谷根千をめぐる小さな旅（A small journey around YaNeSen）(Sunday,October 15, 2023-No50)
谷根千をめぐる小さな旅（A small journey around YaNeSen）(Sunday,October 15, 2023-No50)
Yanesen is a general term that refers to the Yanaka, Nezu, and Sendagi areas from the eastern end of Bunkyo Ward to the western end of Taito Ward.
Although this area is located inside the Yamanote Line, it was not damaged much by the Pacific War. Even after the war, it was spared large-scale development, so the old townscape remains.
Recently, the number of unique shops such as new general stores and restaurants has increased in the residential area, and the aspect of the area as a tourist destination is becoming stronger. The website of the Tokyo Convention & Visitors Bureau also lists "Yanaka, Nezu, and Sendagi" as one of the representative tourist areas of Tokyo.
Yanaka, which has a temple town and villa area and a popular shopping street from the Edo period, Sendagi, a residential area where many literati and rakugo artists such as Natsume Soseki, Mori Ogai, and Kokontei Shinsyo lived, and Nezu, which flourished as the gate town of Nezu Shrine and once had a red‐light district. It is commonly known as "Yane Sen" after the initials of the three towns. With an area of only 1.5 kilometers square and a surprisingly diverse landscape, it is truly a miracle city.
１．Yanaka Cemetery（谷中霊園）
Yanaka Cemetery is a metropolitan cemetery located in Yanaka 7-chome, Taito-ku, Tokyo. It covers an area of 102,537 m2 and contains about 7,000 tombs. It is a 6-minute walk from JR Nippori Station. Although it is outside the management area of the Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association, Kan-ei-ji Yanaka 1st Cemetery, Kan-ei-ji Yanaka 2nd Cemetery, Ten-no-ji Cemetery, and Ryo-gon-ji Cemetery, are surrounded by Yanaka Cemetery.
(1)Yanaka-Ten-no-ji（谷中・天王寺）
Tennoji Temple was founded in the late Kamakura period under the name of Chōyōzan Kannoji. The main statue was erected in 1690 as a sitting statue of Amitabha Buddha. The height is 4 meters 85 centimeters.
(2)Grave of Dr. Tomitaro Makino and his wife Sue（牧野万太郎博士と妻・壽衛の墓所）
Tomitaro Makino (May 22, 1862 – January 18, 1957)
He is widely known as the "father of Japan botany," and there are award facilities named after Makino throughout the Japan. He is an authority on modern plant taxonomy who discovered and named many new species. The results of his research have survived in the form of 500,000 specimens, observation records, and numerous works such as the Makino Japan Botanical Encyclopedia. NHK TV series "Ranman" (first half broadcast in 2023) The main character "Makino Mantaro" modeled on Tomitaro Makino was played by Ryunosuke Kamiki, and his wife Sue (1873 - February 23, 1928) was played by Minami Hamabe.
(3)Grave of Tokugawa Yoshinobu（徳川慶喜公の墓所）
The funeral was chaired by Shibusawa Eiichi, who had served Yoshinobu at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. His grave is in Yanaka Cemetery. Tokugawa's grave is in the Kan-ei-ji Cemetery in Yanaka Cemetery, but Yoshinobu wanted a Shinto-style burial so it is not in the Kan-ei-ji Cemetery. There are no Buddhist mortuary tablets（位牌） at Taijuji Temple (大樹寺 Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture), which is the place of the Tokugawa shogunate's family.
２．Exhibition hall attached to the downtown customs museum (former Yoshidaya liquor store) （下町風俗資料館付設展示場(旧吉田屋酒店)
This attached exhibition hall is a relocation of the building of "Yoshidaya", which has been operating a liquor store for generations since the Edo period in Yanaka 6-chome, to its current location. The building, built in Meiji 43, shows the characteristics of merchant house architecture from the mid-Edo period to the Meiji period.
Inside, tools used for the sale of alcoholic beverages, such as scales, funnels, masu wheels, barrels, virtues, advertising posters and signboards, and materials related to the trade are on display.
