shukuba post station

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shukuba 宿場　post station, postal station

The most important part of a shukuba postal station along one of the official trade routes of the Edo period were the

. hatago (旅籠, 旅篭) lodgings .

quote
Shukuba (宿場) were post stations during the Edo period in Japan,
generally located on one of the Edo Five Routes or one of its sub-routes. They were also called shukueki (宿駅). These post stations (or "post towns") were places where travelers could rest on their journey around the nation. They were created based on policies for the transportation of goods by horseback that were developed during the Nara and Heian periods.

History
These post stations were first established by Tokugawa Ieyasu shortly after the end of the Battle of Sekigahara. The first post stations were developed along the Tōkaidō (followed by stations on the Nakasendō and other routes). In 1601, the first of the Tōkaidō's fifty-three stations were developed, stretching from Shinagawa-juku in Edo to Ōtsu-juku in Ōmi Province. Not all the post stations were built at the same time, however, as the last one was built in 1624.

The lodgings in the post stations were established for use by public officials and, when there were not enough lodgings, nearby towns were also put into use. The post station's toiyaba, honjin and sub-honjin were all saved for the public officials. It was hard to receive a profit as the proprietor of these places, but the shogun provided help in the form of various permits, rice collection and simple money lending, making it possible for the establishments to stay open. The hatago, retail stores, tea houses, etc., which were designed for general travelers, were able to build a profit. Ai no shuku were intermediate post stations; though they were unofficial resting spots, they had many of the same facilities.

Generally speaking, as the Meiji period arrived and brought along the spread of rail transport, the number of travelers visiting these post stations greatly declined, as did the prosperity of the post stations.


Post station facilities
Toiyaba (問屋場) Tonya: General offices that helped manage the post town.

Honjin (本陣): Rest areas and lodgings built for use by samurai and court nobles. Honjin were not businesses; instead, large residences in the post towns were often designated as lodging for government officials.

Waki-honjin (脇本陣): These facilities were also for use by samurai and court nobles, but general travelers could also stay here if there were vacancies.

Hatago (旅籠): Facilities that offered accommodations to general travelers and also served food.

Kichin-yado (木賃宿): Facilities that offered accommodations to general travelers, but did not serve food.

Chaya (茶屋): Rest areas that sold tea, food and alcohol to travelers.

Shops: General shops built to sell wares to travelers.

Kōsatsu (高札): Signboards on which the shōgun's proclamations were posted.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


. sankin kootai 参勤交代 Sankin Kotai Daimyo attendance in Edo
daimyoo gyooretsu, daimyō gyōretsu 大名行列　Daimyo procession .

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Edo shishuku 江戸四宿 The four most important SHUKUBA out of Edo




There were five major roads leading out of Edo

. Edo Gokaidoo 江戸五街道 Gokaidō - five highways .
Five Kaido starting at Nihonbashi, Edo

. Koshu Kaido 甲州街道 Kōshū Kaidō .
from Edo via Kofu to Suwa
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. Koshu Ura Kaido 甲州裏街道 Koshu Back Road .
starting from Oome, Ōme 青梅 / おうめ Ome town


. Nakasendoo 中山道 / 中仙道 Nakasendo Highway .
from Edo to Kyoto, via the mountains

. Nikkoo Kaidoo 日光街道 Nikko Kaidō .
日光例幣使街道 Nikko Reiheishi Kaido - To Nikko Toshogu grave of Tokugawa Ieyasu
御成道 Onarimichi Onari Michi for the Shogun only

. Oshu Kaido 奥州街道 Ōshū Kaidō .
connecting Edo with the Mutsu Province in Tohoku.

. Tokaido 53 Stations 東海道五十三次 Tōkaidō 　
from Edo to Kyoto

And the first shukuba of them became the most famous one's in Edo.
Not only for travellers, but also for rich people from Edo to go there, stay over night and have some fun. They were only two RI 二里 (about 4 km) away from Nihonbashi.

Each one had a brothel quarter (okabasho 岡場所), where the meshimori onna 飯盛女 "rice-serving ladies" were on duty.
The Edo Bakufu government tried to regulate the number of women, since the brothel owners of Yoshiwara complained about the cheap competition. But to no avail.

