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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.
From “On the Road,” Vol 34 and vol.8. In the previous article, it will be the road to Shigaraki in Kouga and Iga.This trip will be centered on Oita Prefecture, home to more than 40,000 Hachiman shrines throughout Japan, Nakatsu and Usa in Oita Prefecture, Yufuin, a hot spring resort, and Hita, called Kyushu‘s “little Kyoto.
In the first half of this trip, we first visited Kohmo Shrine (Nakatsu), which is said to be the predecessor of Usa Hachiman, and pondered the ancient times from the Kohmo growing wild in Sankaku Pond. Then, he visits Usa Shrine, Wama Shrine, and other shrines to consider the relationship between the Hachiman Gods and the people who came to Japan, before returning to Nakatsu to visit the former residence of Yukichi Fukuzawa, who called Nakatsu home, and discusses the family influences that nurtured Yukichi’s humanity. He also tours the Nakatsu area, describing Nakatsu itself and the Azuchi-Momoyama period warlord Kuroda Josui, as well as Hosokawa Tadaoki, who served as lord of Nakatsu after Josui.
It is the headquarters of the 44,000 or so Hachiman shrines in Japan, and together with Ishimizu Hachimangu Shrine and Hakozaki Shrine (or Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shrine) is called one of the three major Hachimangu shrines in Japan. In ancient times, it was treated as a shrine of two shrines together with Ise Jingu.
Hachiman deities, also known as “Hachiman Daibosatsu” (Great Bodhisattva of Hachiman), were first introduced into Buddhism in the earliest times. Tenjin-san, Yasaka Shrine, and Inari Shrine are the most common deities in all parts of Japan, but Hachiman shrines are said to be far more numerous than these.
Hachiman shrines became the clan deity of the Seiwa Minamoto clan in the 12th century, and after Minamoto no Yoritomo established the Kamakura shogunate, as described in his family’s “On the Road to the Miura Peninsula” the Hachiman shrines became very popular as warriors from many countries began to worship them.” The Chinese of the Ming dynasty read this as “Hachiman Boat” because the Japanese pirates of the 14th century, as described in “On the Road to Karatsu, Hirado, Sasebo, and Nagasaki” worshipped this deity and placed a flag on each ship with “Hachiman Daibosatsu” written in ink.
The former Japanese word for “shite” was “nanashiman hachiman” (meaning “I’ve done it”). The phrase “Hachiman, unbearable” was also used to mean “absolutely unbearable,” and “Hachiman kake” was also used to indicate the strong meaning of “totally” or “truly.
These idioms are similar to the use of God in monotheistic religions for instant anger, disbelief, surprise, despair, or pain.
Usa in Oita is believed to be the home of this Hachiman no Kami. The Hachiman no Kami was an agricultural deity worshipped by the Hata clan (a large tribe that came from the Korean peninsula around the 3rd or 4th century and claimed that their distant ancestor was the first emperor of the Qin dynasty), who established rice paddies in Usa in ancient times. In the Nara period, he entered the court of the emperor as a trust-giving deity and much later, the Minamoto clan made him their clan deity and a warrior god.
The word “Hachiman” is said to have originated from the many hatas (banners) that were erected to worship this deity in ancient times. The word “ya” in the ancient Japanese language is said to have meant “many. A banner is a flag hanging from a pole, and a banner is one that is tied to a pole at one end.
Hachimangu Shrine became famous in the period before the Minamoto clan made it their clan deity (Heian period), due to the ambitions of a monk named Dokyo.
Dokyo was a native of Kawachi, as described in “Kaido yuku – Kawachi no michi” (Roads in Kawachi). He liked Indian scriptures related to witchcraft, such as the “Sutra of the Peacock King,” and used them for the Emperor and Empress Dowager in the Yamato Imperial Court at the time. He gained favor by healing the illness of the Empress Dowager, who happened to be ill, through witchcraft, and began to interfere in politics, overthrowing the Fujiwara clan and the Emperor, who were in power at that time.
Dokyo sent his own brother to Kyushu, where he influenced the Usa Jingu Shrine to issue a trust saying, “I fear that there is a divine oracle that says, ‘Place Dokyo on the throne, and the whole country will be appeased.
