Virtual Old Mutsu 33 Kannon Pigrimage #17 Iwasaki-Kannon-do Hall

 

     About 10 kilometers south from Tokutan Fortress, Kitagami River turns almost 180 degrees around a small hill, forming a peninsula-like height.  From the 9th century, people started living on the height.  As the height's north side and south side have mooring, the height might have functioned as a relay point between Shiwa Fortress, which was built in 803, and the sea along the Kitakami River.  Later, Shiratori Station was installed near the height.

     In ancient times, stations were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Military Affairs, and provincial governors were in charge of supervision, while the actual work was carried out by farmers near the station.  They were called ekido, of whom one wealthy and experienced person was appointed as the station master.  The station master's duties included preparing station horses and station workers, managing station equipment and station rice fields, and handling all aspects of administrative work related to a station, such as storing and spending station rice.  The position of a station master was for life.  When a station master was replaced due to death or illness, and if the station master had lost a station horse or other station equipment, the previous station master or his family should be responsible for the loss excluding cases of natural disasters.  In return, a station master was to be exempted from paying taxes while he was in office.

     The Engishiki, a book about laws and customs, whose major part was completed in 927, lists 402 stations nationwide.

     When the Abe Family actually ruled Mutsu Province in the 11th century, the 8th son of Abe Yoritoki (?-1057), Norito, was based in the height, and called himself Shiratori Hachiro, namely White Bird 8th.  The height seems to have been called Shiratori by the time.

     In the Later Three-Year War (1086–1089), Kiyohara Sanehira (?-1083) attacked Shiratori Fortress and burned down 400 houses in Shiratori Village.  Military successes are likely to be exaggerated, but Shiratori seems to have been prosperous as a commercial town in the 11th century and we can say its prosperity had started in the 9th century.

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Shirotoritate Site

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