History and travel records

I had booked accommodation in Nara with the intention of visiting Asuka, which had just been designated a World Heritage Site, but due to various circumstances, I had to cancel. However, I couldn't just sit around under such clear skies, so I headed to the Kofu Basin. This year I've been visiting places associated with the Satake clan, such as Akita and Hitachiota, so I thought I'd check out the ancestral sites of the related Takeda clan as well. In Ichikawamisato town, locat

On my way back to my hometown (Kanazawa), I felt like driving on a road I'd never driven before, so I took the Mino Highway from Gujo Hachiman to Fukui and entered Ono. Along the highway, I could see the Chubu Trans-Japan Expressway under construction, which will connect to the Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway in the spring of 2029, linking Fukui and Nagoya in a nearly straight line. I had the impression that the Gujo Domain, with its territory dispersed between Mino and Echizen, mu

The Kanto region has been experiencing a long period of lingering rain since before the Obon festival, resulting in many golf outings and trips being postponed or canceled. The hot spring inn I had booked was located near Oirase in Aomori Prefecture, far from the front, and I thoroughly enjoyed the long-awaited blue skies and crisp, dry air. This year's rice paddy art in Inakadate is themed after the ghost paintings by Maruyama Okyo that were dedicated to Kudoji Temple in Hir

Nikko is traversed by three major highways (the Nikko Highway, the Reiheishi Highway, and the Aizu-Nishi Highway), and Imaichi is at the junction of them. All of these highways were lined with cedar trees planted in the 17th century, and even today, 20-30% of them remain, demonstrating the importance the Edo shogunate placed on these highways. The Reiheishi Highway was the route used by envoys sent annually from the imperial court to the annual festival of the Toshogu Shrine,

I've had many opportunities to visit Aizu on business trips in recent years. With limited time, I've only managed to admire the beautiful stone walls of Tsuruga Castle, so this time I decided to take a tour of the Aizu Basin. I didn't go to Tsuruga Castle itself, but I did view the castle from the site on Iimoriyama where the Byakkotai committed suicide. Among Niigata Prefecture's major rivers, the Agano River (known as the Aga River in Fukushima Prefecture) flows from the

The Toyokawa River, which flows vertically through eastern Mikawa, merges with the Uregawa River before turning west and flowing into Mikawa Bay. Nagashino Castle was built at the confluence of these two rivers, and 500 soldiers defended against the fierce attack of a 15,000-strong Takeda army. The combined forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu and Oda Nobunaga, numbering 38,000, received the news and rushed to their aid, and Takeda Katsuyori chose to fight a decisive battle at Shitaraga

The Kanto Plain is vast, but as you reach northern Ibaraki Prefecture, the mountains of the Abukuma Mountains come into view. The Satake clan, though of Minamoto lineage, were reluctant to submit to Yoritomo during the Genpei War, and resisted to the end, holed up on Mount Nishikanasa. Although their castle eventually fell due to betrayal by their allies, they later distinguished themselves in the Oshu War and were incorporated into the Kamakura Shogunate system. Currently, t

On May 8, 1333 (Genkō 3), Nitta Yoshisada raised an army at Ikushina Shrine (Ōta City, Gunma Prefecture), and on May 22, he annihilated the Hōjō clan at Tōshōji Temple, thus overthrowing the Kamakura Shogunate. He fought four battles in just two weeks, covering approximately 130 km during that time. When Nitta's army was first raised, it numbered only about 150 cavalrymen, but it grew even larger when Minamoto retainers from Echigo, Kai, and Shinano joined the army, and whe

Many Japanese surnames consist of two kanji characters, so when a single-character surname comes along, it makes me want to investigate its origin. However, three of the Minamoto, Taira, Fujiwara, and Tachibana clans, from which most Japanese people are said to derive their surnames, are single-character surnames, and single-character surnames like Mori, Tani, and Hara are common, so perhaps it's not such a topic to dwell on. On the other hand, there are cases where surnames

Throughout history, there have been numerous disputes over the succession of family headship, but Mito Mitsukuni and Hatakeyama Mitsuyoshi were the ones who respected the order of seniority and returned the family headship from the younger brother to the older brother or the older brother's child. It's been quite a while since Mito Komon ended its broadcast. It apparently started in 1969, making it a long-running program that lasted for over 40 years. Many Japanese people, es

This time, I decided to stroll along the west side of the Katsura River and made a reservation for Saihoji Temple (Moss Temple), a place I've wanted to visit for many years. A large weather front was approaching, so I looked for a place with a good view while the weather was still clear, and it seemed that Yoshiminedera Temple was the best. In Higashiyama, the view from Shogunzuka Kofun was the best, but from here, you can see the Kyoto Basin in the opposite direction, with t

Located on the outskirts of Akita City, the Omoriyama Observatory sits atop a low mountain only 124 meters above sea level, yet offers panoramic views of Akita City stretching from the Oga Peninsula to the north. To the south, you can see the snow-capped Mount Chokai in the distance, creating a magnificent panorama—a testament to the vastness of the alluvial plain formed by the Omono River. After the Battle of Sekigahara, Satake Yoshinobu was ordered to relocate to Akita, and

Last year, around the same time, when I visited Tokushima for a relative's wedding, I thought it was about time to start the 88 Sacred Sites pilgrimage. It's such a famous pilgrimage site that I felt it would be a challenging journey (even if you travel by car), so I returned with some mental preparation. From the Yomomi Observatory, you can see the Great Naruto Bridge connecting Shikoku and Awaji Island, and looking back, you can see the city of Tokushima in the distance fro

It seems that Tanba Kameyama was changed to Kameoka during the Meiji era because there were many places with the name Kameyama throughout Japan, which was confusing. It may not seem like a big change, just changing from mountain to hill, but for fans of the Sengoku period, the sound of Tanba Kameyama Castle generally might evoke associations with the Honnoji Incident, so it might feel a bit strange. Tanba Province is a long rectangle that straddles Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures

Fifteen years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake, ten years since the Kumamoto Earthquake, and two years since the Noto Earthquake. In addition to these, the Chuetsu Earthquake and the Iburi Eastern Earthquake, which caused a power outage throughout Hokkaido, have also registered a seismic intensity of 7 in this century, meaning that Japan experiences a major earthquake approximately once every five years. The cost of disaster recovery in Japan, including wind

The Engishiki, compiled in the 10th century, classifies the 60-odd provinces established under the Ritsuryo system into four ranks: Dai, Jo, Chu, and Ge, based on their national power. Shima is one of the nine designated Ge-koku provinces, a small peninsula with only two counties and little flat land, making it an area with low agricultural productivity. However, since ancient times, it has been valued as a "Miketsukuni" (food province) that supplied the Imperial Court with s