, trying to sell refreshments and drinks.

On each shore is a boat landing, surrounded by a cluster of huts where the ferry workers and their families live. Most of the ferrymen are big, brawny men. Their arms and back muscles are large and tightly knotted from years of work carrying passengers to and fro across the river. They grasp the rudders in both hands and sweep them from side to side with great, powerful strokes. The ferrymen are organized into a kumi-ai. These business associations are very similar to the "Guilds" of medieval Europe. Members of the kumi-ai cooperate to maintain stable prices, preserve the market and prevent newcomers from entering the business. The association is also responsible for collecting a fixed portion of the tolls paid by passengers, which is paid as taxes to the Shogun. Similar types of business associations exist in nearly all industries, even among farmers who specialize in a certain type of produce.

Out on the river, the boat traffic is lively and continuous. There are many different types of boats in all shapes and sizes. The smaller boats which carry passengers from shore to shore are called watashi-bune -- these flat-bottomed boats are propelled by an oarsman in the stern using a broad rudder, or a long pole made of bamboo (depending on how deep the river is). These boats usually carry about a dozen people, along with their belongings.

歌川広重 Utagawa Hiroshige

There are also much larger boats that carry goods and livestock. These are known as 高瀬舟　takase-bune. Although they are quite a bit larger than the watashi-bune, they have a very shallow draft, which allows them to carry their cargo far up-river. The takase-bune also have sails, which can be used whenever the river is broad enough and the wind strong enough to make oars unnecessary. These ships can not only transport cargo from shore to shore; they can also carry the goods downriver into Edo Bay and along the coast to other ports.

Up ahead crowd of people of all ages and occupations are waiting in line for their turn to cross. There are samurai and monks, artisans and nobles, geisha and housewives, farmers and beggars. All of them except the official messengers of the shogun have to pay the same fare to ride across the river. Fortunately, the fares are not very expensive. In fact, the cost for all of the river crossings between Edo and Kyoto is only about as much money as an adult worker makes in a month. The low cost is one reason why many people, even from the lower classes, usually take a long trip to one of the important pilgrimage sites at last once or twice in their lives.

The ferry boat pilot takes a few copper coins as fare, then pushes off, and the boat moves swiftly towards the opposite shore. The river is deep and sluggish here, near the coast. In fact, at high tide the water barely moves at all. We are getting close to shore now. The opposite river bank is low and grassy, lined by willows and other large trees.There is an even bigger crowd of people waiting on this shore than there was back on the opposite shore. The town here is quite a bit larger, and the boat landing is busy and bustling with activity,
because Edo -- the largest city in the world -- is only a few hours journey away!
- source : Edomatsu

. Tokaido 53 Stations 東海道五十三次 - Introduction .

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source : rokugo monogatari photo book

- reference : edo rokugo no watashi -

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Rokugoobashi 六郷橋 Rokugobashi bridge
crossing the river Tamagawa 多摩川

CLICK for photos of the modern bridge !

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- quote -
The Rokugō clan 六郷氏 Rokugō shi
was a Japanese samurai clan that claimed descent from the Fujiwara clan and was based at Senboku County Dewa Province in the late Sengoku period. It should not be confused with a samurai clan of the same name which appears in early Muromachi period records from Musashi Province.

六郷政乗 Rokugō Masanori (1567-1634) was rewarded by Tokugawa Ieyasu for siding with the eastern armies in the Battle of Sekigahara against his nominal overlords, the Onodera clan, by an increase in his holdings from 4,500 koku to 10,000 koku and the status of daimyō of Hitachi-Fuchū Domain. He served the Tokugawa shogunate during the 1614 Siege of Osaka, and after the destruction of the Mogami clan, was transferred to Honjō Domain with an increase in revenues to 20,000 koku which were all consolidated in the form of 103 villages in Yuki County where his descendants ruled for 11 generations to the Meiji restoration.
During the Boshin War of 1868-69,
the Rokugō were signatories to the pact that formed the Ōuetsu Reppan Dōmei, but were outgunned by the imperial forces subduing the alliance, and their home base, Honjō Castle was destroyed during that conflict. As with all other daimyō families, the Rokugō clan was relieved of its title in 1871 by the new Meiji government.
The final daimyō of Honjō Domain, 六郷政鑑 Rokugō Masakane, was subsequently granted the family peerage title of "shishaku" (viscount).
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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. Japanese Legends - 伝説　民話　昔話 – ABC-List .

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熊本県 Kumamoto 六郷村 Rokugomura Village

Kappa 河童
Once upon a time
the Shinto priest had a dream about the Kappa who lived at the 龍ヶ淵 Dragon Riverside. The Kappa asked him to help get rid of a bakemono 化物 monster that kept him from using the entry to his home. The Shinto priest dived into the water and found an iron harrow in front of the entry hole at the bottom of the river. He took it away and the Kappa, to show his gratitude, protected the village children from drowning, when they wore a special amulet prepared by the priest.

