Meguro

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Meguro ku 目黒区　Meguro ward

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Meguro (目黒区, Meguro-ku)
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan.
It calls itself Meguro City in English.
Meguro hosts fifteen foreign embassies and consulates.

The Higashiyama shell mound contains remains from the paleolithic, Jōmon, Yayoi, and Kofun periods.
The area now known as Meguro was originally two towns, Meguro proper and Hibusuma, all parts of the former Ebara District of Musashi Province. The two were merged into a Meguro ward for Tokyo City in 1932 and since then the ward has remained with no alterations to its territory.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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. Chayazaka 茶屋坂 Chayazaka "Tea Stall Slope" .
Meguro 目黒区三田二丁目 Mita second district, 中目黒二丁目 Naka-Meguro second district
and the story of - - - - - Meguro no Sanma 目黒の秋刀魚 Sanma fish from Meguro - - - - -

. Chiyogasaki district 千代ヶ崎 "Chiyo peninsula", Lady Chiyo .

. Himonya 碑文谷 Himonya district - Legends .

. Jiyuugaoka, Jiyūgaoka 自由が丘 Jiyugaoka district .

. Kakinokizaka 柿の木坂　/ 柿ノ木坂 / 柿木坂 Kakinoki slope district .
"Slope of the Persimmon Tree"

. Kamimeguro, Kami-Meguro　上目黒 "Upper Meguro" district .
Kami-Meguro was home to the hawks and falcons hunting grounds (takajo 鷹所）of the Shogun, first developed by Tokugawa Ieyasu himself, because he was an avid hunter.
takagari 鷹狩り hunting with hawks and falcons

. Komaba 駒場 "Horse place" district .
with hunting ground

. Yanagishima 柳島 Yanagishima district "Island of Willow Trees" .

. Yuutenji, Yūtenji 祐天寺 Yutenji district .

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歌川広重 by Utagawa Hiroshige - Meguro Fudo

. Meguro Fudo Temple 目黒不動 .
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Joojuu-in 成就院（ Tako Yakushi たこ薬師）Temple Joju-In



mochibana 餅花 New Year's decoration of willow, etc. branches with colored rice balls
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Meguro Fudo Mochibana 目黒不動餅花

Meguro Fudō is a Fudō hall of Taiei-zan Ryūzen-ji, a temple of the Tendai Buddhist sect.
The worship of Fudō (the Buddhist deity Acala) had been fluorishing among common people since the Edo period,
and Meguro Fudō became one of the most popular destinations for pilgrims
as well as those seeking entertainment near Edo.
The temple town was always full of visitors.
This was one of the 江戸の三冨 'Edo-Santomi', three shrines that sold official shogunate 富くじ tomikuji tickets (lottery in the Edo period).
- source : Tokyo Metropolitan Library -

. Meguro Temple Rakan-Ji 目黒の羅漢寺 500 Arhats .

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yuuhi, Yuhi no Oka 目黒太鼓橋夕日の岡　/ yuhigaoka 夕日が丘 Yuhi Hill
Meguro Taikobashi Drum Bridge
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

- quote -
Taiko-bashi bridge 太鼓橋

Taiko-bashi over the Meguro River was a stone bridge built by merchants of the Edo's Hatchōbori area
who used their private funds taking six years from 1764 (the fourteenth year of Hōreki) to complete it.
The bridge was called Taiko-bashi for its round shape and also for its resemblance to a drum.
- source : Tokyo Metropolitan Museum -
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- quote -
Meguro-ame 目黒飴（めぐろあめ） Candy from Meguro

Meguro-ame (candy) is famous as a souvenir among those visiting Meguro Fudō Temple.
Shops selling ame, awamochi or mochibana (types of rice cakes) lined the street in front of the gate of the temple.
- source : Tokyo Metropolitan Library -

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栗飯や目黒の茶屋の發句會
kurimeshi ya Meguro no chaya no hokku-kai (発句会)

rice with chestnuts -
the hokku meeting at the tea shop
in Meguro

. Masaoka Shiki 正岡子規 .

. WKD : kurimeshi 栗飯 rice cooked with chestnuts .

Near the present station of Meguro, there used to be a tea shop on the hill, with a view to Mount Fuji.



Fujimi chaya 富士見茶屋 "tea shop to view Mount Fuji"

Its speciality was sweet sake (amazake 甘酒) rice with bamboo shoots (takenoko gohan 筍飯) and, you guess it, kurimeshi 栗飯.




. Edo no takenoko 江戸の筍 bamboo shoots in Edo .

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歩き出す今日は目黒の祭かな
arukidasu kyoo wa Meguro no matsuri kana

they start walking -
today is the festival
in Meguro . . .

Kishimoto Naoki 岸本尚毅 (1961 - )

Meguro has a few famous festivals during the year.

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寺・神社の祭礼等の一覧表

寺社名	所在地	期日
瀧泉寺	目黒区下目黒三丁目20番26号	毎月28日が縁日 「甘藷まつり」は10月28日
八雲氷川神社	目黒区八雲二丁目4番16号	1月・5月の19日、9月の第3土曜日・日曜日 「剣の舞」は9月
碑文谷八幡宮	目黒区碑文谷三丁目7番3号	9月中旬 「桜まつり」は、桜の開花期間中
大鳥神社	目黒区下目黒三丁目1番2号	9月9日に近い土曜日・日曜日 （剣の舞は日曜日のみ）、11月の「酉の市」
上目黒氷川神社	目黒区大橋二丁目16番21号	8月の第4土曜日・日曜日
天祖神社	目黒区上目黒二丁目32番15号	9月第1土曜日・日曜日
中目黒八幡神社	目黒区中目黒三丁目10番5号	9月の第3土曜日・日曜日
十日森稲荷神社	目黒区中央町二丁目17番15号	10月第1土曜日・日曜日
烏森稲荷神社	目黒区上目黒三丁目39番14号	9月の第3土曜日・日曜日
熊野神社	目黒区自由が丘一丁目24番12号	9月の第2土曜日・日曜日
北野神社	目黒区青葉台一丁目16番2号	9月の第3土曜日・日曜日
高木神社	目黒区南二丁目1番40号	9月中旬