Shinagawa was especially famous for its cheap accomodations.
Many priests from the nearby temples frequented the establishments.
Many kyooka　狂歌 "crazy poems" were written about the situation there.
yuukaku 遊廓 Yukaku (a red-light district)
- Zappai senryu Edo okabasho zue -
-江岡場所遊女百姿 / 花咲一男著 -




source :　tomochika0430
Kita Senju 北千住


. Senju shuku 千住宿 Senju .
first stop on the Oshu Dochu and Nikko Dochu 奥州道中 - 日光道中

. Itabashi shuku 板橋宿 .
first stop on the Nakasendo 中山道

Naito Shinjuku 内藤新宿
first stop on the Koshu Dochu 甲州道中

Shinagawa shuku, Shinagawa-juku 品川宿
first stop on the Tokaido 東海道


- - - Edo Itsu Kuchi 　江戸五口　five entrance gates to/from Edo castle
They would eventually lead towart the five kaido roads.

Tayasu mon 田安門（上州道）、Kandabashi mon 神田橋門（柴崎口）、Hanzoo mon 半蔵門（甲州道）、soto Sakurada mon 外桜田門（小田原口・旧東海道）, Tokiwabashi gomon 常磐橋御門

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Things that a toiyaba 問屋場 had to provide for the travellers

The prize for porters and horses was generally fixed:

kanme aratame 貫目改 officials to check the weight of the luggage



honma / hon uma 本馬 pack horse, carrying about 40 kan 貫 (150 kg) or 36 kan (135 kg)
(a kind of daba 駄馬 draught horse or pack horse)



norikake 乗掛 to ride a horse and carry some luggage
Two light boxes were hung on each side of the saddle and the traveler could ride the horse



karujiri / karajiri　軽尻／空尻　riding only
for light hand luggage about 5 kan (18.8 kg)
for only light luggage about 20 kan (75 kg) about half of a "honma"



ninsoku 人足 porter
one porter carried about 5 kan (18.8 kg)

source : mkageyama22





source :　tokaido.canariya.net

kumosuke　雲助 shifty carrier, a thuggish palanquin bearer

箱根路に雲助の碑や赤のまま
Hakone ji ni kumosuke no hi ya aka no mama

at the Hakone road
the memorial stone of a kumosuke -
all in red
Tr. Gabi Greve

Shinkawa Harumi 新川晴美


. Palanquin, sedan chair (kago 篭. 駕籠 or かご) .

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quote
Ton'ya (問屋), called toiya outside of Edo,
were trade brokers in Japan, primarily wholesalers, warehouse managers, and shipment managers; the term applies equally to the traders themselves and to their shops or warehouses. First appearing as early as the 12th century, ton'ya came to serve a crucial role in the economy of the Edo period (1603-1867).



History
The earliest record of a toi-otoko (問男) may be one from 1175, in which a number of Court officials hire an outside boatsman to transport them down the Yodo River. As he was not a servant or agent of the Court, or any manor, but rather a man hired out privately, this represents the emergence of the sorts of private enterprises which would come to dominate the economy centuries later.

The ton'ya of the Edo period were little different, essentially acting as independent agents for specific elements of the domestic trade; most often they were shippers, but many were local handlers, middlemen, or warehousers. They would be hired by a firm (a merchant, a shop, etc.) which operated out of one of the big cities to manage or handle the firm's goods in some other portion of the country.

Wholesale freight shippers operating out of Osaka, transporting goods to Edo, numbered at least 24 in 1700, and a great many "guilds" existed specializing in the handling of individual types of goods, such as cotton, sugar, or paper. In addition, there were groups such as the Satsuma Tonya and the Matsumae clan Tonya, who specialized in the handling and transportation of goods within two of Japan's four great "gates" to the outside world; Matsumae, in Hokkaidō, governed the trade with the Ainu and Imperial Russia, while Satsuma, in Kyūshū, controlled trade with the Ryūkyū Kingdom and, through them, trade with Qing China.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


jinya jin'ya 陣屋
During the Edo period of Japanese history, a jin'ya (陣屋) was the administrative headquarters of a small domain or parcel of land held by the Tokugawa shogunate, as well as the residence of the head of the administration, and the associated grain storehouse.

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bakuhan system

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bakuhan 幕藩 Bakuhan feudal system

The bakuhan taisei 幕藩体制 was the feudal political system in the Edo period of Japan.
Baku, or "tent," is an abbreviation of bakufu, meaning "military government" — that is, the shogunate.
The han were the domains headed by daimyo.

. bakufu 幕府 The Edo Government and Administration .



