The history of Oishida Town, which flourished during the Edo period thanks to boat traffic on the Mogami River (Yamagata Prefecture)

Oishida Town is located almost in the center of Yamagata Prefecture, and is a town with a thriving agricultural industry, represented by rice and watermelon, with the Mogami River flowing through the center

The "Soba Highway," lined with soba restaurants using the prefecture's famous buckwheat , attracts many soba lovers from outside the prefecture. The "Oishida Hinamatsuri," "Mogami River Fireworks Festival" on August 16th, known for the 10 consecutive 20-size fireworks that are launched at the end , are some of the most spectacular events in the prefecture.

The banks of the Mogami River are lined with what appears to be old buildings stretching for over 150 meters, making them a popular tourist attraction

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Boat transport on the Mogami River began in the Nara period

Oishida is an area blessed with abundant water from the Mogami River, and ruins from the Paleolithic to Jomon periods have been discovered, proving that people have been living there since that time. It appears that water transportation began in the Nara period, and dugout canoes thought to have been used for water transportation have been excavated around the Mogami River.

Oishida has not appeared much in historical records from the Heian period to the Muromachi period, and little is known about it. It is said that the townscape and port of Oishida were not developed until the Sengoku period, when the Mogami clan came to rule it as their territory

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The Oishida wharf and townscape, which was developed and put into operation by Mogami Yoshiaki

In particular, the 11th head of the Mogami family, Yoshiaki (1546-1614), is known for making Oishida function as the largest wharf (riverbank) on the Mogami River

Yoshimitsu, who was a member of the Tokugawa army at the Battle of Sekigahara (1600), was awarded a wide area stretching from present-day Yamagata City to Sakata City by Tokugawa Ieyasu as his territory, making him a daimyo with a fief of over 500,000 koku (the exact amount is unknown)

Therefore, Yoshimitsu was forced to improve the transportation system within his domain, and he considered the Mogami River to be a key transportation hub. He positioned Oishida, with its calm current, as the central riverbank and carried out planned town development. The townscape that Yoshimitsu created can be seen in the Oishida Riverbank Map drawn in the late Edo period.

The Mogami clan's rule over Yamagata did not last long, and after Yoshimitsu's death, there were constant disputes over the succession of the family (the Mogami Disturbance), and the shogunate stripped them of their status and territory

However, Oishida remained a hub for shipping, and came to play an increasingly important role as a port for the shipping of rice tax and the trade of safflower

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The boat transport departing from Oishida was limited to ships from Oishida, a "one-way transport"

After the fall of the Mogami clan, several domains were established in Yamagata, including the Shonai Domain and the Shinjo Domain, but Oishida became the territory of the Yamagata Domain

The Yamagata domain was ruled by families such as Torii, Hoshina, Matsudaira, and Hotta, and during the Genroku period (1688-1704), when the Matsudaira clan ruled, there were around 300 boats at the Oishida wharf

The reason why a boat landing was built at Oishida was because upstream of Oishida, the river meanders greatly and the current becomes rapid at Goten , Mikanose , and Hayabusa, on the Mogami River.

The Mogami River near Oishida had a calm current, making it an ideal place for a dock. Boat transport in Oishida "Oishida boats going down, Sakata boats going up," meaning that only Oishida boats could travel from Oishida to Sakata, and Sakata boats were generally used to transport cargo from Sakata. This "one-way transport" continued until the end of the Edo period.

This was also one of the reasons why Oishida's ship owners became so successful

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Ship transport management came under direct control of the Edo Shogunate due to conflicts over interests

However, in Oishida, a situation arose in which a few shipowners had a monopoly on control, and a struggle for interests broke out with opposing forces

Towards the end of the Genroku period, a department was established to arrange boat transport, and things seemed to calm down for a time, but by the late 1700s, things were once again out of control, and the number of riverboats began to decline

In order to resolve this confusion, in 1792 the Edo Shogunate abolished the local people's duties and established the Oishida Ship Office, a direct control office of the Shogunate. This Oishida Ship Office managed the shipping of ships in Oishida until the end of the Edo period

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The abolition of rice tax during the Meiji period led to a rapid decline in shipping

After the Meiji Restoration, rice tax was changed to a tax based on land prices, and the importance of shipping decreased and it fell into rapid decline

Furthermore, land routes were developed, and distribution of goods became centered on land. Even so, steamships were introduced to take advantage of the advantage of ships, which could carry large amounts of cargo at one time, and passenger ships were put into service, but with the opening of the Ou Main Line in 1903, shipping in Oishida came to an end

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The remains of Oishida Riverbank have been renovated and become a tourist attraction

The Mogami River frequently rages and floods, so construction began in 1965 (Showa 40) and took 14 years to build a concrete levee (special levee) measuring approximately 2,100 meters on both sides.

This included the location of Oishida's boat dock, cutting off the town from the Mogami River. However, the people of Oishida were sad that their traditional landscape had been damaged in exchange for eliminating flood damage, and they raised the issue of whether there was any way to restore the connection between the town that prospered via the Mogami River and the river, and so a five-year landscape development project was carried out starting in 1991 (Heisei 3)

The entire 151.6m long and 5.8m high embankment has been used to recreate the main gate that served as the entrance to the wall storehouse and shipping office. The bustling Oishida wharf from the Edo period has been brought back to life as a new embankment landscape

Oishida Town History and Folklore Museum <Information>

• Facility name: Oishida Town History and Folklore Museum
• Address: 37-6 Oishida, Oishida-cho, Kitamurayama-gun, Yamagata Prefecture
• Phone number: 0237-35-3440
• Opening hours: 10:00-16:30
• Admission fee: Adults 200 yen, High school and university students 150 yen, Elementary and junior high school students 100 yen
• Closed: Mondays, the day after public holidays, New Year's holidays (December 29th to January 3rd), and when changing exhibitions

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Matsuo Basho stayed at Oishida for three days and wrote a famous haiku

In 1689 during the Genroku period, when Oishida was a thriving port Matsuo Basho visited the area and stayed there for three days.

Basho and his companions had planned to go river rafting from Oishida, but the weather was bad so they had to wait for the weather to improve at the home of his haiku friend, Takano Kazuei. A haiku gathering was also being held there, and the four of them left behind the kasen (a collection of 36 consecutive haiku poems) "Samidare wo" (A Cultural Property Designated by Yamagata Prefecture)

In the poem "Samidare wo" (The Last Sadness), Basho left behind a line:

The Shimogami River gathers raindrops

is

The famous poem in "Oku no Hosomichi" is, "The Mogami River flows quickly, gathering the May showers." wrote the poem in Oishida, using the word "suzushi."

it is said that "early" much revision

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Oishida, where culture from the Kansai region remains thanks to boat transport

The culture of Kyoto and Osaka was transmitted to Oishida via Sakata, which traded with Osaka

A typical example of this is the Ohina dolls. Large "Kyohobina" dolls, "Kokinbina" dolls, which are said to be the prototype of modern Ohina dolls, and Kyoto's "Gosho dolls" are still preserved in many private homes

The Oishida Hinamatsuri , held in early April, is a spring tradition in Oishida, where visitors can go around looking at the Hina dolls, known as "Ohinami," that are displayed in each household.

Oishida Town <Information>

• Oishida Town
• Location: Oishida Town, Kitamurayama District, Yamagata Prefecture
• Phone number: 0237-35-2111 (Oishida Town Hall)
• URL: Oishida Town Tourism Information Site Oishida

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