3. Takahashi Deisyu（1835～1903） and Daiyuji Temple （高橋泥舟と大雄寺）
Tokugawa Yoshiyobu's first choice as an emissary to Saigo Takamori in the government and military for negotiations on the disposition of the Tokugawa family was Deisyu in anticipation of his sincere and resolute personality. However, Deisyu was a person who Yoshinobu relied on him kindly, and he was unable to leave his lord's side due to the uneasy situation in Edo. Instead, he recommended his brother-in-law Yamaoka Tessyu, who played this major role brilliantly.
"The heart of a greedy person and the falling snow lose their way as they accumulate," and it is famous for saying that excessive desire is a deception to life, and that we should live selflessly and honestly.
4. Himalayan cedar in Yanaka (quoted from Tokyo Shimbun, October 17, 2019) （谷中のヒマラヤ杉（東京新聞からの引用））
Due to the wind and rain caused by Typhoon No. 19, one of the four trunks of a 100-year-old cedar tree next to a bakery in Yanaka, Taito Ward, broke off near the base. It had collapsed on the roof of the store, and the ward began its removal work on the 16th. Cedar is a symbol of the region, and the ward designated it as a "protected tree" in 2006. It is owned by Yoko Saito (85), the owner of the "Mikado Bread Store" on Sankai Road. The potted plant that Saito's grandfather had grown since before the war took root in the ground and grew to a height of 20 meters and a trunk circumference of 4 meters. The trunk splits into four branches toward the sky, spreading branches and leaves to cover the surrounding roads and shops.
５．The reason why there are many temples in Ynaka (inquiry by AI (GPT4))
（谷中にお寺が多い理由）
There are three main reasons why there are many temples in Yanaka.
(1) Yanaka was the demon gate of Edo Castle, and many shogunate bodhi temples such as Kaneiji Temple and their child temples were built.
(2) With the expansion of the urban area of Edo, many temples from Kanda and other places were relocated to Yanaka.
(3) The temple that was burned out in the Great Fire of the Ming Calendar (1657) was rebuilt in the valley.
Due to these historical backgrounds, Yanaka has become a large-scale temple town with more than 60 temples. Yanaka's temple town is a valuable place that still retains the popular culture of Edo and Tokyo.
This photo is of Enjuji Temple and Nikka-do（延壽寺・日荷堂）. Nikka-Syonin（日荷上人） is enshrined as the "god of healthy legs".
６. Nezu Shrine（根津神社）
It is an old shrine that is said to have been founded by Yamato Takeru(日本武尊 : He is the son of the 12th Emperor Keiko(景行天皇) and the father of the 14th Emperor Chuai(仲哀天皇). He is said to have carried out Kumaso(熊襲) and the Eastern Country Japan and is a legendary hero of ancient history.) nearly 1900 years ago.
The current shrine building was built in the 3rd year of Hoei (1706) on the site of a house dedicated by Tokugawa Ienobu (later the 6th shogun), the lord of Kofu Domain. It is considered a masterpiece of gongenzoku (the main hall, the main hall, and the worship hall are structurally integrated). Seven shrine buildings are designated as important cultural properties of the country.
This photo is of the "Stone of Literary Lords（文豪の石）". It is located on the left immediately after entering the tower gate of Nezu Shrine, next to the entrance to Otome Inari Shrine. It is said that Natsume Soseki and Mori Ogai, who lived in the neighborhood, sat here and thought about this stone when they took a walk.
７．Natsume Soseki and the Cat House（夏目漱石と猫の家）
Soseki spent nearly four years in Sendagi from 1903 (Meiji 36), when he returned from studying in England, but the proximity to Tokyo Imperial University, where he was a lecturer, may have been convenient as a walking area. Even so, he has many complaints about neighbors and leaves cryptic words such as "I don't like Sendagi, so I won't leave." Eventually, he moved at the request of the owner of the house returning from his local assignment, but reluctantly.
Natsume Soseki wrote his first novel "Gohan is a Cat" in this house, so it is called "Cat House".
On the site of this residence stands a stone monument written by Kawabata Yasunari, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. This Sendagi house was also inhabited by Ogai about 13 years before Soseki (now moved to Meiji Village in Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture).