The Tokugawa (or Edo) period brought 250 years of stability to Japan. The political system evolved into what historians call bakuhan, a combination of the terms bakufu and han (domains) to describe the government and society of the period. In the bakuhan, the shogun had national authority and the daimyo had regional authority.
This represented a new unity in the feudal structure, which featured an increasingly large bureaucracy to administer the mixture of centralized and decentralized authorities. The Tokugawa became more powerful during their first century of rule: land redistribution gave them nearly seven million koku, control of the most important cities, and a land assessment system reaping great revenues.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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- quote
Tokugawa Political System
The Tokugawa political system was perhaps the most complex feudal system ever developed. It was similar to the European feudal system (pope, emperor or king, feudal barons, and retainers in Europe compared to emperor, the shogun, the daimyo, and samurai retainers in Japan), but it was also very bureaucratic, an attribute not associated with European feudalism.

This political system was called the bakuhan system. Baku comes from bakufu which was the government the Tokugawa leaders used to administer their private affairs inside their own fief. Han means domain and refers to the 250-plus domains that existed throughout the Edo period. Thus, bakuhan refers to the co-existence of the Tokugawa government with separate, independent governments in each of the fiefs. Since each daimyo was a retainer of the shogun, the bakufu or shogunate had some power across all of Japan. This was not a federal system or even a centralized hierarchy of political authorities; rather, it was a system in which two levels of government existed with a high degree of independence.

The Tokugawa shogunate was very much like any domainal government in that it was responsible first for the administration of a limited territory, the fief of the Tokugawa house. As such, it concerned itself with controlling the samurai class, collecting taxes (primarily on agriculture), maintaining civil order, defending the fief, controlling the cities, encouraging commerce and manufacturing which were required by the fief, limiting undesirable types of commerce and so on. In most domains, the scope of government was similar. In fact, as the Edo period wore on, most domains copied the system of the shogunate.

The Tokugawa shogunate also had responsibilities and concerns which went beyond those of ordinary domains; the Tokugawa shoguns were, after all, hegemons presiding over a whole country.

The Tokugawa government alone dealt with the imperial court, the imperial nobility and the emperor himself. The emperor was the source of legitimacy since the office of shogun was an imperial appointment. Furthermore, Confucianism which was the official ideology of the Tokugawa house during the Edo period focused attention on the emperor. Thus, the Tokugawa shogunate established a monopoly on access to the imperial court. As the period wore on, the monopoly was breached, but it is essentially true that the Tokugawa controlled and manipulated the court for its own purposes.

The shogunate held a near monopoly over foreign trade and foreign affairs. The trade monopoly was important because significant profits were available to the Tokugawa alone. Foreign trade was also permitted through Satsuma domain to the Ryukyu kingdom (Okinawa) and through Tsushima domain to Korea, but generally speaking diplomatic matters were closely controlled by the Tokugawa.

Foreign relations were crucial because control of them made a statement to the political public that the Tokugawa house was in control of all aspects of government; it was an additional source of legitimacy. In line with this, the Tokugawa shogunate restricted diplomatic contact by prohibiting any Europeans except the Dutch from coming to Japan after 1639; this was the policy of national seclusion (sakoku). But even seclusion was an exercise of power which impressed observers and encouraged submission.

Perhaps the most important role of the shogunate was control of the domains, the han. This was precisely what had been lacking in the Warring States period, the ability of central authority to enforce peace. During the forty years before the Edo period, the three unifiers, Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu, evolved a system which proved increasingly capable of ensuring the loyalty and obedience of vassals. The Tokugawa shogunate took this previous experience and honed it to perfection.

Elements of this system included a police and spy network which reported any suspicious activity by samurai or daimyo. Daimyo were required to report any proposed marriage alliances between domains to the shogunate for approval. Contact between domains was prohibited to reduce opportunities for plotting against the shogunate. The number of castles, their size and their strength were very strictly limited.

The shogunate could punish daimyo for transgressions in a variety of ways; a domain could be reduced in size, the daimyo could be shifted to an entirely different domain, or, the ultimate sanction, suicide could be demanded, perhaps with the additional punishment of his lineage being reduced in status to a non-daimyo level.

The most important aspect of the system of controlling the han was the sankin-kotai system, or the system of alternate residence in Edo. This grew out of the Warring States period practice of demanding high-ranking hostages from vassals or allies to guarantee good behavior. The founder of the shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu, was himself a hostage for nearly 13 years as a young boy.