source : www.city.meguro.tokyo.jp/gyosei

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

Shrine Ikejiri Inari Jinja 池尻稲荷神社



Inari no tatari いなりの祟り the curse of Inari
A man named 八郎右衛門 Hachiroemon liven here in the Edo period. All villagers were worshippers of the Inari Shrine and believed that the Inari Fox Deity would punish them if they did not behave well. Once Hachiroemon was disrespectfull during the New Year rituals and when he came home, his wife was bewitched by a fox. Hachiro wanted to help his wife and tried to locate the fox, even destroying a small sanctuary in the compound. The fox came out and apologized and took away the curse of the Shrine.


- quote -
Ikejiri Inari Jinja
東京都世田谷区池尻2-34-15
The shrine history tells us that it was founded during the Meireki Period (1655-1657) and served as the tutelary deity of the then Ikejiri and Ikezawa villages. Reflecting the powers attributed to it, it was worshipped as the Inari of both Protection from Fire and of Child Rearing. During the Edo Period, the shrine was well known for its
“Eternal Well,”(涸れずの井戸 karezu no ido) a spring which did not dry up even during the longest droughts. It was situated on what was then known as the Ōyama Kaidō, a main road connecting Akasaka-Hitotsuki Mura, now the area around the Toyokawa Inari Tokyo Betsuin in Motoakasaka, with the Oyama-Afuri Jinja in Iseyama in Kanagawa-ken and which in parts also served as a back road for the Tōkaidō.
The Eternal Well was said to be the first drinking water always available after the road left Akasaka-Hitotsuki and magical powers were quickly attributed to it. So much so in fact that according to the shrine notice board an exhortation from a kami, Yakuriki Myojin (薬力明神), enshrined at Kyōto's Fushimi Inari Taisha,
"Believe in the Kami, pray sincerely three times for recovery from your illness, drink the water of the spring as if it were divine medicine, and you will be cured by a God of Medicine, Yakuriki Myojin" was given wide circulation.
The water from the spring which fed the Eternal Well is still used in the Temizuya.
- more
- source : Shinto, Rod Lucas -


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Ikejiri Soshi-dō Kitazawa Awashima-no-yashiro 北沢粟島社 池尻祖師堂

Kitazawa Awashima Myōjin Shrine is situated in the precinct of Shingan-ji Temple of the Jōdo Buddhism established in 1608 (the thirteenth year of Keichō) as a chapel to enshrine the posthumous name plate of Yuki Hideyasu, the second son of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
When Shingan-ji Temple was opened, Awashima Myōjin was called upon from Kishū (Wakayama prefeceture).
- source : Tokyo Metropolitan Museum -

Shimo-Kitazawa 下北沢 is in Setagaya.
. Setagaya ku 世田谷区 Setagaya ward .

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- reference : Nichibun Yokai Database -

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- ###meguro #ikejiri #kitazawa #taikobashi -
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Fukagawa

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. Famous Places of Edo .
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Fukagawa 深川 Fukagawa district
This is one of the representative shitamachi Old-town parts of Tokyo.
Now in Kootoo Kōtō 江東区　Koto Ward.

The name goes back to
Fukagawa Hachiroemon 深川八郎右衛門
In 1596, Tokugawa Ieyasu was hunting in the region and found some people working in the wetland, trying to make ditches. Ieyasu asked them the name of the place, but it did not have any.



Ieyasu asked the leader of the group of seven people about his name.
“I am Fukagawa Hachiroemon from Settsu Province, and these are my followers,"answered the man. He had been sent to develop this part of the Kanto area by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
“Well, then, name the area Fukagawa," Ieyasu told him.
So Hachiroemon continued to built a village and fields for his followers.
Settsu 摂津 is now part of Osaka.
The family of Hachiroemon became the village head of 27 sub-villages of the Fukagawa area.
In 1757 the family died out, however.
Their graves are now in 泉養寺 Senyo-Ji（市川市国府台）.

Hachiroemon was buried and his soul came to recide in the Shrine in his honor,
深川神明宮 Fukagawa Shinmeigu.
The Shrine is located in the old home of Hachiroemon. He had a small Hokora shrine, where he prayed every day to 伊勢神宮 the Deity of Ise Jingu for the safety of his followers and the development of the region.
The Mikoshi and festivals of this Shrine are well-loved among the Edoites.
The most important is
例大祭は8月14日（蔭祭り） August 18 - Kage-Matsuri
- reference source : fukagawa-shinmei.com -

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. Fukagawa Fudo Do (Fudoo Doo) 深川不動堂 Temple .
The Fudo Hall in Fukagawa was the "Edo Branch" of the famous Fudo in Narita.
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Fukagawa Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine 富岡八幡宮


Open Garden at the Hachiman Shrine in Fukagawa
Mountain Opening at Fukagawa Hachiman Shrine
Opening of the Garden at Fukagawa Hachiman Shrine
深川八幡山開き　Fukagawa Hachiman yamabiraki 歌川広重 Utagawa Hiroshige

. Monzen-Nakachō 門前仲町 Monzen-Nakacho district . - Koto
lit. a town at the gate of a temple or shrine.

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Fukagawa Tomioka Hachiman Shrine 深川富岡八幡

Tomigaoka Hachimangū Shrine was founded at Eitai-jima
(present-day Saga-chō, Kōtō Ward) in 1627 (the fouth year of Kan'ei). It is also called Fukagawa Hachimangū and as the tutelage deity of Genji, it was protected by their descendent, the House of Tokugawa, and so propspered as the largest Hachimangū in Edo.
The Festival is counted as one of the "Three grand festivals of Edo",
along with Sannō Festival of Hie Shrine in Akasaka and Kanda Festival of Kanda Myojin Shrine.
- source : Tokyo Metropolitan Museum -

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. Fukagawameshi ふかがわめし/ 深川 Rice from Fukagawa .
Fukagawa-don, a bowl of rice topped with a miso-based stew of clams (asari) and green onions.



