A phantom landscape that you can't see now. Matsuo Basho was impressed by the elephant, Kujukushima [Nikaho City, Akita Prefecture]

Kisakata Kujukushima is a scenic spot located on the Sea of ​​Japan coast in Nikaho City, at the northern foot of Mt. Chokai, which rises on the prefectural border between Akita and Yamagata. Small, island-like mountains appear here and there in the rice field, creating a beautiful landscape that resembles a land-based version of Matsushima (Matsushima Town, Miyagi Prefecture), which is said to be one of the three most scenic spots in Japan.

Edo period travellers, Matsuo Basho and Sugae Masumi, were also moved by seeing the Kujukushima Islands and praised their beauty. However, there is a big difference between the scenery we see in Kujukushima, the Kujukushima Islands, and the scenery seen by Basho and Masumi.

The scenery of Kurogata, which has been referred to as Matsushima since the Heian period.

The Kujukushima Islands were created during the Heian period by Nouin, a poet who compiled a list of famous places and ancient sites from all over Japan (Utamakura), and Saigyo, a monk from the same period. It was written about in Japanese poetry, and was known as a spectacular view of Tohoku during the Edo period. What Basho and Masumi saw was a small island similar to Matsushima floating in the sea. We can no longer see it, but fortunately there are still illustrations drawn during the Edo period, and we can barely get a glimpse of what it looked like.

Did Basho start because he wanted to see Zogata? “Oku no Hosomichi” travelogue

left behind Oku no Hosomichi which focused on the Tohoku region

On March 27, 1689, when he was 46 years old (April 16 in the lunar calendar/modern solar calendar/hereinafter written in the lunar calendar in "Oku no Hosomichi"), he and his disciple Kawai Sora went to Fukagawa, Edo (Edogawa, Tokyo). Depart from Senju (Fukagawa, Tokyo) and walk north from Senju (Senju, Adachi, Tokyo). After passing through Saitama, Tochigi, and Fukushima, he traveled to Miyagi Prefecture, where he was deeply moved by Matsushima ( ``Matsushima ya, ah Matsushima ya, Matsushima ya '', but it is believed that his disciple Tawarabō wrote the poem). Later, in Hiraizumi (Hiraizumi Town, Iwate Prefecture), where the Oshu Fujiwara clan was at its peak of prosperity during the Heian period, he looked at the place where Minamoto no Yoshitsune died and wrote a poem, `` Summer grass and soldiers are the traces of dreams, '' and crossed the Ou Mountains and entered Yamagata Prefecture. , I have visited the three Dewa mountains (Mt. Gassan, Mt. Haguro, Mt. Yudono) and the mountain temple At Yamadera, he left behind a famous haiku: The voice of the cicadas that permeates the silence and the rocks After leaving Yamadera, the group takes a boat down the Mogami River (“ The Mogami River that collects the rain in May ”) and arrives at Sakata (Sakata City, Yamagata Prefecture), the largest port town on the Sea of ​​Japan side of Tohoku.

The group arrived at Sakata on June 13, 1689 (Genroku 2), and departed for Shogata on June 15. The ``Oku no Hosomichi'' was a journey that included visiting destinations further afield, but the itinerary was to leave Sakata for Kogata and return to Sakata three days later. This is the scenery that Basho really wanted to see, and it is said that the main destination of his ``Oku no Hosomichi'' was Kogata.

Passing through a difficult mountain pass in the heavy rain, we arrive at Izogata

To get from Sakata to Nōgata, you have to pass through the foot of Mt. Chokai, which rises to the north of Sakata, and cross three mountain passes. Mt. Chokai is a rare mountain whose base rises directly from the Sea of ​​Japan, and there are steep cliffs along the coast. At that time, the highway was built right on the edge of the sea, and depending on the weather, it was extremely dangerous. Kannonzaki, Daishizaki, and Fudozaki made of lava from the eruption of Mt. Chokai , and although the altitude is not very high, these are also known as difficult mountain passes. is. Although Basho was a middle-aged man, it was a mountain pass that required a great deal of determination for him to overcome . (I have seen countless beautiful landscapes of rivers, mountains, land and sea, but now the thought of seeing the lagoon makes me excited.) This is a place I want to go to, such as difficult places . I left without thinking.

The group departed Sakata in the morning and arrived at Fukura (Yusa Town, Yamagata Prefecture), just before Mt. Chokai, in the early afternoon. The weather was heavy rain, so we had no choice but to stay overnight in Fukiura and wait for the weather to improve. However, it rained again the next morning. But Basho, who wants to go to Zogata as soon as possible, forces his departure. Due to a rainstorm, they were forced to temporarily take shelter in a boathouse at Uyamuya no Seki, which is said to be on the prefectural border, but they managed to reach Kurogata the same day.

INFORMATON

• Facility name: Misaki old road (Misaki Park)
• Location: Kosagawa Misaki, Zogata-cho, Nikaho City, Akita Prefecture
• Phone number: 0184-43-6608 (Nikaho City Tourism Association)
• access:
• Public transportation: Approximately 15 minutes by car from JR Uetsu Main Line Zogata Station
• Car: Approximately 15 minutes from Nihonkai-Tohoku Expressway Zogata IC

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Basho expressed the beauty of Kogata by comparing it to the unparalleled beauty of ancient China.

at Shiokoshi Village (Shiokoshi Village, Shiogata Town, Nikaho City), where I was planning to stay, changed my clothes, ate udon, and went to Shiokoshi Village, even though it was still raining. I'm going on a tour of the island. They set out on a boat on the sea of ​​Nōgata and traveled to Noin Island, where Noin, who fell in love with Nōgata, is said to have spent three years.