The Tokugawa, however, formalized the keeping of hostages. They established rules which specified for each daimyo a period of time every year (or two or three) during which the daimyo must live in Edo. The daimyo’s family would have to live in Edo when the daimyo returned to his domain, so that the one stood hostage for the other.

Not only did this provide hostages, but it also placed an economic burden on the daimyo which drained away resources that otherwise might have gone into military preparations against the shogunate. The daimyo had to maintain a large residence and support facilities in Edo as well as in their domain. They also had to travel to and from Edo along a route dictated by the shogunate. Most traveled on the Tokaido because the Nakasendo was used by the imperial court, but the overall burden was spread between the two roads. The whole system consumed about 25% of the income available to most daimyo.

The shogunate was only one part of the bakuhan system, however; the domains were the other. The domains were independent with regard to their internal arrangements as long as there was no conflict with the shogunate’s interests. In practice, the domains voluntarily duplicated the shogunate’s system of government to a large degree because the interests and problems of a daimyo at his level were similar to those of the shogunate: how to maintain stability and order. Furthermore, the powers which the shogunate exercised over the domains had the effect of forcing the domains to behave in much the same manner since they were facing the same requirements.

For example, all substantial domains maintained commercial operations in Osaka, the national market, in order to sell rice and other commodities so as to raise the cash required by the alternate attendance system. This standardization did much to reduce regional differences and potential antagonisms throughout the Edo period.

Like the shogunate, the daimyo had a high interest in pacifying and controlling their subjects and the samuraiin general. During the late 16th Century, Toyotomi Hideyoshi disarmed the peasants through a series of sword hunts with the intention of reducing their contribution to turmoil and to pin them to agricultural activity alone. In the years after 1588, samurai were progressively removed from their independent fiefs in the countryside and brought into the daimyos’ castle towns to live. The samurai became separated from the peasantry both in social role and place of residence.
- source : nakasendoway.com


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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 .

. shokunin 職人 craftsman, craftsmen, artisan, Handwerker .

. senryu, senryū 川柳　Senryu poems in Edo .

. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .


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[ . BACK to WORLDKIGO . TOP . ]- - - - - #edobakufu 　#bakuhan - - - -
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Honjo and Motomachi

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. Famous Places and Powerspots of Edo　江戸の名所 .
. Sumida ku, Sumida-ku 墨田区 Sumida ward, "ink field" .
- see below for
本所相生町 Honjo-Aioi district
本所入江町 Honjo-Irie district
本所緑町 Honjo-Midori district

. Honcho 本町 Honcho districtct, Nakano ward .

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Honjo　本所 / ほんじょ

quote
Sumida (墨田区, Sumida-ku, "Field of Ink")
The ward was founded on March 15, 1947.
It was previously the (ordinary) wards Honjo and Mukojima. 向島 Mukojima, formed in 1932, contained the former town of Sumida, which along with the river gave the ward its name.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

The area used to be called Fukagawa in the Edo period.
Matsuo Basho lived in Fukagawa.

- Bashō-An, Bashoo-an 芭蕉庵 Basho-An in Fukagawa　深川　-
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .

. Higashi-Mukōjima 東向島 Higashi-Mukojima .
Terajima mura 寺島村 Terajima village / Terajimachō 寺島町 Terajima district


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- quote -
Honjo
On the east bank of the Sumida River, a short distance north of Ryogoku bridge and directly across the river from Asakusa, lies the quiet working-class neighborhood of Honjo. The Honjo neighborhood is one of the most recently built shitamachi (downtown) districts, and was not officially considered a part of Edo until 1719, after the Ryogoku bridge had been built and small craftsmen and labourers began to move into the area in fairly large numbers. Originally, the area was the site of a few "second houses" or shimo-yashiki maintained by some of the leading daimyo as places where they could go occasionally to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, or where guests and retainers from the provinces could stay when they came to town. Even now, much of the area is still dotted with shimo-yashiki, as well as many shrines and temples. As a result, the area is greener and more open than other blue-collar areas of the city.

All the same, the majority of the people living in Honjo nowadays are craftsmen and labourers. Because the district is in a convenient location between the lumber yards of Kiba and the homes of lower-ranking samurai in Kanda and Surugadai, Honjo has attracted a lot of woodworkers and carpenters who have built their lumber yards and crafts halls along the major canals through this neighborhood. Their workshops are probably among the best-known of the crafts districts in this area. After the Ryogoku bridge was built, more and more people moved into the area. Some were craftsmen, others were small food merchants or boat pilots who make their living by ferrying goods and people from the rich farmland east of the river to the downtown areas of Edo.