CLICK for more info about the Basho-An　芭蕉庵 in Fukagawa.

The Basho-An had had been a caretaker's lodge at a Carp Farm owned by Sugiyama Sanpu, the Koiya　鯉屋.
. Sugiyama Sanpu 杉山杉風 (Sampu), Matsuo Basho and Fukagawa .


. Fukagawa 深川　and the Tatsumi Geisha 辰巳芸者 .

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. Fukagawa Sagacho district 深川佐賀町 .

. Susaki, Suzaki 洲崎 / 須崎 / 州崎 Susaki area .

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quote
A Blue-Collar Working District
Fukagawa is one of the newer neighborhoods in downtown Edo. It is located on the east bank of the Sumida river, just a short distance inland from Kiba. In fact, Kiba is officially a part of the Fukagawa area, with the same local officials responsible for governing both areas. Like Kiba, Fukagawa is a slightly marshy, low-lying district criss-crossed by dozens of canals. There are a few main roads through the area, most of them running parallel to the coast from the area around Eitai bridge. However, the easiest way to get around Fukagawa is by boat.

The main east-west canals -- the Onagigawa and the Konakigawa -- run from the Sumida river in downtown Edo to the Ara river, about 10 kilometers to the east. Both are busy thoroughfares for both passenger traffic and goods. Some of the passengers riding to and fro on the canals are travelling between their homes in Fukagawa and the downtown area. However, there are also many people from the city who are on their way to one of the many sites of interest in Fugagawa. But regardless of where they are headed, almost all of the people in this area travel by boat, because Fukagawa is the center of the network of canals that criss-cross the city.
One landmark that draws only a few visitors, but is nonetheless a place of great importance in Edo, is the so-called "banana villa" (Basho-an).
It is the home of Matsuo Basho, one of Japan's greatest poets.
snip
Not far from the banana villa is another landmark of Fukagawa -- the Tomioka Hachiman Shrine. The shrine is located right in the heart of Fukagawa. The main road, Nakamachi-dori, crosses in front of the temple's main gates, and a huge boat landing with wide stone steps brings visitors right to the front gates of the temple. In front of the boat landing is a broad plaza surrounded by tea shops and food stalls. Nakamachi-dori runs past the boat landing, from east to west, and just across the street is the first torii gate that marks the entrance to the shrine. Tomioka Hachiman Shrine was built around 1625, not long after the main canal from Edo to Gyotoku was completed. The shrine is dedicated to the war god, Hachiman. Many of Japan's major cities -- especially cities that have served at the headquarters of the bakufu (military government) -- have shrines to Hachiman.
- snip - see LINK above - Tomioka Hachimangu Shrine 富岡八幡宮
Before Tokugawa Ieyasu moved to Edo, the Hachiman shrine in this area was located a bit further to the east, in Sunamura. The tiny village of Sunamura is located on a patch of high ground in the midst of the marshes, about five kilometers east of Edo. It is one of the oldest settlements in the area, but remains fairly rural and isolated due to the surrounding marshes. ...
Although many of the visitors to Tomioka Hachiman Jinja and Sanju-San Gendo are samurai, the Fukagawa neighborhood is mainly home to blue-collar workers who work in various parts of Edo. While almost the entire shita-machi area of Edo can be roughly described as "working class", few areas are as representative of the hard-working day laborers who keep the city running smoothly. The neighborhoods of Edo are divided into cho ("towns") that average about one hectare in size (2.5 acres). Each cho has its own local leaders and its own local services such as the ban-nin ("town watch", or police) and the shobo-nin (firefighters). Most cho are further divided into about a dozen ban ("blocks" of houses). In Fukagawa, most of the ban are occupied by five or ten row houses (nagaya). These are long, two-story buildings that contain up to a hundred individual "apartments". Usually, two row houses are built around a central square with one or more wells and some green space between the two buildings where people can relax and socialize, and where the children can play.

The central square between the row houses is the focus of daily life for residents. Most nagaya have only small windows facing the street, while the doors of each apartment face the central square. The central square is semi-paved, and has a few small trees and shrubs. At one end of the square is a large well, which everyone in the "block" uses for washing and drinking water. At the other end of the square is a public toilet. In most residential districts of Edo, public toilets are the norm. The people of Edo do not dump their sewage into the rivers or oceans, as is done in many other cities around the world. Instead, all human waste is collected, composted and recycled as manure for farming. This is one reason why Edo has a relatively low incidence of disease -- there is no sewage to pollute the water supply or serve as a breeding ground for bacteria. In this sense, sanitation in Edo is far more advanced than in most other parts of the world. Manure collectors visit the neighborhood once a week, and carry away the waste to a composting area in the countryside. This keeps the entire town clean and sanitary.

The apartments in the nagaya are very small. Each individual unit has a single room about six tatami mats in size. A tatami is a heavy straw mat used on the floor of most Japanese homes. Since the mats are always made to a specific size, rooms are often measured in terms of the number of tatami on the floor. A six-tatami room is about 3.5 meters (12 feet) square.

Typically, an entire family -- parents, children and perhaps grandparents as well -- will live in one of these rooms. However, in cases where several adult siblings live in the same "block", they may share the cost of a separate third apartment for the grandparents.

