Kakuta Haruo---Decoding Japan---

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Location: Sakai, Osaka, Japan

Monday, September 28, 2009

Bakumatsu Pilgrimage along Toba Highway

Rivers in Japan usually have rapid streams. However, rivers Katsura, Uji, and Kizu in Kyoto are weired by Mt. Yamazaki in north and Mt. Iwashimizu in south before crossing the border between Osaka, and form one big stream, Yodo river. The Japanese word “yodo” literally means “still water.” The three rivers' gathering point used to be a lower swampy marshland with a big boggy lake, Ogura Ike, literally “Big Whale Pond.” No wonder, the area where I got off the Keihan line is called Yodo, and its Yodo station is just the second station after the border between Kyoto and Osaka.
The Yodo castle ruin is just in front of the station, and you can find its stone walls and moats through the station's see-through walls. The station was packed with middle-aged men with tabloid dope sheets and red pencils in their hands, stereotypes of Japanese horse racing men. Yes, Yodo has a big turf.
Yodo station is at the one end of the turf, and our first stone monument for Toba-Fushimi battle is at the other. Still, it has 1.4 km on foot from the castle. The area used to be called Senryo-matsu, where 38 samurai and 3 men were buried, and was the last battlefield before the Shogunate armies were completely defeated to retreat to Osaka.
Yodo used to be an island-like area between the rivers Kizu and Uji. As you cross Kamo river to the north, you step onto Nouso, another island-like area between the rivers Uji and Katsura. Nouso, literally “storing place,” used to have warehouses to keep “taxes” from all over the country. Before Edo era, Yodo castle used to be placed in Nouso. Yodo-gimi, or Yodo queen, who was the youngest wife of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the last ruler before Tokugawa Shogunate, and who also was his only boy's mother, lived in the castle in Nouso.
Nouso has 2 more stone monuments at Myokyo-ji temple and Atago-chaya. From Senryo-matsu, we walked back to the other end of the turf, and “crossed” the area called Yodo-kobashi, or Yodo small bridge, and went into Nouso. There used to run Uji river here, between Yodo and Nouso. In Nouso, we looked around, and tried to find the next destination, Myokyo-ji temple. We thought we were walking along Toba ex-highway, but street being so narrow, we were not so sure. An elderly man, a typical retired baby boomer, with a guidebook in a hand and a PET-bottled water in another, was wandering around too, carrying a backpack on his shoulder. I knew he felt envious of my being accompanied by my daughter. I have been told so a couple of times. They should know the fact is that it was not she who accompanied me, but that it was I who accompanied her. She is a Bakumatsu freak
The narrow street in Nouso, where two cars hardly pass each other, has several narrower lanes on both sides. We could hardly figure out which one would lead us to Myoshin-ji. Abruptly, one car drove out of a tiny lane several meters away, and ran toward us. Stepping aside, we found a priest in the car. That’s it. That must be the one to Myoshin-ji. We headed toward the lane with a confidence.
After visiting the temple, as we walked north along Toba ex-highway, which is still busy with many cars rushing through the narrow street sandwiched in dense houses, we found a green bank running in parallel on our left hand. We turned left into a very narrow lane to escape from the horribly murderous traffic, and climbed the bank.
The cool winds blowing along the river Katsura took off our hotness. Across the bank, we found a broad river terrace under us. Some parts of the sandy terrace were cultivated by a couple of farmers. A sign says building a house is illegal. So, farming may not be illegal here. Before the rapid economic growth in Japan after World War II, the inlying area might have looked as pastoral as the terrace area. The top of the bank is a narrow paved street with occasional cycling bikes gusting past us. Yes, the atmosphere makes a trip a trip.
Another sign on the bank says the road is named “Katsura River Cycling Road,” which runs north all the way to Arashiyama for nearly 20 km. If you bike south ward on the other hand, it leads you to Kizu for about 25 km. Officially, this cycleway, about 45 km long in total, is Kyoto Prefectural Road Route 801. A cycleway which lasts for 45 km may be rare in Japan. A prefectural cycleway with the same kind of official route number with motor roads might be rarer.
Atago-chaya is 1.6 km from the castle, and 17 samurai and 18 men were buried there. All the monuments, including the ones you will find later, describe the war as Boshin-no-eki, Boshin War, and the Shogunate armies as “To-gun,” the East armies. “Boshin” is the name of the year, 1868, named under the combination of Oriental five elements and Oriental Zodiac, in a cycle of 60 years. 4 cycles and 28 years ago, in the year 1600, the Shogunate armies fought against Toyotomi's at the start of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and they used to be called the East armies too. After nearly 3 centuries, the West revenged on the East.
As we walked from Atago-chaya to the next stone monument along the cycling road with a guidebook in our hands, an old man on his normal bicycle talked to us.
“Are you looking for something?”
“Not particularly,” answered I, knowing the next one is still a couple of kilometers away.
“There is a stone memorial for medieval fish market over there, though,” in a kind of counter-curiosity, he replied.
“Thank you,” and there it was.
The Toba area used to be another river port town of Kyoto than Fushimi. This part the area used to be called Kusatsu-minato, or Kusatsu Port, or Kusa-port Port, or Grass-port Port, with a fish market along Katsura river. Before Kamo river system was developed during Edo Era, Toba port was even more prosperous than Fushimi, and was the front main entrance to the capital for water transportation. The start of railway system in Meiji Era brought the end to the port.
