Fujisawa, Chigasaki ~JAN,2025~

From the Kunitachi (Tachikawa/Kokubunji) area where I live, it takes about 70km down the Chuo-Ken-O Expressway to the Shonan region. The Ken-O Expressway runs roughly parallel to the Sagami River from Sagamihara to Chigasaki, but what may not be widely known is that this river originates from Lake Yamanaka. In Yamanashi Prefecture, it is called the Katsura River, but it originates from a large amount of underground water from Mt. Fuji, hits the Sagamihara Plateau, flows south in a clockwise direction, and empties into Sagami Bay. Chigasaki Satoyama Park is located on the edge of this plateau, from which you can get a good view of Mt. Fuji. There is also a Nishikata shell mound nearby, so the coastline was probably around here at the time of the Jomon Sea Level Rise.

Near the best view point of Mt. Fuji, there is Koshikake Shrine, where Yamato Takeru sat down on a stone (Koshikakeishi) while looking at Mt. Oyama during his eastern expedition. On Mt. Oyama, there is Oyama Afuri Shrine , which was founded during the reign of his great-grandfather, Emperor Sujin, and where he would have prayed for the success of his eastern expedition. There are two torii gates close together here, which I thought was unusual, but the second torii gate is a four-legged structure called Ryobu Torii, which represents the Kongokai and Taizokai realms of Shingon Esoteric Buddhism, and seems to be a remnant of Shinto-Buddhist syncretism.

A bridge (10 piers) built in the early Kamakura period has been revealed due to liquefaction during the Great Kanto Earthquake(1923） at the point where the Tokaido Road intersects with the Koide River, a tributary of the Sagami River. It is believed to be the bridge that Inage Shigenari built over the Sagami River as a memorial for his wife (the daughter of Hojo Tokimasa), as described in the Azuma Kagami. Yoritomo died after falling off his horse shortly after attending the memorial service to mark the completion of the bridge, but Inage Shigenari was also caught up in the feud between Tokimasa and Yoshitoki, and was killed during the rebellion led by his relative, Hatakeyama Shigetada. Yoshitoki and Masako's mother was the daughter of Ito Sukechika, and Shigenari's wife was Tokimasa's second wife, Maki no Kata, and Shigenari was likely a target of Yoshitoki's purge.

The reason why the Genji established their base in the Kamakura/Shonan area was when Minamoto no Yoriyoshi became the son-in-law of Taira no Naokata and was given the land of Kamakura. Hachiman represents Emperor Ojin (Honda Wake no Mikoto) and was worshiped as a war god, but was also revered as the guardian deity of the Seiwa Genji, and Yoshiie in particular came of age at Iwashimizu Hachiman-gu Shrine and took the name Hachiman Taro Yoshiie. After winning the Battle of Zenkunen, Yoriyoshi established Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gu Shrine in Kamakura, and Yoshiie later founded Tsurumine Hachiman-gu Shrine in what is now Chigasaki. The large ginkgo tree where Yoshiie is said to have prayed for victory is impressive (if it had grown to a certain size by the time of the Battle of Gosannen, it would be over 1,000 years old).

After Yoshitsune Minamoto was killed by Yasuhira Fujiwara, his head was sent to Kamakura, where it is enshrined as a deity at Shirohata Shrine. There is also a story that his head, which was discarded off the coast of Kamakura, was picked up and enshrined there, and about 200 meters away, a well where Yoshitsune's head was washed was preserved in a residential area. Kamakura also has Shirohata Shrine, which enshrines Yoritomo, and the culture of requiem, where both the winner and the loser become Buddhas and gods when they pass away, may be unique to the Japanese, but I like it.

This was my first visit to Seijokoji Temple, the head temple of the Jishu sect. With the spread of the idea of the end of the world, through the Middle Ages and the age of war, the new Kamakura Buddhism spread to various classes. In particular, the Pure Land sect (Jodo sect, Jodo Shinshu sect, Jishu sect), which promises travel to the Pure Land by chanting the Nembutsu, has a simple doctrine and has attracted many followers, which I think matches the Japanese national character of resignation and impermanence. On the other hand, the Ikko Ikki and the Jodo sect of Mikawa are strongly associated with involving the people and confronting the samurai powers, but the leaders of the Jishu sect traveled around and campaigned, and it seems that they deliberately kept their distance from specific political forces. Next to the parking lot at the entrance, there was a memorial tower for mourning both enemies and allies who died in the Uesugi Zenshu Rebellion.

As a history buff, I was moved to find the grave of Nanbu Shigetoki. The main Nanbu family later moved their base to the Hachinohe and Morioka area and became the feudal lord of the Nanbu domain during the Edo period, but Shigetoki's mother was from the Hojo clan of Kamakura, and he always stood by the Hojo clan when the Kamakura shogunate fell. After seeing the Hojo clan's downfall at Tosho-ji Temple, he committed suicide at Seijo-ji Temple.

Speaking of Ooka Echizen, I often looked at Kato Go's work. It's already been six years since he passed away.

The Ooka family was one of the samurai groups that Ieyasu brought from Mikawa, and became hatamoto after the establishment of the shogunate. The first territory Ieyasu received after being transferred to the Kanto region was Tsutsumi Village, Koza County (Chigasaki City), where he built Jokenji Temple and made it the family temple of the Ooka family. Tadasuke supported Tokugawa Yoshimune's Kyoho Reforms as a town magistrate, and then rose to the position of temples and shrines magistrate, becoming a daimyo. Most of his territory was in Mikawa, and his jin'ya（governing office) was also located in Okazaki City, but the family temple remained unchanged and the graves of the successive heads of the family, including Tadasuke, are lined up here.

The Minamimachi Magistrate's Office in "Ooka Echizen" was near Yurakucho Station, and the Kitamachi Magistrate's Office in "Toyama no Kinsan" was near the Nihonbashi Exit of Tokyo Station, so the north and south are not that far apart. It would have been convenient for them to serve at Edo Castle.