These relatively crowded conditions are one reason why the central square is the focus of daily life. Houses are too small for the family to spend all day indoors. In fact, the apartments are mainly used just for sleeping. All other daily chores are done in the central square.In the evenings, after a hard day's work, the men will bring out mats and spread them on the ground, then spend the evening talking to their neighbors, smoking, sipping sake and eating the food that the women of the neighborhood have prepared.
source : www.us-japan.org/edomatsu

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- quote -
Fukagawa Kiba 深川木場 Fukagawa Timberyards
by 長谷川雪旦 Hasegawa Settan

Kiba means a timber yard where timber is stored.
In Edo, since Tokugawa Ieyasu had opened the shogunate government, demand for timber had increased due to the construction of Edo Castle, Daimyo residences, temples and shrines and town houses and so, and in 1641 (the eighteenth year of Kan'ei), the government gathered all the timber yards to Eitai-jima.
It is then called Kiba (later, Motokiba) and became the origin of the place name.
In 1701 (the fourteenth year of Genroku), with the expanding of urban areas and the further increase of demand for timber, Kiba was moved to slightly eastwards, Fukagawa, and that was the birth of the 300,000 square meters of Fukagawa Kiba.
- source : Tokyo Metropolitan Museum -

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. Sunamura 砂村　"Sand village" districts .
It has four sub-districts, North, East, South and New : 北砂 Kitasuna、東砂 Higashisuna, 南砂 Minamisuna and 新砂 Shinsuna -
Since 1889 known as 砂町 Sunamachi, combined with other small districts nearby.
Sunamachi Ginza Shopping District -located at Kitasuna

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quote
Fukagawa Edo Museum -　深川江戸資料館
is a community culture center that was established in 1986. It has an Edo period display of reconstructed Fukagawa Saga-cho houses as well as a small theater and a lecture hall, coupled with the Shirakawa branch of Koto-ku administrative office. Since its opening, the center has held exhibitions regarding the history of Edo Fukagawa and has provided space for many cultural activities.
source : www.kcf.or.jp/fukagawa

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. Hamagurichoo　蛤町 Hamaguri Cho district .
former 深川蛤町 一・二丁目 Fukagawa Hamaguri cho first and second district until 1911


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深川上の橋 Fukagawa Kami no Hashi
. Kawase Hasui 川瀬巴水 (1883 - 1957) .
Twenty Views of Tokyo

初雪や懸けかかりたる橋の上
hatsu yuki ya kakekakaritaru hashi no ue

first snow -
on the bridge
under construction
Tr. Gabi Greve


Written in 1693 元禄6年冬
The Great Bridge of Fukagawa 深川大橋 over the Sumida river 隅田川 had been under construction.
Basho took a great interest in the waterways of Edo, he had been working for the waterworks government department for a while.


Later, when the bridge was finished, he expressed his joy in another hokku:

皆出でて橋を戴く霜路哉
mina idete hashi o itadaku shimoji kana

everybody comes out
to use the new bridge
and the frosty road . . .
Tr. Gabi Greve

Written on the 7th day of the 12th lunar month in 1693, 元禄6年12月７日
On the 8th day １２月８日, the bridge was named Shin Oohashi 新大橋 Shin Ohashi "New Big Bridge".
Finally it was named Shin Ryoogokubashi 新両国橋. Shin Ryogoku-bashi.

This hokku has the cut marker KANA at the end of line 3.
hashi o itadaku - "to partake of the bridge", to use the bridge in gratitude, since now it was possible to reach the other shore without a great detour to find another bridge.


MORE - places visited by
. Matsuo Basho 松尾芭蕉 - Archives of the WKD .



大はしあたけの夕立 - Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川広重

Shin-Ōhashi - Kobayashi Kiyochika 小林清親 (1847 - 1915)

. WKD : Bridge (hashi　橋) .


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- Kobayashi Issa -


洲さき汐干かり shiohigari at Fukagawa Susaki 深川洲崎 in Spring
Hiroshige


深川や桃の中より汐干狩
Fukagawa ya momo no naka yori shiohigari

Fukagawa !
through the peach blossoms
people are gathering shells
Tr. Gabi Greve

. WKD : shiohigari 汐干狩 hunting (for clams and seafood) on the shore .
shiohigari - gathering shells and small seafood at low tide.
Fukagawa had a great flatland tidal area where people could collect cheap seafood.



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深川や蠣がら山の秋の月
Fukagawa ya kakigara yama no aki no tsuki

Fukagawa --
an oyster shell mountain
and autumn's moon

Makoto Ueda explains that many residents of Fukagawa shucked shellfish, creating hills of shells. He translates kakigara as "seashells," but Issa's meaning would seem to be more specific;
Dew on the Grass: The Life and Poetry of Kobayashi Issa

Tr. and Comment : David Lanoue




深川や舟も一組とし忘
Fukagawa ya fune mo hito-gumi toshiwasure

Fukagawa--
on a boat, too, a party
drinks away the year
Tr. David Lanoue



古池や先御先へととぶ蛙
. furu ike ya mazu o-saki e to tobu kawazu .
yamabuki ya mazu o-saki e to tobu kawazu - Issa at the Basho-An　芭蕉庵


. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 Issa in Edo .

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深川や敗戦の日も祭笛
Fukagawa ya haisen no hi mo matsuribue

Oh Fukagawa!
even on Cease Fire Day
the sound of festival flutes
Tr. Gabi Greve

Itoo Itoko 伊藤いと子 Ito Itoko


. WKD : haisen no hi 敗戦の日 Cease Fire Day .
Day the World War II ended in Japan, August 15


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素堂忌に深川遠き祭かな
Sodoo ki ni Fukagawa tooki matsuri kana

on Sodo Memorial day
in far-away Fukagawa
there is a festival . . .
Tr. Gabi Greve

Masuda Ryuu-U 増田龍雨 Masuda Ryu-U (Dragon-Rain)
(1874 - 1934)
He studied haiku with 久保田万太郎 Kubota Mantaro.



Yamaguchi Sodoo 山口素堂 Yamaguchi Sodo
. WKD : Sodoo Ki 素堂忌 (そどうき) Sodo Memorial Day .
On the 15th day of the eighth lunar month 陰暦八月十五日.


