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Summary
Travel is an act for human beings to visit new places and experience different cultures and histories. Through travel, people can actually feel historical events and people’s lives by visiting historical places and cultural heritage sites, and can gain a deeper understanding of history and broaden their own perspectives. In this section, we will discuss the historical background of the trip and the places visited based on Ryotaro Shiba‘s “Kaido yuku” (On the Road) about this journey and history.
Kaidou wo yukuVolume 9 Bansyu michi.
The previous trip was to Niigata Prefecture, the Lagoon Road. This time, the route will take us to Ibogawa and Murozu in Hyogo Banshu, famous for Himeji Castle. Banshu was famous as a military commander in the Warring States period, and this trip will take us to Banshu, where Kanbei Kuroda, known as “Ryobei” along with Hanbei Takenaka, was active. To visit Yamazaki, where Kanbei Kuroda temporarily resided, we will drive along the Ibo River and walk through the precincts of Iwa Shrine, contemplating the ancient rice farmers, and see a few remnants of the Yamazaki Castle. In Tatsuno, we will remember Rufu Miki, famous for his children’s song “Akatombo” (Red Dragonfly), and then descend the Ibo River to Murozu, where we will think about the ships that sailed the open seas in the Middle Ages and about Honen Shonin, the Buddhist priest who stopped here on his way to Shikoku.
This trip will take us to Banshu, Banshu-Ibogawa, and Murozu in Hyogo Prefecture, where Himeji Castle, also known as Shirasagi-jo (White Egret Castle) and designated as a national treasure, is located, as described in “Meiji Era Art: Fenollosa, Okakura Tenshin, and Tea Books.
Banshu-ori is one of the textiles that come to mind when thinking of Banshu. Banshu-ori has been produced in the Kita-Barima region of Hyogo Prefecture since the mid-Edo period and is characterized by its natural texture and rich colors, and is also known as yarn-dyed cotton fabric.
Banshu-ori is characterized by a technique called yarn-dyed weaving, in which the threads are first dyed in various colors and then woven into various patterns using these colored threads. (In contrast, floral patterns and printed fabrics for one-piece dresses are called post-dyed fabrics).
In yarn-dyed fabrics, dyed yarns are woven vertically (warp) and horizontally (weft) according to the law of organization, and by combining these yarns, stripe distribution, organization, and density, various check and stripe patterns are produced, creating comfortable fabrics that can be woven coolly in the summer.
The next thing that comes to mind in Banshu is somen, a summer staple called Ibo no hito.
The name “Ibo no Iito” comes from the fact that it is made in the Ibo River basin, and it is thought that the history of somen in Banshu dates back to the Muromachi period (about 600 years ago), when somen production was encouraged as a “permitted industry” by the Tatsuno clan in the Edo period when it was in full swing. Ibono-ito is believed to have become a production center around the Bunka era (1804-1818), when the Tatsuno Clan began to protect and nurture the famous product.
The branding of Ibo no Iito began when a group of fellow somen makers from the Tatsuno, Hayashida, and Shingu clans got together and agreed on quality and other issues, because as the number of farmers making somen increased and production grew, some began to discredit the production area by making inferior products.
Ryotaro Shiba wrote a historical novel titled “Harimanada Monogatari” featuring Kanbei Kuroda.
As mentioned above, Kuroda Kanbei was also called “Ryobei” together with Takenaka Hanbei. As a side note, a parody of Ryobei mixed with Bz, a rock unit famous for hit songs such as “Ultra Soul,” is called “Hyoue’z.” The unit was called “Hyoue’z.” The name of this unit is “Hyoue’z” in Japanese, and the name of the unit is “Hyoue’z” in Japanese.
Sengoku Nabe TV” is a TV program created by local TV stations, TV Kanagawa, Chiba TV, TV Saitama, and Sun TV, from 2010 to 2012. It is a somewhat quirky baraity program with songs and dramas mainly featuring warlords from the Sengoku period. The program also includes “Azaidrop” by AZAISM/The Three Asai Sisters, based on the famous three Asai Sisters of the Warring States Period, and “Shichigatake no Shichihon Yari” by SHICHIHON Yari, based on the Seven Spearmen who were active at the Battle of Dokigatake, fought by Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Katsuie Shibata.
The original Kanpei Kuroda was a military commander born in the province of Harima (Hyogo Prefecture). At that time, the Harima province was a place of confusion, where many small forces (powerful clans) were divided after the emergence and disappearance of the Akamatsu clan, which assassinated the Muromachi period shogun Ashikaga Yoshinori and was destroyed, and Yamana Munetada, who succeeded to Harima after the Akamatsu clan was overthrown and became a central figure in the Onin War.
Kuroda Kambei’s armor was mainly red, and his helmet was shaped like an upside-down bowl. It is said that this helmet was a gift from Kushihashi Isada, who was married to Kuroda Kanpei and lived in Alexandria.
At that time, most of the great clans in Harima Province were on the side of Mori Motonari, who was a powerful man in the neighboring country, as described in “Kaido yuku – Geibi no Michi,” while Kuroda Kanpei was on the side of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had been ordered by Oda Nobunaga to pacify the Chugoku region, and moved to Yamazaki Castle after vacating his own castle. He vacated his own castle and moved to Yamazaki Castle. Ryotaro Shiba and his party went to Yamazaki, where few traces of the Yamazaki Castle remain today, and there they had feelings for Kanbei Kuroda.
After Oda Nobunaga fell in the Honnoji Incident, Kanbei Kuroda advised Hideyoshi Toyotomi, who was in Hiroshima, to immediately return to Kyoto and realize the Great Return to China, a move that would allow Hideyoshi to unify the country in ten days.
Kuroda Kanpei then moved his residence to Kyushu, as described in “The Road to Nakatsu and Usa and the Bungo and Hita Routes” and his descendants established the Fukuoka domain, which led to the Meiji Restoration.
The group then traveled down the Ibo River to Murozu via Tatsuno. In Tatsuno, the group will stop at Rofu Miki, who wrote the poem “Akatombo” (Red Dragonfly) for children, and at Jounji Temple, which was founded by Honen, the founder of the Jodo sect of Buddhism, after he stopped there when he was exiled to Shikoku.
The Jodo sect advocated by Honen, as described in “Buddhism, Scriptures, and Mahayana Sects” was a doctrine of altruism that put the conventional government-made Buddhism down to the viewpoint of the common people, and that salvation could be obtained if one continued to pray to Amitabha Buddha. Honen was not hostile to the existing powers, and his exile to Shikoku was apparently due to a false accusation that he had no knowledge of.
The next article will be Koyasan-michi.
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