The empress who received this oracle consulted her aide, Hiromushi, to confirm it, and sent Wake-no Kiyomaro, Hiromushi’s younger brother, to Usa Shrine to reconfirm it. When Michimyo learned of this, he was furious and exiled Hiromushi and Wake-no-Kiyomaro. The following year (770 A.D.), when the empress collapsed, Michimyo was returned to his former position as a priest and Wake-no-Kiyomaro was also returned to the capital.
The act of bringing back an oracle that would repel the powers of the time (Michikagami) without being seen as a threat to them became more and more highly regarded over the years, and the bringing back of oracles from Usa Shrine came to be performed at the time of the emperor’s accession to the throne and also when there were changes in the state.
This Hachiman Shrine was also built in Kyoto and became Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine.
There are various theories as to when the Minamoto clan began to worship Hachiman, but it is said that it started when Minamoto no Yoriyoshi built a shrine in Yui Township after he left for Kamakura to pacify the Oshu region, as described in “Kaido yuku – Mutsu no michi” (The Road to Mutsu). His son, Yoshie, was given the name of “Hachimantaro” after his death at Iwashimizu Hachiman, and soon after Minamoto no Yoritomo, who came from the same family, founded the Kamakura shogunate, he built Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine in addition to Yui Hachiman-gu Shrine in Yui Township, which he had renamed after the name of Iwashimizu Hachimangu Shrine in Kyoto.
However, it is said that the current form of the building was completed much later, in the Muromachi period (1336-1573).
The Nakatsu–Usa trip will end with a visit to Nakatsu Castle, built by Kanbei Kuroda, a famous military commander of the Warring States period, and Yukichi Fukuzawa’s former residence in Nakatsu, where he spent his childhood.
The next towns visited in Oita Prefecture will be Yufuin, Aso-Kujyu National Park, and Hita. In Yufuin, one of the representative hot spring resorts in Kyushu, they stayed at Kamenoi Villa, and went to Hita by way of Chojabaru and Kusu Town on the Kokonoe Plateau. In Hita, they visited cormorant fishing and the historical site of Hirose Tanso, a famous educator in the modern era.
Yufuin will be a famous hot spring resort boasting an abundance of hot spring water, ranking second in Japan in both volume and number of hot spring sources.
In Yufuin, accommodations are scattered along the riverbanks, in the forests, and on the hillsides outside of the town. Because of the abundance of hot spring water, inns did not need to be concentrated in a single location, and the sites of inns were relatively spacious and the town was built spaciously, with no huge high-rise inns or hotels due to development restrictions, leaving behind a rural atmosphere.
In Yufuin, Ryotaro Shiba and his party stayed at a long-established hot spring hotel called “Kamenoi Besso.
Founded in 1921, the inn has a total of 20 guest rooms and a very relaxing hot spring experience on a 10,000 tsubo site.
After passing Yufuin, the group headed in the direction of Aso and Aso-Kujyu National Park.
Aso Kujyu National Park is a vast national park stretching from Oita to Kumamoto. It is also a place that is described as “an inspiring land where people pass on the blessings of wind and water, and where people connect with each other.
The group is staying at a resort hotel in Chojabaru, which is located in Aso Kujyu National Park and is widely known as the entrance to the Kuju Mountain Range.
There are many resort hotels scattered throughout Aso Kujyu National Park. Among them, the most famous one is probably the Hoshino Resort Kai Aso.
This inn is also a very spacious hot spring resort, with a total of 12 detached guest rooms, all with open-air baths, on a site of approximately 8,000 tsubo (approximately 1,860 square meters).
The Kumamoto side of Aso-Kujyu National Park is home to the Aso Caldera, where visitors can enjoy the magnificent view of Mt. Aso and volcanic sightseeing.
After passing Chojabaru, the final destination of the trip will be the town of Hita, known as Kyushu‘s little Kyoto. Hita is a town where old buildings from the Edo period still remain in the mountains.
In the next article, we will travel along the Yusuhara Highway, the route along which Ryoma Sakamoto and other samurai of the end of the Edo period escaped from Tosa to Iyo.
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