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深川のかんかん照りの祭かな
Fukagawa no kankan-deri no matsuri kana

during the greatest summer heat
at Fukagawa there is
the festival . . .
Tr. Gabi Greve

Ooki Amari 大木 あまり Oki Amari
(1941 - )
She was born in Tokyo.




source :　blog.goo.ne.jp/twinshiro/e
Festival at Fukagawa Hachimangu - 深川八幡祭り(深川祭)

. WKD : 深川八幡祭 Festival at Fukagawa Hachimangu .
kigo for early autumn

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Lumberyard at Fukagawa (Fukagawa kiba 深川木場)
from the series One Hundred Views of Musashi Province (Musashi hyakkei no uchi)
Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847–1915)

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. Kootoo ku, Kōtō 江東区 Koto ward, "East River" .
and many legends from Fukagawa :
Fukagawa Kitagawa 深川北川町 / Fukagawa Sendai Kaigan 深川仙台海岸

. Edo bakufu 江戸幕府 The Edo Government .

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

. Doing Business in Edo - 商売　- Introduction .

. shokunin 職人 craftsman, craftsmen, artisan, Handwerker .

. Japanese Architecture - The Japanese Home .

. Interior Design - The Japanese Home .

. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .
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- #fukagawa #fukagawaedo #fukagawakiba #sunamura #sunamachi #kiba -
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ISSA - flea, fleas

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. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .





MORE hokku by Issa about
. WKD : nomi 蚤 flea, fleas .
Fleas (nomi) / Lice (shirami) / Tick (dani)

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人の世や小石原より蚤うつる
hito no yo ya koishihara yori nomi utsuru

we humans
in a field full of small stones
fleas jump on us
Tr. Chris Drake

This ironic, humorous hokku was written in the intercalary 6th month (July) of 1827. A variant from the same year has a different middle line:

hito no yo ya suna aruite mo nomi utsuru

we humans
even when we walk on sand
fleas jump on us

These hokku are part of a group of hokku about fleas placed in Issa's diary at the beginning of the section for the 6th intercalary month, so they were probably written in response to a major event in Issa's life -- the great fire that broke out in his hometown on the first day of the month and burned down Issa's house together with eighty-two other houses. Luckily the earthen-walled storehouse near his house wasn't burned, and soon it was turned into a simple living space for Issa and his third wife. A little more than a year later, however, Issa died.

The hokku and its variant translated above seem to be concrete and written in response to the great fire rather than abstract statements about the whole world of human existence. The phrase translated as "human world" sounds abstract and general in English, but in Issa's time it mainly meant something like "human relations" or "among/between humans/people" or "for humans." In a Shinto context the phrase meant "the age of humans" as contrasted with "the age of the gods" in ancient myths, and in romantic contexts it mainly meant "relationships between men and women." In the hokku translated above Issa seems to be using it to refer to how the human inhabitants of his hometown look at the fire in contrast to how the other creatures affected by the fire, especially the fleas, reacted. It is in contrast to these creatures that Issa seems to invoke the human world or point of view. The two hokku seem to imply that both humans and fleas are interdependent and need to understand each other better.

Issa does not seem to be assuming that he is living in a degenerate, hopelessly corrupt age. In the early medieval period most schools of Japanese Buddhism embraced the notion that in 1052 Buddhism had entered the last and worst of three historical periods, known as the Mappo Age, or the Age of the End of the Dharma, in which extraordinary methods and approaches were needed because disasters and corruption were gradually destroying the fabric of society and the ability of people to understand the Buddha's message. However, by the 17th century, when centuries of civil war were finally brought to an end and cities and towns began to prosper, this pessimistic worldview was largely replaced by world-affirming interpretations of Buddhism, and in Issa's time it was often said that "Buddhism is at high noon" (buppou no hiru).

Many new temples had been built; roads were safer, allowing believers to make many pilgrimages; and woodblock printing meant commoners could afford books about Buddhism and have copies of sutras in their homes. Generally speaking, Japanese commoners embraced optimistic and world-affirming ways of thought, and Issa's famous love of the world as it is, in spite of the many hardships causes, reflects this general optimism pervading commoner thought and folk religion and draws on the optimistic belief in the True Pure Land school that the Pure Land could be experienced in this world. Issa here and there writes hokku that are obviously critical of the samurai class and of corrupt officials and merchants, yet he is rarely pessimistic, and he doesn't condemn the world or his age as a whole.

In the present hokku, the aftermath of the big fire is evoked with amazing affirmation. The small stones and sand in the two versions of this hokku may well be references to Issa walking through the ruins of walkways or gardens near the smoking remains of his home or in the ruins elsewhere in his hometown. Perhaps the field full of small stones is a gravelly area, since gravel is commonly used in Japanese architecture, but it could be a field where people whose houses burned gather after the fire. Normally lice wouldn't be found in sandy, gravelly, or rocky areas, but because of the fire the lice, too, had to suddenly leave the houses in which they lived and take refuge outside. In this context both versions of the hokku appear to be full of black humor.

The "human world" here seems to be the fragile world of transient human houses and relationships that, in the long run, can't escape radical change and even disasters, yet in the flea world the shock and sense of loss after the fire is if anything even greater. Just a day earlier the fleas were living in luxury in human houses and burrowing into the skin of the inhabitants and their pets just as they wished, but now, because of a human-caused fire, they find themselves homeless and forced to jump onto humans from inhospitable sand and small stones. As for the humans, what more needs to be said? Wherever they stay in the future, they're fated to act once more as well-stocked flea houses. The upside is that if humans and fleas realize they're partners for life, then they can begin to better understand each other's point of view.

The fire that burned down Issa's house did not throw the weak, ageing Issa into despair, and he has several humorous hokku from this period. For example, the very first hokku after the fire is this:

kamau na yo yare kamau na yo komochi-nomi

don't worry,
mother flea with your kids!
hey, don't worry!