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宮城県 Miyagi 仙台市 Sendai town 太白区

In Sendai, there is a district called Rokugo:

Rokugooseki 六郷堰 Rokugo weir
Around the year 1665 the head priest of a Zen temple had a dream:
"I felt I was the rooster of a family in my parish. There was also an old black cat in this family, which had wanted to poison the family members. So I, the rooster, called out every night to warn them. But the head of the family thought this noisy rooster was a bad omen, killed me and threw the body in the river. The body was caught in the piles of the Rokugo weir. Please tell this story to the family."
When the priest went to the Rokugo weir he found the bones of a dead rooster. So he took them and hurried to the home of the family in question. He saw a black cat jump over the large soup pot and spit some poison into it. The priest followed the cat and saw it running to a bamboo grove, where it rubbed its back on some poisonous mushrooms and weeds. The poisonous soup was soon discarded.
The head of the family realized his mistake, had a stone memorial built for the rooster and prayed to it in gratitude.

Rokugo, Wakabayashi Ward, Sendai, Miyagi
Part of the 七郷堀 Shichigobori moat and weir system to drain the inner city, along the river 広瀬側 Hirosegawa
Wakabayashi ward:
The Rokugo and Shichigo areas, located in the southeastern part of the ward, are largely used for farming and agriculture. The shoreline area is a beautiful, natural landscape with black pine trees and untouched sandy beaches.

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山梨県 Yamanashi 六郷町 Rokugomachi Town
- 西八代郡六郷町鴨狩津向 Kamogaritsumukai village

竜宮皿 Plates from the Dragon Palace
Below the Main Hall of the temple 高前寺 Kozen-Ji there is a special hole, ubaana ウボ穴 / ウバアナ. People say it is a direct access to the 竜宮 Ryugu Dragon Palace. Villagers come here to borrow pots and plates for large meetings. They have to bring them back well cleaned and washed the next morning.
If they are not clean or some are missing, they will never get anything again from the Dragon Palace.

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富士川にもろこしの渡しというのがあった。昔、1人の旅ざむらいが急ぎで頼むと飛び込んできて、対岸へ渡った。その侍は自分が渡船したことを口外しないように口留めしたが、結局その渡し守を切り捨てる。その渡し守新蔵爺さんの以外は村人が鄭重に葬ったが、その後、この渡しでは思わぬ事故が繰り返された。それは新蔵爺さんの亡霊が浮かばれないとうことで、村人は、それを慰めるために、毎年新蔵天神として祀っている。この塚は、富士川河岸の小山にある。
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woman with white hair
高前寺の梵鐘は一名横取りの梵鐘といい、日蓮宗に信仰のある富豪が奉納したものであるが、完成した後富士川の鰍沢から身延山を目指しての下りの船で天神ヶ滝の難所を過ぎて鴨狩に近付いたときに奇石に座礁した。この巌に竜波穴と称する謎の巌谷があり、難破の彼方に白髪の女人が現れて申すには、梵鐘は近くの寺に納めて、身延山奉納は改めてみてはどうかという意味だった。それにより、高前寺に納めたため、横取りの梵鐘という。
or
承応の頃、鴨狩寺、高前寺の亀外和尚の夜の説教に多くの人が集まった。すると、ご本尊の脇に白髪の老女が現れ、読経が終わると、自分は今畜生道へ髄在して大蛇となり、昼夜三熱に苦しんでいる、今宵は観世音のお告げにより、師が道徳無辺なのを知った。どうか、自分の苦悩を救ってくれ、それがかなえば、永く当山で火難を除き、世の衆生の産難を遁れさせようといって消えた。それに因んで子安観音を祀ったという。
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Gomi Shirozaemon no tsuma 五味四郎右衛門の妻 the wife of Gomi Shirozaemon
Around 1600 the wife of Gomi Shirozaemon gave birth, but she refused to use hot water and instead used cold water. So people gossiped that whe was ryuunyo 竜女 a Dragon lady.

慶長年間の頃、五味四郎右衛門の妻は、生涯を通じて湯を嫌って水を用いてきたので、人々に竜女といわれた。また、この人は陰毛が竜神となる前触れの毛の丈だった。この一子は出家させられたが、それが日実上人だという。その後、婦人は妙な霊夢を感じて陰毛を3筋切り取り、女に与えて我に祈願をすれば、水難をのがれ、安産になるようにする、もしこの祈願に偽りがあれば、何年か経って不思議なことがある、その時には身延の常経と御嶽山と妙伝寺に必ず献納するようにといい、雨がはげしく降る日に釜無川に消えるように入った。その長毛を子安大明神として帯那の妙伝寺に祀ってある。

- - - 若草町 Wakakusa town
Gomi Shirozaemon and the serpent 蛇
About 280 years ago, the old family of 五味四郎右衛門 Gomi Shirozaemon lived in 若草村浅原 Wakakusamura village.
His wife was always worried about water damage and flooding from the river 釜無川 Kamanashigawa. One day in Summer there was a huge typhoon, so the took the lid of kama 釜 the kettle , threw it into the wild river and jumped on it. The woman changed into a serpent and became invisible.
But after that, there have never been major floods in the river, so t was called
Kamanashigawa "river without a kettle".

. More legends from Minobusan, Rokugomachi 身延山 .

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- reference : Nichibun Yokai Database -
六郷 08 to explore

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. Oota, Ōta 大田区 Ota ward .

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

. Japanese Architecture - Interior Design - The Japanese Home .

. Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

. shokunin 職人 craftsman, craftsmen, artisan, Handwerker .

. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .

. densetsu 伝説　Japanese Legends - Introduction .

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[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]
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