Basho and his friends return to Notoya, but it is a festival in Shiokoshi and there are no rooms available, so they stay at an inn called Mukaiya. It started raining the next morning, but the weather gradually cleared Kanmanji Temple.After dinner, we took a boat trip around the bay and enjoyed the scenery to the fullest. The next day, June 18th, I returned to Sakata.

Basho wrote several poems inspired by the scenery of the Kujukushima Islands. among them

“Nemu flowers bloom in the rain and in the rain”

Basho depicts the beauty of zogata by comparing it to a time in ancient China where there was an unparalleled beauty named Seishi, and the king fell in love with her appearance and ended up destroying the country. Matsushima had a bright, sunny scenery that seemed to be smiling, but Kogata also wrote that it had a dark, melancholy atmosphere, as if someone was holding a grudge.

Basho Kuzogata and witnessed the scenery that Basho had seen. I raved about it inside.

The Kurogata earthquake completely turned the sea into land in one day

Twenty years after Masumi Sugae's visit, on July 10, 1804 (solar calendar), an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.0 (estimated) struck the Kurogata region. Kujukushima's landscape completely changed in one day. The Kujukushima Islands, which used to float in the sea, have now become small mountains scattered on land.

Due to the earthquake, the land of Kurogata rises by about 2 meters. What used to be shallow sea has dried up and turned into a polder. Although the earthquake caused devastating damage to the area, the Honjo clan, whose territory includes the area, immediately put efforts into rebuilding the area. After receiving a temporary loan from the Edo Shogunate, they began rebuilding the village and cultivating the raised land. A record written in 1846, about 40 years after the earthquake, states that `` what used to be a lagoon has become a rice field, '' indicating that rice paddies had spread out on the former Kujukushima Islands.

INFORMATON

• Facility name: Kujukushima (Kujigata)
• Location: Shioyakijima, Zogata-cho, Nikaho City, Akita Prefecture
• Phone number: 0184-43-6608 (Nikaho City Tourism Association)
• URL: Kujukushima (Kujukushima)
• access:
  • Public transportation: Approximately 15 minutes on foot from JR Uetsu Main Line Zogata Station
  • Car: Approximately 8 minutes from Nihonkai-Tohoku Expressway Kogata IC

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Kakurin, who risked his life to protect the scenery of Kujukushima, Kuzugata

The small mountain that was an island probably got in the way of the Honjo domain. We will continue to clear the land by tearing down the mountain. However, those who cannot forget the scenery of the Kujukushima Islands, where small islands appear on the surface of the water, object to this policy. Kakurin , the 24th chief priest of Kanman-ji Temple , repeatedly petitions the clan on the grounds that Kanman-ji Temple has been entrusted with Zogata as temple territory since ancient times. My request was not granted.

Kakurin comes up with a plan. If Kaman-ji Temple becomes a temple connected to the imperial family (the emperor and the imperial family), the domain will not be able to interfere with the Kujukushima Islands, which are temple territory. As a result of various efforts, they succeeded in making Kanmanji a prayer place for the Kaninnomiya family, and forced the domain to stop demolishing the small mountain.

However, the clan was enraged by Kakurin's actions, and he was chased for violating the orders of the clan. Sensing danger, Kakurin fled to Ueno Kan'eiji Temple in Edo (Taito Ward, Tokyo), but was discovered and taken back to his main residence and imprisoned. Kakurin died in 1822 while in prison. In this way, the landscape of Kujukushima has survived to this day in exchange for Kakurin's death.

INFORMATON

• Facility name: Kamanji Temple
• Location: 2, Hirogatajima, Higuta-cho, Nikaho City, Akita Prefecture
• Phone number: 0184-43-3153
• Admission fee: General 300 yen, high school students 150 yen, elementary and junior high school students 100 yen
• Visiting hours: 8:00-17:00
• URL: Kamanji Temple
• access:
  • Public transportation: Approximately 15 minutes on foot from JR Uetsu Main Line Zogata Station
  • Car: Approximately 8 minutes from Nihonkai-Tohoku Expressway Zogata IC

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``Nikaho City Local Museum'' exhibits historical materials and old drawings of Kurogata

`` Nikaho City Zogata Local History Museum 825-minute Paper Colored Zogata View depicting the Kujukushima Islands before they were uplifted, and the 825-minute folding screen depicting the Kujukushima Islands, which had It will be shown in the model reproduced in Part 1. In addition, there are materials related to Matsuo Basho's ``Oku no Hosomichi'', and Shiogoshi flourished as a port of call for Kitamaebune (merchant ships that did big business between Tohoku, Hokkaido, and Kansai while touring ports on the Sea of ​​Japan) from the Edo to the Meiji periods. The state of Minato etc. is also on display.

INFORMATON

• Facility name: Nikaho City Zogata Local Museum
• Location: 31-1 Kitsunemori, Zogata-cho, Nikaho City, Akita Prefecture
• Phone number: 0184-43-2005
• Opening hours: 9:00-17:00
• Closed: Mondays, the day after national holidays and substitute holidays, year-end and New Year holidays (December 29th to January 3rd)
• Admission fee: General 150 yen, high school and other students 100 yen, elementary and junior high school students 50 yen
• URL: Nikaho City Zogata Local Museum
• access:
  • Public transportation: Approximately 3 minutes by car from JR Uetsu Main Line Zogata Station
  • Car: Approximately 3 minutes from Nihonkai-Tohoku Expressway Zogata IC

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