Because it is relatively green and open, but is not too far from the center of Edo, Honjo has also become a popular recreation district for the working classes. The restaurants and chaya (teahouses) in this area are not quite as popular and as crowded as the ones in Ryogoku, nearby, but they tend to attract slightly wealthier customers. Many of the most famous ryori-chaya (literally "food teahouses") are located in Honjo. People often travel several hours from distant suburbs in order to eat at these restaurants, which serve sumptuous meals with as many as six or seven courses. The bakufu government tries to discourage people from spending too much money on expensive clothes and entertainment -especially the samurai, who get paid by the government. There are strict rules on the number of courses in a meal that each class of people are supposed to eat. For example, simple laborers are never supposed to have more than one type of soup and three types of side dish with their rice. Such a meal is called ichiju-sansai (one soup, three vegetables). However, in practice most restaurants that are away from the center of the city will turn a blind eye to a person's class as long as they have enough money to pay for the meal. Besides, there are also plenty of less expensive and less fancy chaya in the area as well.



To the north and east of Honjo, a vast, low-lying area of marshes and rice fields crisscrossed by several large rivers and hundreds of man-made waterways stretches away into the distance. Small villages dot the area, but much of it is still wild and unsettled. In fact, the rural nature of the landscape just outside the town area of Honjo is part of its charm. In the evening, you can often hear the yapping of kitusne (foxes) and tanuki (racoon dogs) coming from the nearby woods and marshes. In Japanese legends, both of these animals are believed to be very clever tricksters who can change their shape to fool humans. Many of the stories about the Honjo area involve people who are tricked by kitusne and tanuki.

On the fringe of these vast stretches of farmland, in the green and pleasant districts neighboring Honjo, are many famous sightseeing spots that are popular with samurai and townspeople alike. Immediately to the east of the main residential area, a five or ten minute boat ride down Tatekawa canal, is the Kameido Tenjin shrine. This shrine is dedicated to the god of knowledge, and many students come here to pray before taking their exams. However, that is not the main attraction of the temple. On the banks of a large reflecting pond in front of the temple are hundreds of wisteria vines, which have been carefully tended over hundreds of years, growing on trellises that hang over the still green water of the pond. In late May, when the wisteria are in full bloom, the entire area is a sea of purple blossoms. The long, dangling wisteria blooms reflected in the greenish water make a very picturesque topic for artists; some of the most famous ukiyoe prints depict the gardens at Kameido Tenjin. Incidentally, Kameido literally means "turtle well". As the name suggests, the pond at Kameido Tenjin is filled with hundreds of turtles, though the temple has been around for so long that no one is sure whether the temple was named after the turtles in this pond, or whether the pond was built to match the name of the temple.

To the north of Honjo is an area known as Mukojima. The name literally means "the island on the other side". It probably got this name because, if you look across the Sumida river from the temples at Asakusa, this low hill on the east bank of the river really does look like an island, rising out of the rivers and marshes. Mukojima is another popular sightseeing area. The eighth shogun, Yoshimune, is well known for his efforts to create nice parks and recreation areas for the citizens of the city. He was responsible for planting many groves of cherry trees in various parts of Edo, to provide places where the city dwellers could go for picnics. One of the largest of these cherry groves is in Mukojima. In early April, when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, the whole hillside looks like a huge ball of cotton candy. The quiet, grassy fields of Mukojima are suddenly filled with a crowd of sightseeers from the city wandering among the trees or sitting in groups on large rush mats, enjoying a picnic lunch or drinking and singing songs to pass the afternoon.
- source : www.us-japan.org/edomatsu...-


向島桜　Cherry blossoms at Mukojima
小林清親　Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847 - 1915)


. Kameido choo 亀戸町 Kemeido, Kame-Ido "Turtle Well" .


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- Sub-districts of Honjo
Azuma-bashi
Higashi Komagata
Honjo
Chitose
Irie
Ishiwara
Kamezawa
Kikukawa
. Kinshi 錦糸 Kinshi district .
Koto-bashi
Midori
. Narihira 業平 Narihira district .
Ryogoku (Sumo district)
Taihei
Yokoami
Tatekawa 竪川 (vertical river) / Yokokawa 横川 (horizontal river)


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Honjo-Aioicho 　本所相生町 Honjo-Aioi district
From the 1st to the 5th sub-district.
In the year 1688, there was the estate of the family of 本因坊 Honin-bo.
Honinbo Sansa 本因坊算砂 1612-1623

The house of Honinbo was one of the Four houses in the Edo Period in Japan.