Even though Issa's house has burned down, Issa assures the mother flea that she and her children will surely find a new dwelling soon -- as soon as Issa himself does. And, in the hokku just before the first hokku translated above in Issa's diary, Issa realizes what a large effect his own absence from the ruins of his house will have:

yase-nomi no kawai ya rusu ni naru iori

poor scrawny flea,
the owner of the house
will be away awhile!

Chris Drake

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おのれらも花見虱に候よ
onorera mo hanami-jirami ni sooroo yo

hey, lice
even you guys are here
to view the blossoms
Tr. Chris Drake

This humorous hokku is from the 3rd month (April) of 1815, when Issa was traveling around near his hometown. Issa addresses the lice directly, strongly, and informally to remind them of something important. They're not just any lice. They're "blossom-viewing lice," the name for lice in late spring when they appear on and in people's sleeves and collars as the weather warms and the cherry blossoms reach full bloom. The hokku seems to be set during an outing to see the cherry blossoms.

As Issa scratches himself he tells the lice how beautiful the blossoms are, as if they would notice and stop biting him. He even uses (in this context) a mock-polite form (de sourou) to stress how beautiful the blossoms are. No doubt Issa would like to view the beauty of the blossoms together with the lice, but lice will be lice, and the second best thing to that is the realization that all the beings in the area, including cherries, lice, and humans, are regaining their vigor and acting even more like themselves than they were earlier in the spring and are thus "blossoming" as themselves, another meaning of the word hana, "blossom."

For some reason Issa's collected works insert the particle ni at the end of the second line instead of de, the more usual particle, especially in a colloquial context when the polite verb sourou is used as a verb of existence. Issa's diary doesn't bother to give the particle, since it is presumably obvious, but an anthologized version from the same year gives de. Recent Japanese editions also give de for the hokku, and I follow their usage.

Chris Drake


痩虱花の御代にぞ逢にけり
. yase-jirami hana no miyo ni zo ai ni keri .

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焼跡やほかりほかりと蚤さわぐ
yake ato ya hokari-hokari to nomi sawagu

charred ruins
warm, fleas move in
leaping with delight
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku is a variant recorded by Issa's follower Kijou (希杖). The original version of this blackly humorous hokku is found in a letter by Issa to his student Shunkou who, with his wife, sometimes linked renku with Issa. The letter is dated intercalary 6/15 (August 7) 1827, two weeks after Issa's house burned down in a great fire that destroyed eighty-three houses in his hometown on July 24. In that letter the hokku goes:

yake-tsuchi no hokari-hokari ya nomi sawagu

burnt earth
still warm -- fleas
leap with delight

Both versions seem to have been written soon after the fire, when the charred ruins and ground beneath were still warm. The ground must have been at around the temperature of the human body, a temperature that fleas love, and Issa is surprised at how happy they seem in his former house. The first version stresses only the warmth of the ruins, which seems to make the ruins a living presence to the fleas, while the variant suggests that both the ruins and fleas are warm -- the fleas probably in the further sense of hot, excited, acting more energetically than usual. In both versions Issa seems happy for the fleas and glad that at least the fleas can find something good in the aftermath of the fire and continue to live in what was his house, though he also suggests the fleas are literally walking "on the roof of hell," as he once put it, since the ground and ruins will soon be cold and then frozen when winter comes. Which is about the same as what Issa can expect in the future

Right after the fire Issa and his third wife Yao had to leave the area where their house had stood. Issa went to visit some of his students, completing several kasen renku sequences with them, and returned, after the storehouse had been renovated and its roof replaced, on 11/8 (Dec. 25, 1827), more than four months after the fire. Until the fire, the storehouse had been used mainly to keep valuables, including Issa's many books and probably some of his manuscripts, and it had to be completely remodeled as a living space. The radical changes caused by the fire and the very cold weather must have put a great strain on Issa, who was already frail, and he died in the storehouse eleven days later, on 11/19 (Jan. 5, 1828). Issa's wife was pregnant, and Issa's only surviving child, a daughter, was born in May.

Issa's storehouse is kept in good condition even today:


(photo : wikipedia)

Chris Drake


. WKD : Storehouse, warehouse (kura 蔵) .


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追な追な追な子どもよ子持蚤
ouna ouna ouna kodomo yo ko mochi nomi

don't chase, don't chase
children!
that flea has kids
Tr. David Lanoue

In the original Issa repeats "don't chase" three times.


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. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 - Introduction .


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ISSA - dew

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. Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 in Edo .





. tsuyu 露 dew, dewdrops .

This word has been used as a symobl of autumn in Japanese poetry since the Heian period.
It is found already in the Manyo-Shu 万葉集 poetry collection.

Since is refers to something that looses its being when the sun starts shining, it is a symbol for the fleeting life itself. In Buddhism, death is just a step to another way of being, and the time spent with the ancestors is so much longer than the time spent here on this earth. Dewdrops are the perfect metapher for the changes in the natural circle of all things, like the shells of cicadas (monuke, utsu-semi).

the world of dew, tsuyu no yo　露の世
the body of dew, tsuyu no mi　露の身
the life of dew, tsuyu no inochi　露の命

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後からぞっとするぞよ露時雨
ushiro kara zotto suru zo yo tsuyu-shigure

from behind
I shiver all over --
cold, dripping dew
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku is from the autumn of 1813, when Issa was traveling around to towns near his hometown, and it was among hokku he sent to the haikai master Seibi in Edo for his comments.
Tsuyu-shigure, literally "dewdrops like cold late autumn rain," are large, cold dewdrops that appear in the 9th month (October). This dew is so large and plentiful that when you see it on the ground or on leaves it looks as if rain has just fallen, and when it drips from leaves it seems as though cold rain is falling. Shigure, "cold rain," by itself can refer to either late autumn or early winter rain, but in combination with dew it refers to autumn rain, since the season is autumn, and the thick dew makes people think it has just finished raining.