Hoden-ji temple is 3.4 km north from Atago-chaya, and Higan-ji temple's grave yard is 0.6 km north-east from there. 233 bones were buried in the grave yard. As you walk north for another 1.5 km, you will arrive at Oseki-chaya.
Chaya used to be a rest place along ancient or medieval highways. Oseki-chaya is still alive, and they serve popular Oseki mochi, Oseki rice-dumplings with sweet bean-jam on them, even today.
At some time in Edo Era, near Kusatsu River Port, which was busy as a water gate to the capital from Osaka, a young woman named Oseki started selling bean-jam rice-dumplings with the shape of a braided hat on her bamboo hat. The missy might have become a “fascia,” and retained her name on the dumplings. The dumplings kept being popular even after her death toward the end of Edo Era, and Kondo Isamu, one of the most well-known Bakumatsu characters on the Shogunate side, loved the bean-jam rice-dumplings.
As Toba ex-highway is busy and noisy and hot, we walked along the cycleway as much as possible, and occasionally went down the river bank to find stone monuments. For the last time, we walked out of the cycleway to find Oseki-chaya. We walked thorough newly built high-rise apartment houses, got into the busy street, and looked right and left. On our left side, or in the south, we found a traditional banner flying in the winds. That must be the one. And it actually was the one. We expected a traditional house which brings us back to Edo period. The building is, however, a kind of ultra-modern, with its 2 sides grass-walled, which make the inside surprisingly bright. One dumpling costs 150yen.
A young couple were already in the shop, sipping Japanese green tea. They were purchasing the dumplings as a souvenir.
“Can we eat the dumplings here?” asked I to a middle-aged woman (Oseki's offspring?).
“Yes, of course. We have 'Matcha Set' too.” I looked at my daughter to find her shaking her head. She doesn't like matcha, or Japanese green powdered tea, as it is green and bitter. She doesn't like green peppers too, as they are green and bitter.
“Only Oseki-mochi, please,” and I ordered two dumplings for each of us. They were not so bad. They tasted very classic, and might have kept unchanged since older times. We bought 4 more as a souvenir.
The area being the water entrance to the capital, several “detached” palaces of Japanese popes, or “retired-into Buddism” emperors were built in Toba. They disliked the aristocracy championed by Fujiwara clans, retired and moved out of the center of the capital, and pursued their own political hegemony economically based on overseas commerce, which, ironically enough, led to another non-imperial hegemony by Hei-ji clan. Hei-ji clan, who fought the first East-West war in Japan as the West, was defeated by the East, Gen-ji clan, and was swallowed by the sea water between Honshu and Kyushu islands.
This time, at the Meiji restoration, the West was well-prepared. They lined their forces from the east to the west so as to block the Shogunate armies entering central Kyoto via Toba ex-highway. They occupied Anrakuju-in temple, Jonan-gu shrine, Toba ex-detached-palace, and Koeda-bashi bridge from the east to the west.
As I climbed up the Katsura river bank toward the Koeda bridge, I realized how stupid the Shogunate army were while their enemy, the Royalists, embattled their forces tactically not only from the west to the east in Toba, but also to the farther east to blockade the Shogunate armies enter Kyoto via Fushimi along Takeda ex-highway.
From the top of the bank, I could see the reconstructed Fushimi Castle. At the foot of the castle hill, there is Gokoh-no-miya shrine, where the eastern part of the Royalist armies based in the Fushimi area. Meanwhile, the eastern part of the Shogunate armies based themselves in Fushimi bugyosho (the public prosecutors and police office). The office was located on the lower ground than to the shrine. Although their officialism-oriented mindset is understandable, they might well be blamed to be too naïve.
The western part of the Shogunate armies were, however, just ridiculous. They advanced along Toba ex-highway, just 2 to 3 meters wide, in thousands. They might have wanted to attack the Royalists like a snake, but was crashed just like a snail. The main battle in Toba was fought around Koeda-bashi bridge, and the Shogunate bodies were scattered between the bridge and Higan-ji temple in hundreds. After the defeat here, they retreated toward Osaka. On their way back to Yodo castle, the stragglers were slaughtered in tens. Some of them got back to Osaka, luckily, only to find their boss, the last shogun Tokugawa Keiki, having escaped to Edo in hell.
On our way back to Osaka, to take advantage of changing trains from Kintetsu line to Keihan line, we dropped off at Fushimi-momoyama-ryo station to buy some souvenirs. Fushimi is only 3 stations away form Takeda station on Kintetsu line, the nearest station to the Toba area. In the 3-station-long line, 6,000 Royalists fought against 15,000 Shogunates. Tactics pays.

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Landslide, or Land-Divided?

A general election in Japan was held on August 30, 2009, for all 480 seats of the House of Representatives of Japan, the lower house of the Diet of Japan. In the election, the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) defeated the ruling coalition (Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and New Komeito Party).
The opposition DPJ-SDP-PNP coalition won 227 seats out of 300 (75.7%) in constituencies, and 91 out of 180 (64.3%) in proportional representation. That looks like a landslide victory over the ruling LDP-NKP coalition, who won 64 (21.3%), and 76 (42.2%) respectively.
Meanwhile, the ruling coalition won 36 seats out of 115 (31.3%) in constituencies in the Western Japan excluding Okinawa, and 32 out of 67 (47.8%) in proportional representation in the Western Japan including Okinawa. The opposition coalition won 76 (64.3%), and 31 (46.2%) respectively.
The question is whether Japan will be divided along regional lines in its future as in UK and USA.

Anything can be a comodity.

So-called Koizumi Children have been consumed. Consumed by the electrate? Or consumed by ... ?