- quote -
During the Edo period the Honinbo (本因坊, Hon'inbō) was the head of the Honinbo school (originally founded by Honinbo Sansa). Of the four traditional go schools, the Honinbo was the most prestigious and successful one. The last hereditary[1] Honinbo, Shusai, gave (or [ext] sold) his title to the Nihon Ki-in so as to turn it into a tournament title. This is a list of the historic Honinbos, including the heirs who did not succeed to the Head of the House. (Heirs will not have a number before their use name.)
- List of all the family members in generations.
- 1st Honinbo Tournament
The Honinbo title is the oldest Go tournament in the world and in some ways still the most prestigious in Japan,
- source : senseis.xmp.net/?Honinbo -


Honinbo Shusaku 本因坊秀策 Hon'inbō Shūsaku
Yasuda Eisai, Kuwahara Shusaku, Invincible Shusaku, born as Kuwabara Torajiro (桑原虎次郎)
(June 6, 1829 – September 3, 1862)

was a Japanese professional Go player from the 19th century.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !


Hon'inbō Shūwa 本因坊秀和 Honinbo Shuwa (1820–1873)
a Japanese professional Go player, and also the fourteenth head of the Hon'inbō house from 1847 to 1873.
- - - More in the WIKIPEDIA !

The teaching of this school of go included:
To improve one's skills as one gets old and studies with its opponents, like a good couple which gets old together.
aioi was written 相老い to get old together.
相生 - to develop skills together


The haiku poet Kobayashi Issa lived in Aioi-Cho for some time.
This is called his 相生町時代 Aioi period.
Issa also lived in 小林一茶 旧居跡（緑一丁目） Honjo Midori district.
. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 . (1763 - 1828)

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There is also
Kanda Aioichō 神田相生町 Kanda Aioicho

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Honjo-Iriecho　本所入江町 Honjo-Irie district
Midori緑, fourth sub-district

"the inlet at Honjo" where the river (or rather canal) 竪川 Tatekawa met the river 横川 Yokokawa,
on the West side of Yokokawa.



The river Tatekawa is an artificial river built in the Edo period. It crossed artificial river Yokokawa.
They were important waterways in the city.

. 本所林町 Honjo Hayashi district .

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Honjo-Midoricho, Midorichō 本所緑町 Honjo Midori "Green district"
緑一丁目から緑四丁目　from the first to the fourth sub-district



After the 明暦の大火 great fire of Meireki in 1657, this area on Honjo along the river 竪川 Tatekawa was developed for the many people who had lost their homes.
In 1689, the name Honjo Midori-Cho was created, with five sub-districts.
The name implies the hope for a "good life near the green auspicious pine trees".
There was an estate for the district head and some estates for Samurai.

In the Meiji period, the present-day 北斎通り Hokusai-dori street was created and the park 緑町公園 Midoricho Koen Park at Kamezawa 亀沢二丁目 remains with the name.
After World War II, when most buildings were destroyed, the modern concrete buildings begun to cover all.
The name 緑町 Midori-Cho (Midori district) was changed to simply - Midori 緑 (green).


緑町公園 Midoricho Koen Park



At the west end of 北斎通り Hokusai Dori
in Kamezawa, is the Edo Tokyo Museum which has a Hokusai display including the miniature diorama.


. Legend about kamikiri 髪切 hair cut off .

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. 江戸 Edo - 妖怪 Yokai monsters, 幽霊 Yurei ghosts .
- Introduction -


Honjo Nana Fushigi 本所七不思議 - Seven Wonders of Honjo
The themes vary according to the sources:

Oitekebori, Oiteke-bori 置いてけ堀 / 置行堀 "leave it behind - canal"
baka bayashi 馬鹿囃子 (tanuki bayashi 狸囃子)
okuri choochin 送り提灯 "sending-off lantern"
ochiba shinai shii no ki 落葉しない椎の木 pasania tree without falling leaves
Tsugaru no taiko 津軽の太鼓 "Big Drum from Tsugaru"
kiezu andoo 消えずの行灯 - reference -
ashi-arai yashiki 足洗い屋敷 "Foot-washing mansion"
Tanukibayashi 狸囃子 The Procession of the Tanuki (bakabayashi)
akari nashi soba 燈無蕎麦 The Unlit Soba Shop
. Yokoami no kataba no ashi 横網の片葉の蘆 One-sided Reed .


