On the Road – Mutsu-no-michi

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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 yuku Volum 3 Mutsu no Michi.

In the previous article , I discussed the Choshu Road. This time, I will describe the Mutsu Road.

Mutsu-no-michi

This time, the journey will be in Oshu (Tohoku region). Starting from Hachinohe, we will talk about the story of the Nanbu clan that ruled Hachinohe, the ruins of Nejiro Castle built by the Nanbu clan and Kushibiki Hachimangu Shrine, also built by the Nanbu clan, and the Kuji Road that goes to Kuji via Hokaue and Karume, where we will see monuments of Hikokuro Takayama as bakumatsu shishi and Kyuzo Mifune, a famous judo player, and then head north along the Rikuchu beach to Itabashi, Samurahama, Koshinai, and Taneichi. and Taneichi, and then to Tanesaki Beach. Further north via Shiraishi, Towada, and the Oshu Highway, we will pass through Nobechi and see the Shimokita Peninsula. From there, the journey ends at a place called Yotsumori, a mound marking the boundary between the Nanbu and Tsugaru clans.

This trip will be to Oshu. The book begins with the relationship between Japanese culture and rice cultivation, and then moves on to the Emishi, a tribe in the Tohoku region whose cold weather made rice cultivation difficult and whose lifestyle consisted mainly of hunting. The journey then begins in Hachinohe, where the Nanbu clan was located. Today it takes only 3 hours and 30 minutes to get there by Shinkansen bullet train, but in those days, the trip was made by plane to Hachinohe Airfield.

In “Kaido Yuku,” the story focuses on the Nanbu clan, which came from the Suwa area (Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture) and expanded its power when the Oshu Fujiwara clan was destroyed by the Kamakura regime. When you hear the word “Nanbu,” what comes to mind is probably the Nanbu tetsubin (iron kettle).

Nanbu tetsubin are said to be free of the smell of iron (kin-ki refers to the iron content dissolved in water, its smell and taste). It is rust-resistant and durable, and if cared for, it can be used for a lifetime, making it a popular item among tea lovers around the world.

Ryotaro Shiba talked mainly about the Nanbu clan, but there are many other historical figures associated with the Tohoku region, including ATERUI and Sakanoueno Tamuramaro, emishi during the reign of Emperor kanmu (around 800), the Abe and Kiyohara clans during the Former Nine Years’ War (1051), and the Hachimangu shrine enshrined in the Later Three Years’ War (1083). The famous Hachimantaro, Minamoto no Yoshie and Fujiwara no TsuneKiyo, who are enshrined at Hachiman shrines throughout Japan; the three generations of Fujiwara who were destroyed by Minamoto no Yoritomo and the Kamakura shogunate; the Kokonohe clan who fought against Toyotomi Hideyoshi under the Nanbu clan, etc. In Katsuhiko Takahashi‘s Tohoku historical series “Kaze no Jin,” “Hi-on: The Fire Hatred of Aterui,” “Hibi Tate,” “Ten wo Suku,” and others, we can read about the rebellious lives of the Tohoku people. and “Ten no Shusoku”.

Here, we return to the Oshu Road. The journey begins with dinner in Hachinohe. Dinner was sashimi of ascidiaces.

There was no description of the taste in Ryotaro Shiba‘s document, but a quick search on the Internet reveals that it is described as “a delicate tidal taste that surges in the mouth,” “a taste that makes sake taste better,” “an adult taste that only sake drinkers can understand,” and so on. Unlike its appearance, it is said to be a Tohoku delicacy that goes well with sake.

In Hachinohe, we visited “Nejiro,” a castle built by the Nanbu clan. The castle is one of the 100 most famous castles in Japan, and today, the main castle, main building, chumaya (main building), workshop, blacksmith workshop, board house, barn, and east gate have been reconstructed.

He also visited Kushibiki Hachimangu Shrine.

Kushibiki Hachimangu Shrine is a shrine of the Nanbu clan, and was brought from Kofu, the hometown of the Nanbu clan. It is said that a beautiful piece of armor is kept there as a sacred treasure.

The Nanbu clan‘s castle was moved from one place to another, and during the Edo period, the castle was built in Morioka, which became the head euphony of the entire Nanbu clan, and Hachinohe, the sacred birthplace of the Nanbu clan, was reduced to a mere fishing village. This was a mess in 1664 due to the death of the then lord of the Nanbu domain from illness, and only Hachinohe was carved out of the Nanbu domain and became the Hachinohe domain. Because the original territory was carved out and became a separate domain, a deep feud developed between the Nanbu and Hachinohe domains, and there was apparently a dark history of assassinations of the respective domain lords.

Ryotaro Shiba cites “Shoeki Ando” as a thinker from Hachinohe.

Shoeki Ando was a physician, thinker, philosopher, and revolutionary of the mid-Edo period. He invented the term “direct cultivation” and placed it at the center of his doctrine. He was a doctor, philosopher, philosopher, and revolutionary of the mid-Edo period, who invented the term “direct cultivation” and made it a central tenet of his doctrine. Considering the background of the time, it seems that the people of Hachinohe had the spirit and backbone to conceal and pass on such dangerous ideas, which would have immediately resulted in their heads being blown off if leaked outside, as if they were gems.

Leaving Hachinohe, the next stop was Kuji. Kuji is the northernmost town with divers and is famous for the TV drama “Amachan.

The road from Hachinohe to Kuji is also known as the Kuji Kaido. The group will visit Tatsumiyama Park in the middle of Kuji for a panoramic view of the city of Kuji and recall stories from the days of the Hachinohe Domain.

From there, the tour heads to the Tanesashi Coast via beautiful Tohoku coastlines such as Samuraihama, Koshinai, and Taneichi.

The trip ends in Nobechi (star at the top of the map), deep in Mutsu Bay.

The Mutsu-no-michi trip ends with a visit to a mound (commonly known as “Yotsumori“) on the border of the domains along the overseas side of Nobechi. Yotsumori are mounds of earth built along the old Mutsu highway in the Edo period to mark the boundary between the Nanbu and Tsugaru domains, and are approximately 10 meters in diameter and 3.5 meters high.

In the next article, we will discuss the Hisatsu road.