In the hokku Issa seems to have gone out for an early evening walk without an umbrella or wide rush hat, since it's not a rainy day. The dew, however, is very thick this evening, and perhaps Issa brushes against a limb by the path. In any case, a few large, cold drops have fallen from a leaf or a limb near him onto his shaved head or the back of his neck as he passes under the limb. Issa seems to be stressing the suddenness of the dewdrops as much as their coldness, since zotto in the second line refers not only to a physical shock -- caused by a cold object, for instance -- but also to a psychological shock that causes the whole body to shiver or shudder. It is commonly caused by suddenly seeing something of great beauty or by witnessing a sudden horrific scene.

The fact that Issa has no visual warning that big dew drops are about to fall on him makes the sensation tactile and the shock stronger, as it also is in the following hokku from the 3rd month of 1814 by Issa in which the cold beauty of cherry blossoms makes Issa feel physically and psychologically cold all over while he's not looking at the blossoms directly. He has to forget the sight of the cherry blossoms before he can feel their piercing beauty with his skin:

ushiro kara hiya-hiya shitaru sakura kana

from behind
the deep chill
of the cherries

The sudden coldness of the dew that falls on Issa's skin is even stronger than the chill in the air that Issa believes is coming from the cherry blossoms, and he is momentarily transfixed, probably shivering all over. If the dew drops had struck his face, his reaction would not have been as strong as it was when he was struck by drops that do not belong to the visible world.

Chris Drake

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夏山や目にもろもろの草の露
natsu yama ya me ni moro-moro no kusa no tsuyu

summer mountain --
in my eyes endless dewdrops
on all kinds of plants
Tr. Chris Drake

This hokku by Issa occurs in a haibun travelog called On the Road to Kusazu (Kusazu michi no ki 草津道の記).
It is placed in a scene in which Issa visits the shrine of a sacred mountain during a rainstorm, and it seems to be a deeply spiritual hokku, possibly a vision of an epiphany of the mountain god. The haibun context is obviously important to Issa and is crucial to the reading of the hokku.

Kusazu is today often confused with the Kusatsu hot springs in modern Shiga Prefecture, since in the modern period the official name of the town changed from Kusazu to Kusatsu, though many residents still call it Kusazu. It is a hot springs town near Mt. Haruna northwest of Edo/Tokyo near one of the main routes from Edo to Shinano Province, where Issa's hometown was located. According to the travelog, on the morning of 5/28 (June 21) in 1808 Issa visits sacred Mt. Haruna and the Mt. Haruna Shrine, located on a plateau at the base of the peak of mountain. It's a rainy day at height of the rainy season, and Issa carries along extra straw sandals, since sandals tend to come apart when they're sopping wet. On this day most of the mountain is hidden in clouds, and even the tall miscanthus grass is wet:

susuki kara bosatsu no shimizu nagare-keri

from miscanthus grass
flows pure
bodhisattva water

A natural rivulet seems to have formed, and it flows out from a clump of the grass. Then Issa reaches the Mt. Haruna Shrine and watches sacred kagura dancers do dances. He mentions that one dance includes a sword, presumably for dispelling demons. Apparently the steady rain became a downpour as he watched the dances. Then come these two hokku:

yuudachi ni tonjaku mo nashi mai no sode

completely ignoring
a sudden downpour --
sleeves of the dancers


natsuyama ya me ni moromoro no kusa no tsuyu

summer mountain --
in my eyes endless dewdrops
on all kinds of plants


The summer mountain is of course Mt. Haruna. Then Issa goes down to the shore of a nearby lake and has lunch before he continues on his journey to Kusazu and then to his hometown.

The hokku about the summer mountain ends with a series of three nouns linked by two no, a particle showing that the previous noun modifies the following noun to some extent. Sometimes no acts as a kind of possessive case, although the modification is weaker here. The phrase can be translated either "dewdrops on every kind of plant" or "every kind of dewdrop on the plants." However, since both members of the series seem to be modified by "many kinds," a third way is to translate the series as one that flexibly slides back and forth: many kinds of "dew" or droplets on many kinds of plants. I choose the third way in my translation, since I believe the context as well as linguistic usage imply both senses.

The word dew commonly refers to drops of other liquids and even to tears and to souls in Japanese poetry, and I take Issa be using "dew" in this extended sense -- as various dews --beginning with raindrops (or perhaps even tears). Dew is an autumn kigo, but if the dew point were high enough on this muggy day when Issa visits Mt. Haruna, there might have been some actual dew in the early morning, though the hokku seems to have been written in mid or late morning, when most the drops on the plants would be raindrops. Tsuyu, 'dew,' is also homophonous with another tsuyu meaning 'rainy season.' Since Issa is writing during the rainy season, he may be punning here in order to stress that he means mainly raindrops and is using "dew" in the wide sense. Probably, though, just using dew in a summer hokku about the rainy season would have been enough to alert contemporary readers to the strong possibility that the hokku is about various kinds of dew, not simply dew in the narrow sense.

One of the main meanings of "summer mountain" is that many different kind of herbaceous plants as well as trees have put out leaves, and plants grow especially fast and wildly during the rainy season, so I feel that "every kind"/"many kinds" definitely refers not only to various kinds of droplets but to all the many herbaceous plants that have recently put out new leaves and flowers -- plants that are now covered with countless drops from the steady rain and the just-ended downpour. "All kinds of herbaceous plants" is a common expression that I think Issa is using as a single phrase, one that would be perceived as a single phrase by contemporary readers.