江戸 本所の七不思議 Edo Honojo no Nana Fushigi

quote
The Seven Wonders of Honjo
Zack Davisson
Several of the ghost legends of Honjo were collected together and called the Honjo Nanafushigi (本所七不思議), the Seven Wonders of Honjo. The number seven is purely nominal; as in many places in the world, the number seven carries mystical significance and when you are telling ghost stories the “seven wonders” sounds scarier than the “nine wonders” or “eight wonders.”

Read the stories here:
• The “Leave it Behind” Straggler– 置行堀（Oite Kebori)
• The Sending-Off Lantern 送り提灯（Okuri Chochin)
• The “Following Wooden Clappers” 送り拍子木（Okuri Hyoshigi)
• The Unlit Soba Shop 燈無蕎麦 (Akarinashi Soba)
• The Foot Washing Mansion 足洗邸 (Ashiarai Yashiki)
• The One-sided Reed 片葉の葦 (Kataba no Ashi)
• The Chinkapin of Unfallen Leaves 落葉なき椎 (Ochiba Naki Shii)
• The Procession of the Tanuki 狸囃子（Tanuki Bayashi)
• The Taiko of Tsugaru 津軽の太鼓 (Tsugaru no Taiko)

source : hyakumonogatari.com


Translated Japanese Ghost Stories and
Tales of the Weird and the Strange
http://hyakumonogatari.com/

. Edo Nana Fushigi 江戸七不思議 The Seven Wonders of Edo　 .

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quote
"Water Specter in Edo-Seven Wonders of Honjo"
Yasuko Yokoyama

In the Edo era, people often talked about mysterious stories of Honjo area. Those stories had been referred to as "seven wonders in Honjo" at that time. This report focused on the formation of the story and its changes based on the characteristics of Honjo.

Already in the Middle Ages, seven mysterious stories were often summarized as "Seven Wonders". However, because Edo was a new city, seven wonders story did not exist in the early Edo era. In the mid-Edo period, the intellectuals in Edo began to collect mysteries close to their daily lives, which were recorded as seven wonders of Edo. Besides Honjo, Fukagawa, Senju, Bancho and Azabu had seven wonders stories. Seven wonders of Honjo were recorded in the essay of "Kasshi Yawa" by Seizan Matsuura, and became one of the popular themes of literature; for example, included in the "Nanafushigi Katsushika tan (seven wonders in Katsushika)" edited by second-generation Tanehiko Ryutei. Depending on the document, contents of seven wonders differ, besides "Oitekebori" and "Kataha no Yashi (ashi)".

Influenced by civilisation and enlightment, mysteries were not seriously believed in the Meiji era; however seven wonders of Honjo remained to be a local legend. The story was recorded in maps and topographies and often used to explain desolate scene of old Honjo area in literary works. Ryunosuke Akutagawa who had been brought up in Ryogoku, described that he believed seven wonders of Honjo in his work, "Shonen".

The story has often become the subject of public entertainment; professional storyteller, Hakuchi Matsubahashi used the theme, Goro Kadono made film, "Kaidan Honjo Nanafushigi (Scary Story, Seven Wonders of Honjo)" in the 32nd year of Showa, etc.

Since the short story, "Oitekebori" was written by Kido Okamoto in the Taisho era, various period novels were created on seven wonders of Honjo. One of the representative examples is "Honjo Fukagawa Fushigi Zoshi" by Miyuki Miyabe published in the 3rd year of the Heisei era. The book was remade into a TV drama, which lead to get the seven wonders story well known.
Recently, the shopping mall of Kinchicho has revitalized town using "Oitekebari" as key word. The seven wonders of Honjo has been cherished as the local cultural property. The consciousness of the local level may serve to the famousness compared to other seven wonder stories in Edo.

" Reading Waterfront Space in Edo"
source : eco-history.ws.hosei.ac.jp

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Oitekebori, Oiteke-bori 置いてけ堀 / 置行堀 / 置いてけぼり "leave it behind" - canal

This canal is near Kinshicho 錦糸町.
The fishermen heard this sound and threw their catch back in the water or left their baskets just standing there.
One legend advises to throw three fish back into the canal. If you do not do so, you will get lost on your way back home and wander around the whole night.

