[Oishida Town, Yamagata Prefecture] Oishida Town was booming due to the Mogami River boat transportation during the Edo period.

Oishida Town is located almost in the center of Yamagata Prefecture, and the Mogami River flows through the center of the town, making it a thriving agricultural town that produces rice and watermelons.Many soba lovers from outside the prefecture visit the soba road, which is lined with soba restaurants that use the local specialty, soba.The Oishida Doll's Festival held in early April every year and the Mogami River Fireworks Festival on August 16th, which is known for the 10 consecutive No. 20 fireworks that are set off at the end, are some of the most spectacular events in the prefecture.The Mogami River embankment is lined with scenery that resembles old buildings for over 150 meters, making it a tourist attraction.

Boat transportation on the Mogami River began in the Nara period.

Oishida is a land blessed with abundant water called the Mogami River, and ruins from the Paleolithic to Jomon periods have been discovered, and it is known that people have been living there since that time.Boat transportation seems to have begun in the Nara period, and dugout canoes thought to have been used for boat transportation have also been excavated around the Mogami River.

Oishida from the Heian period to the Muromachi period rarely appears in history, and little is known about it. It is said that the townscape and port of Oishida were developed during the Sengoku period, when the Mogami clan came to rule it as a territory.

Oishida pier and townscape built and functional by Yoshimitsu Mogami

In particular, Yoshiaki (1546-1614), the 11th head of the Mogami family, is known for making Oishida function as the largest wharf (river bank) on the Mogami River.Yoshimitsu, who belonged to the Tokugawa army at the Battle of Sekigahara (1600), was recognized by Tokugawa Ieyasu as a territory spanning a wide area from present-day Yamagata City to Sakata City, and was worth over 500,000 koku (exactly unknown). became a daimyo.Therefore, it was necessary to improve transportation within the territory, and the Mogami River was considered as the key point for transportation. Oishida, which is located in a place with a gentle flow, was positioned as the central riverbank, and a planned town development was carried out. The townscape created by Yoshimitsu can be seen in the Oishida Riverbank Illustrated Map drawn in the late Edo period.

The Mogami clan's rule in Yamagata did not last long, and after Yoshimitsu's death, there were constant disputes over succession to the family headship (the Mogami Riots), and their status and territory were taken away by the shogunate. However, Oishida remained a hub for shipping, and it came to play an increasingly important role as a port for the safflower trade, where annual rice tax was shipped.

Boat transportation departing from Oishida is limited to ships from Oishida.

After the fall of the Mogami clan, several clans were established in Yamagata, including the Shonai clan and the Shinjo clan, but Oishida became the territory of the Yamagata clan. In the Yamagata domain, the Torii clan, Hoshina clan, Matsudaira clan, and Hotta clan took turns as lords, but during the Genroku period (1688-1704) when the Matsudaira clan ruled, there were about 300 boats at the Oishida dock. had.

The reason why the pier was built in Oishida was because the river meanders greatly in the upper reaches of Oishida, and the flow is steep at Goten, Mikawase, and Hayabusa, which are said to be the three most difficult spots on the Mogami River. / Hayabusa). The Mogami River near Oishida had a calm flow and was the perfect place for a boat dock. Boat transportation in Oishida is called "downward Oishida-bune, inbound Sakata-bune", and only Oishida boats go from Oishida to Sakata, and cargo from Sakata is generally carried by Sakata ships, and this one-way transportation is used. was carried out until the end of the Edo period. This was one of the reasons why Oishida's ship owners became so prosperous.

Shipping management came under the direct control of the Edo Shogunate due to conflict over interests.

However, in Oishida, a situation arose in which some shipowners had monopoly control over the area, and a dispute over interests broke out with opposing forces. From the end of the Genroku period, a division was established to arrange boat transportation, and things seemed to be calming down for a while, but by the late 1700s, the situation was once again out of control, and the number of riverboats had decreased. Ta.

In 1792, in order to resolve this confusion, the Edo shogunate abolished the local shogunate system and established the Oishida Funen Yakusho, a shogunate system under the direct control of the shogunate. This Oishida Ship Office managed Oishida's shipping until the end of the Edo period.

Boat transportation suddenly declined during the Meiji period when annual rice tax was abolished.

After the Meiji Restoration, the annual rice tax was changed to a tax based on land prices, and the importance of shipping decreased and the industry rapidly declined. Furthermore, land routes have been developed, and distribution will become centered on land routes. Even so, steamships were introduced to take advantage of ships' ability to carry a large amount of cargo at once, and passenger ships were put into service, but with the opening of the Ou Main Line in 1903, Oishida's shipping service came to an end. is.

The Oishida river bank ruins has become a tourist attraction after the construction of a seawall.

The Mogami River is often raging and causing flooding.For this reason, bank protection work was carried out over a period of 14 years starting in 1965 (Showa 40), and a concrete embankment (special embankment) was built with a total length of approximately 2,100 meters on both sides.This included the area where Oishida's dock was located, and the town was separated from the Mogami River. However, the people of Oishida, who are disappointed that the traditional scenery has been damaged even though the flood damage has disappeared, are asking, ``Can we somehow restore the connection between the river and the town that flourished through the Mogami River?'' The landscape was improved over a period of five years starting in 1991.

The entire surface of the embankment, which is 151.6m long and 5.8m high, has been used to recreate the Daimon gate, which was the entrance to the warehouse and ship's office. The Oishida pier, which was bustling during the Edo period, has been revived as a new seawall.

INFORMATON

• Facility name: Oishida Town History and Folklore Museum
• Location: 37-6 Oishidaotsu, Oishida-machi, Kitamurayama-gun, Yamagata Prefecture
• Phone number: 0237-35-3440
• Opening hours: 10:00-16:30
• Admission fee: 200 yen for adults, 150 yen for high school and university students, 100 yen for elementary and junior high school students)
• Closed: Mondays, the day after holidays, year-end and New Year holidays (December 29th to January 3rd), and closed for exhibition changes.

Matsuo Basho stayed in Oishida for three days and wrote his famous haiku.

Matsuo Basho visited Oishida in 1689 during the Genroku period, when it flourished as a docking place, and stayed there for three days. Basho and his group had planned to enjoy a river trip from Oishida, but the weather turned out to be bad and they had to wait at the house of their haiku friend Kazue Takano for the weather to improve. A haiku meeting was also held at that time, and the four people who gathered left behind a collection of 36 consecutive haiku poems called ``Samidarewo'' (a cultural property designated by Yamagata Prefecture).

A line left by Basho in the poet ``Samidare wo'' is

Isuzu Shimogami River collects samidare

is. ``Oku no Hosomichi'' is famous for “The Mogami River gathers the rain in May and rises early”However, this haiku was composed while traveling from Oishida to Shinjo and then going down the Mogami River, and was first composed in Oishida as a ``suzushi''. However, it is said that after much elaboration, it may have become "quick".

Oishida, where culture from Kansai remains thanks to boat transportation

The culture of Kyoto and Osaka has been transmitted to Oishida via Sakata, which had trade with the Osaka area. A typical example of this is Hina-sama. Large Kyoho Hina dolls, Kokinbina dolls, which are said to be the prototype of modern Hina dolls, and Kyoto's Imperial Palace dolls are still preserved in many private homes. The Oishida Hinamatsuri, held in early April, is a seasonal event of Oishida spring, where you can see the dolls called "ohinami" decorated in each home.

INFORMATON

• Oishida Town
• Location: Oishida Town, Kitamurayama District, Yamagata Prefecture
• Phone number: 0237-35-2111 (Oishida Town Hall)
• URL: Oishida town tourist information site Oishida news

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