Shibamata ~ OCT, 2024 ~

The Shosoin documents are kept in the Shosoin Repository of Todaiji Temple, but on the back of the paper used for the ledger was written an ancient family register that had been discarded. It is called the Oshimago family register of Katsushika County, Shimousa Province, and Oshimago is considered to be in the vicinity of present-day Katsushika Ward and Edogawa Ward. In Shibamata, it is written as "Shimamatanori."

Ancient family registers were updated every six years and discarded after 30 years, but paper was valuable at the time, so after discarding, they were handed over to Todaiji Temple. The family register contains the names of a man named Anahobe Tora and a woman named Sakurame, and the names of the main characters in the movie "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" were taken from here.

The northern edge of Tokyo Bay, known as the Tokyo Lowlands, is a flood-prone area where the Arakawa River system coming from Chichibu and the Tone River and Watarase River systems coming from Gunma and Tochigi Prefecture collide and flow into the area. Flood control has been a top priority since ancient times, but at the same time, water utilization to support development and shipping logistics was also thriving. At the peak of the Jomon Sea Level Rise 6,000 years ago, the coastline of Tokyo Bay cut deep into the area around Kawagoe and Koga, but around the 6th century, the alluvial plain had spread right up to Shibamata, and it seems that the area was becoming a habitable environment. Shibamata Hachiman Shrine is located in a small circular tumulus, and clay figures, horse equipment, sueki ware, etc. have been excavated from a cave-in-type stone chamber, which is estimated to date to the latter half of the 6th century.

Katsushika Ward is currently in Tokyo, but it was incorporated into "Musashi Province" during the Kan'ei era after Ieyasu's Tone River Eastward Relocation Project. The border between Musashi and Shimousa was moved from the Sumida River to the Edo River, and the former Shimousa Provincial Capital is located right on the east bank of the Edo River, which is also the site of the fierce battle of the Sengoku period, the "Konodai Battle." Incidentally, the Ryogoku Bridge over the Sumida River means that it spans both Musashi and Shimousa provinces, but it was built after the Meireki Fire, so it was already the original border at the time.

In ancient times, the Tokaido, the official road to Kyoto, did not pass through Tokyo, but traveled over the sea from the Miura Peninsula to the Futtsu area, passed through Shimousa from Kazusa Kokufu (Ichihara City) and on to Ishioka (Hitachi Kokufu). The land route via Musashi Province was incorporated into the Tokaido in the second year of the ｈHouki era (771). Dokyo was demoted to Yakushiji Temple in Shimotsuke the previous year, and he probably traveled north from Musashi Kokufu on the new Tokaido.

After Minamoto no Yoritomo was defeated in the Battle of Ishibashiyama, he fled from the Miura Peninsula to Kazusa along the old Tokaido road. Yoritomo gained momentum largely by winning over the Boso Heishi (Kazusa Hirotsune, Chiba Tsunetane) to his side, and it was Kasai Kiyoshige who recruited these Kanmu Heishi descendants to the Minamoto side and supported Yoritomo, granting him territory stretching from present-day Arakawa to Edogawa. There is an anecdote that Kiyoshige offered his wife to Yoritomo overnight, and the couple's graves can be found at Saikoji Temple, which is believed to be the site of his residence. To modern eyes, this loyalty may seem excessive, but after the conquest of Oshu, Kiyoshige gained territory in the area as the Oshu Sobugyo.

The Kasai clan supported Emperor Go-Daigo after the fall of the Kamakura Shogunate, but during the Nanboku-cho period, the head family moved to the Tohoku region, and during the Sengoku period, they competed with the Date clan and the Osaki clan for supremacy. They were destroyed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Oshu Shioki, bringing an end to their 400-year history.

The Sengoku period in the Kanto region is said to have begun with the Kyotoku Rebellion (1455, when Kamakura kubo Ashikaga Shigeuji assassinated Kanto kanrei Uesugi Noritada), but for over a hundred years after that, during the three-way battle between the kubo and the two Kanto kanrei families, and throughout the era of the Later Hojo clan, who sought to dominate the Kanto region in place of the Ogigaya Uesugi family, Kasai Castle played an important role as a frontline base. It was originally built as a base for the Ogigaya Uesugi family, but it was seized by the Later Hojo clan and became the site of the aforementioned Battle of Kofudai. Hojo Ujitsuna married his daughter to Koga kubo Ashikaga Haruuji, and his heir Yoshiuji came of age here and became the last Koga kubo. Toyotomi Hideyoshi married Yoshiuji's daughter (Ujihime) to the grandson of Ashikaga Yoshiaki, who was killed in the Battle of Kofudai, and the Koga kubo was given the title of Kitsuregawa in Shimotsuke, which Ieyasu took over. The Kitsuregawa family entered the Meiji Restoration as "guest" of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and although they only had 5,000 koku of rice, they were given the status of 100,000 koku and were called the former shogunate family. The castle ruins are now in a residential area and have been turned into a small castle park, but they were undergoing renovation work.

Speaking of Shibamata, of course, there is Taishakuten. First, I stopped by the nearby Shinshoji Temple to pay my respects to the stone statue of the Five Wisdom Buddhas that was placed there by a local headman in the early Edo period. The view of the Taishakuten temple gate from there was very impressive, and I was able to imagine a little of the scenery of the Edo period in the area.

Unfortunately, Suikeien Garden was closed, but the sculpture gallery in the main hall is magnificent and well worth a closer look.

Sugawara no Takasue returned to Kyoto after completing his term as Kazusa no Suke(vice minister) in 1240 (the 4th year of the Kannin era). His daughter (aged 13) who accompanied him started writing a diary and recorded her life over the next 40 years in the Sarashina Nikki. In it, she records crossing the Taihaku River (present Edogawa River), and we can see that she traveled west along the Tokaido from Kazusa Kokufu (Ichihara City) via Chiba, crossing the Edogawa River. She also seems to have written a description of Lake Hamana before it was connected to the sea by an earthquake at the end of the 15th century. Her aunt was Kaneie's concubine and a poet known as Michitsuna's mother, and was played by Zaizen Naomi in "Hikaru Kimi e"

(※) Kazusa, Kozuke, and Hitachi were provinces where princes were appointed as governors, and suke were appointed as de facto governors there. Oda Nobunaga was the one who initially took that self-proclaimed title.

I was moved by the Showa era townscape and filming set at the Tora-san Museum. In the movie scenario, Tora-san was born in 1934 (Showa 9), and when he was 10 years old, he saw the Great Tokyo Air Raid from the bank of the Edogawa River with his sister Sakura. The Showa era is becoming a distant memory.