One legend tells of a 河童 Kappa, who took the catch.
It even got its own statue in the 錦糸堀公園 Kinshibori Park.



It is said that the special kind of fish, kibachi ギバチ / 義蜂, Pseudobagrus tokiensis, that lives in this canal themselves make a special sound that could be interpreted as "oite ike oite ike".
And the one's who took the fish were most probably the clever cats who lived around there.

. Kinshi 錦糸 Kinshi district / 錦糸町 Kinshicho, Kinshimachi .

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baka bayashi 馬鹿囃子 (tanuki bayashi 狸囃子) Tanuki procession

quote
Tanuki-bayashi (狸囃子) is a strange phenonenon of sound, told about in legends across Japan. In the middle of night, they are musical sounds like flutes or drums heard out of nowhere.



In the Edo period, in Honjo, Sumida, Tokyo, they are also called baka-bayashi (馬鹿囃子), and as a ghost story that takes place in Honjo, they are counted as one of the Seven Mysteries of Honjo. When one thinks that one has heard the sound of an orchestra, even if one tries to walk towards where the sound is coming from, the sound goes further away as if it were trying to flee, so that it would be impossible to know the source of the sound. If dawn comes while one is following the sound, it is said that one would notice that one is in a place one has never seen before. Matsuura Seizan, the lord of the Hirado Domain, also encountered this strange phenomenon, and order people to find the source of the sound, but the sound disappeared near Warigesui, so that it was not possible to continue following it. Just like its name, it is said to be the work of a tanuki, and searches for tanuki were also conducted around locations where the sound was heard, but no traces of tanuki were able to be found either.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !



source : 松徳硝子 Shotoku Glass
guinomi cups with the seven wonders of Honjo


. WKD : Tanuki　狸　the Badger of Japan .

. baka uma-shika　馬鹿 と伝説 Legends about the Baka Yokai .

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kataba no ashi, kataha no ashi 片葉の葦 One-sided Reed


Utagawa Kuniteru 歌川国輝

This comes with a murder story.

- quote -
There was a villain named Tomedo whose heart was wicked. He attempted to seduce a young widow named Oyoshi, who held an amulet in the shape of a shogi chess piece that he desired. When she refused him, he became enraged and killed her, pruning off her left leg and arm as if she were a bonsai tree and throwing them into a ditch.
- source : Zack Davisson -

The whole area of Honjo had been a swamp and many bones of people who died in the many fires of Edo had been thrown in here. It made Honjo a spooky place to the simple mind of the poor Edo population.



But reeds with leaves on only one side are common in areas with strong wind which regularly only blows from one direction.
They are known in other parts of Japan too.

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Fukushima 鹿島町 Kashima
. Yoshitsune 義経 and his horse Tayuguro 太夫黒 .

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Miyagi 宮城県 - 亘理町 Watari
. 鎌倉権五郎景政 Kamakura Gongorō Kagemasa .

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Until our day, the local merchants profit from these stories.
Here are some waffles with the seven wonder themes.


CLICK for more photos !

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. densetsu　伝説　More Legends from Honjo .
Honjo Ishiwara 本所石原町
Honjo Koume 本所小梅町
Honjo Matsui 本所松井町
Honjo Midori 本所緑町
Honjo Tatekawa 本所竪川通り町

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- - - - - Honjo, 本所, not to mix with Honcho - - - - -

. Itabashi Honchoo 本町 Honcho district .

Honchoo, Honchō, Motomachi 本町 Honcho, Motomachi　
Itabashi ward, Tokyo 板橋区


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- - - - - H A I K U - - - - -

. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .

本町や夷の飯の横がすみ
Honchoo ya Ebisu no meshi no yoko-gasumi

Old Quarter--
food for the God of Wealth
in mist

On the 20th day of Tenth Month (old calendar), a festival was held in honor of Ebisu, god of wealth. In the haiku, food offerings to the god meet a bank of mist.
The "Old Quarter" Honchoo was in the Nihonbashi section of Edo, today's Tokyo.
Tr. and comment by David Lanoue

. Ebisu and related KIGO 　


. Edo Nana Fushigi 江戸七不思議 The Seven Wonders of Edo　 .

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

. Sumida ku, Sumida-ku 墨田区 Sumida ward, "ink field" .
#sumidagawa 隅田川 River Sumida

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