No doubt the raindrops are of different sizes and shapes on different leaves, and Issa is probably admiring some of the differences, but the sky is darkly overcast, with continuing rain and mist dimming visibility, so it would be hard for him to examine all the raindrops in the immediate area individually. In addition, Issa needs to be on his way to his hometown and soon goes back down to the main road below the mountain. The sense I get is of Issa being awed by the seemingly endless droplets that appear on the new leaves and flowers all around him, perhaps regarding them as if they were the expression of the Mt. Haruna god, whose sacred dance he's just watched and whose soul droplets ("dew drops," tsuyu-dama ) now cover the shrine and the visiting pilgrims. Issa obviously feels the dance is very important, and he may assume that the rain and the countless soul drops all around the shrine are a divine response to the prayers made during the dance, though he doesn't explicitly mention this. Me ni, "'in' or 'to' my eyes," is rather passive, as if Issa were watching the droplet-covered plants around him in an awed way and feeling he's been given the gift of witnessing this abundance of rain, dew, and soul drops.

The word "dew" along with "in/to my eyes" may suggest that the hard rain has wet Issa's eyes, though he no doubt wears a wide rush hat, and it may also be implying that he is moved to tears (another standard meaning of "dew"). It's possible Issa is using "dew" in the sense of tears of wonder that come into his eyes as he looks at the seemingly endless drops that literally surround him. If so, the tears in his eyes would express his feeling of close kinship and fellow-feeling with the various plants, with the rain, and possibly with the mountain god, for whom he obviously has great respect. Issa may even be suggesting that the droplets on all the plants are in one sense literally "in" his eyes, just as the mountain god or at least the mountain god's power, is "in" them and thus allowing him to see this vision. In any case, many kinds of dew seem to be wetting Issa on this day, and I've tried to leave open this sense of "all kinds."

There are 36 sacred kagura dances performed at Haruna Mountain Shrine, 22 by male dancers and 14 by female shaman dancers. The link below is to a short video of part of a sword dance at Mt. Haruna Shrine, possibly the one Issa witnessed before composing the hokku about Mt. Haruna in summer:


source : www.youtube.com - Kagura Dance


This photo shows one other dance at the shrine:


Chris Drake

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28th, rain
....
I reach the town near the Mt. Haruna Shinto shrine and Buddhist temple complex. All the lodgings for pilgrims are shrouded in clouds and mist. They stay here and meditate for the whole summer, and the big Buddhist bell that sounds across all the small valleys and hollows immediately clears the clouds from their minds -- and from mine as well. Even the sounds of the brooks and the wind in the pines seem to be the sounds of water and trees spontaneously studying the dharma. The place appears to be a natural abode of sages and Daoist immortals.
koujusan inu ga namete ya kumo no mine -- Kikaku

up in billowing clouds
a dog who licked herbs
for keeping cool in summer


鶯もとしのよらぬや山の酒
uguisu mo toshi no yoranu ya yama no sake -- Issa

even warblers
don't grow old here --
natural mountain wine

On the other side of a valley with a thin stream of water trickling down a high rock face a ceremony was scheduled for later today to consecrate a statue carved from stone of the Buddhist guardian god Fudo. People were climbing up the mountain just to take part, and I wanted to attend myself and felt very glad I'd come here by chance. I hoped to chant sutras at the ceremony, but they don't allow anyone without a special purpose to stay the night in the lodgings, so I wasn't able to attend.

from tall grass
flows pure
bodhisattva water

susuki kara bosatsu no shimizu nagarekeri


Buddhas
stand protecting
pure mountain water

yama-shimizu mamorasetamau hotoke kana

Translated roughly above is one section from Issa's haibun travelog On the Road to Kusazu (Kusazu michi no ki 草津道の記), discussed earlier on 5/29/2013. The account of Issa's visit to Mt. Haruna on the 28th of the 5th month (June 21, 1808) continues with Issa observing a sacred dance, being caught in a downpour, and having a vision of endless dewdrops. The whole Mt. Haruna section has intensity and is taut with spiritual concentration.

Issa's first hokku by this section is paired with a hokku by Kikaku, the famous Edo-za poet and younger friend of Basho. Kikaku draws on a legend about Liu An, a king in ancient China, who studied Daoism and, at the end of his life on earth, drank a Daoist elixir of immortality and flew up into the sky. Some of the elixir remained in the kettle in which the it had been made, however, and a dog happened to lick the kettle. When it did, it too flew up to heaven, and dog barks were reported coming from the clouds. In Kikaku's humorous version, a dog suffering from the heat of high summer happens to drink an herbal broth made from crested late-summer mint plants (Elsholtzia ciliata) that some humans have mixed to help them endure the summer heat, and suddenly the happy dog feels so cool it flies all the way up to paradise in the summer clouds that rise like peaks in the sky. Or at least that's the way the dog feels. The hokku is especially appropriate because Issa and all those doing meditation on Mt. Haruna are on this day are literally feeling cool up in the summer clouds.

In Issa's hokku that follows Kikaku's, the bush warblers (uguisu) are still singing loudly even though it's summer. In Chinese and Japanese, warblers are said to be the harbingers of spring, and in summer they are called "old" because they sing less vigorously. But even the so-called "old" warblers on Mt. Haruna amaze Issa with the strength of their youthful-sounding voices, and Issa takes this to be due to the special energy of the place, an energy he expresses as "mountain wine," that is, a natural elixir consisting of rain, dew, brook water, and waterfalls. In autumn, the dew on mountain chrysanthemums was traditionally called an "elixir bringing long life," and chrysanthemum petals were mixed into wine and drunk.

Issa uses a similar image and expands the "wine" to include all the water on Mt. Haruna on this rainy day during the summer rainy season: the two following hokku give good examples of the mountain's pure water "wine." Like Kikaku's hokku, Issa's is humorous and hyperbolic, but it expresses well Issa's strong impression that the sacred mountain overflows with life energy. Issa is also probably implying that all of those meditating and praying on the sacred mountain and drinking its healthful water are likely to be lengthening their lives a little each day.

Chris Drake



. WKD : Kusatsu-juku 草津宿 52nd station of the Tokaido .

. WKD : Koojusan 香需散 and Chinese Medicine .


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. WKD : Kobayashi Issa 小林一茶 - Introduction .


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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
- - -
. 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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