8. Mori Ogai and Kanchoro Ruins （森鴎外と観潮楼跡）
Until Mori Ogai's death in 1922 (Taisho 11), the ruins of a residence where he wrote many masterpieces such as "Youth", "Goose", and "Takase-Bune". Ogai moved here in 1892 (Meiji 25) from "Cat House", which is later known for Natsume Soseki's novel "Gohan is a Cat". He could see Tokyo Bay far from the study on the second floor, so I named it Kan-cho-ro Tower. From 1907 (Meiji 40), the Kanchoro Short Poems Party（観潮楼歌会） was also held, and Sasaki Nobutsuna, Yosano Tetsukan, Ito Sachio, Ishikawa Takuboku and others also attended. On November 1, 2012 (Heisei 24), to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Mori Ogai's birth, the Bunkyo Ward Mori Ogai Memorial Hall was opened on the site of this "Kanchoro".
9. Yamaoka Tetsushu and Zenshoan 山岡鉄舟と全生庵
In 1880 (Meiji 13), Yamaoka Tetsushu requested the construction of Yamaoka Tetsushu to mourn the bodhi（菩提を弔う to hold a memorial service for the dead） of those who were martyred during the Meiji Restoration. There is a tomb of the first Sanyutei Encho, a master of rakugo, and around August 11 every year, this temple(Zenshoan), Rakugo Association, and Enraku Ichimonkai（Enraku Rakugo Group 円楽一門会） each hold events at this temple.
Prior to the meeting between Katsu Kaishu and Saigo Takamori, who finalized the bloodless opening of Edo Castle, Yamaoka Tetsushu was directly ordered by Tokugawa Yoshinobu as an emissary to reach Sunpu (present-day Shizuoka City), where government and military troops were stationed, met with Saigo alone, negotiated, and concluded the general framework, and became a leading figure in the bloodless opening of Edo.
10. Tsuiji wall of Kan-non-ji Temple（観音寺の築地塀）
The Tsuiji wall of Kannonji Temple was built around the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, and this temple surrounded the east and south sides of the precincts of Kannonji Temple, but only the south side still exists. It partially collapsed due to the Great Kanto Earthquake that occurred in 1923 (Taisho 13), but when supplies were scarce due to the postwar depression that began at the end of World War I, the collapsed part was reassembled using the original materials as much as possible from the viewpoint of cultural property protection. After that, there was minor damage due to aging, but it was repaired and retained to this day as it was in the Edo period.
11. Okakura Tenshin and Okakura Tenshin Memorial Park（岡倉天心と岡倉天心記念公園）
Okakura Tenshin contributed greatly to the establishment of the Tokyo Fine Arts School (the predecessor of the current Tokyo University of the Arts) and later founded the Japan Art Academy. He was a pioneer in the study of art history in the modern Japan, and contributed to the establishment of the concept of Japan art after the Meiji era, conducting a wide range of educational activities such as art historian and art critic in English, training artists, and director of the Department of Chinese and Japan Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Okakura Tenshin Memorial Park is located on the site of his former home, which is also the birthplace of the Japan Art Academy. It is a small park of about 700㎡ that opened in 1967 (Showa 42). There stands the Rokkakudō Hall and a short poem monument, and a statue of Tenshin sits in the Rokkakudō.
１２．Yomise Night Store Street (quoted from Mitsubishi UFJ Real Estate Sales HP) and Yanaka Ginza Shopping Street（よみせ通りと谷中銀座商店街）
In 1920 (Taisho 9), the "Aizome River" that flowed from Komagome Somei（駒込染井） to Ueno Shinobazu Pond（上野不忍池）was culverted, and a street with a width of 8 meters was built on top of it. This is now the "Yomise Street Shoei-kai（よみせ通り商栄会）". After that, the shopping street was lined with morning markets, street stalls lined up in the afternoon, and at night street performers competed in the streets, and it grew into a fun street full of downtown atmosphere. It is said that the bustle continued until late at night, so it came to be called "Night Shop Street". The name of the shopping street, "Yomise," is a remnant of that. Even now, you can feel the remnants of it here and there on the street, and it is a shopping street with such warmth.
Yanaka Ginza（谷中銀座） is an old-fashioned shopping street that has been around since the 1950s. There are about 60 shops and restaurants. "Sunset Dandan（夕焼けだんだん）" was named by Mayumi Mori, writer and editor of the town magazine "Yanesen" when the stone steps were renovated in 1990. The slope of the stairs is 15 degrees and gentle, the height difference is 4 meters, and there are 36 steps. It is 4.4 meters wide and 15 meters long.
