Samegai-juku
Samegai-juku 醒井宿 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hiroshige's print of Samegai-juku, part of the Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō series | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Maibara, Shiga (former Ōmi Province) Japan | ||||
| Coordinates | 35°19′44.4″N 136°21′03.9″E / 35.329000°N 136.351083°E | ||||
| Elevation | 120 m | ||||
| System | Post station | ||||
| Line | Nakasendō | ||||
| Distance | 457 km from Edo | ||||
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Samegai-juku (醒井宿, Samegai-juku) was the sixty-first of the sixty-nine post stations on the Nakasendō, a highway connecting Edo (present-day Tokyo) and Kyoto during the Edo period of Japan. Located in what is now Maibara in Shiga Prefecture, the post town developed around the clear spring Isame no Shimizu and the Jizogawa River. Several Edo-period buildings and waterways survive, and the area forms part of the Japan Heritage listing “Lake Biwa and its Waterside Landscape—Water Heritage of Prayer and Life.”
History
Early history
Samegai-juku has a long recorded history and is mentioned in both the Kojiki and the Nihon Shoki (720) in connection with the legend of Yamato Takeru. It stood along the ancient Tōsandō route linking the capital with the eastern provinces, and continued to appear in travel diaries and waka poetry through the Heian and Kamakura periods. Its abundant clear spring water—especially the source known as Isame no Shimizu (居醒の清水), which feeds the Jizogawa—made the settlement a favored resting place for travelers.[1]
Edo period
In 1602, the Tokugawa shogunate formalized the post station system on the Nakasendō, designating Samegai-juku as an official station. It became a stopping place for traveling merchants (Ōmi shōnin (近江商人)) from Ōmi Province and for western daimyō processions on the sankin-kōtai route to and from the shogun’s court in Edo. The Jizogawa was navigable by small boats and barges for local transport of goods, and Samegai-juku had seven ton’ya-ba (warehouses) along its banks—an unusually high number for a post town.
According to the 1843 "中山道宿村大概帳" (Nakasendō Shukuson Taigaichō) guidebook compiled by the Inspector of Highways (道中奉行, Dōchū-bugyō), the settlement had a population of 539 in 138 houses, including one honjin, one waki-honjin, and eleven hatago. The historic townscape developed along the Jizogawa with three main quarters: Shinmachi (east), Nakamachi (center, site of the honjin and waki-honjin), and Kozamegai (west). The western edge, known as Rokken jaya (“six teahouses”), served retainers traveling with daimyō processions.
The prosperity of Samegai-juku declined after the Meiji Restoration (1868), when the Nakasendō lost importance with the advent of modern rail transport.
Modern Samegai-juku
Preservation and heritage
Ten buildings from the Edo period survive today, giving visitors a sense of the post town’s original streetscape.[2] The Samegai-juku Archives Museum occupies the former Samegai Post Office, a Meiji/Taishō-era pseudo-Western building that displays artifacts related to the town’s history. Together with neighboring Kashiwabara-juku and Banba-juku, Samegai preserves one of the most continuous Edo-period streetscapes along the Nakasendō.
In 2015, the area was designated a component of the Japan Heritage program under the title “Lake Biwa and its Waterside Landscape—Water Heritage of Prayer and Life.”(in Japanese)[3][4]
Natural environment
The spring-fed Jizogawa still flows through the town, maintaining a constant temperature of about 14 °C year-round. Its clear water has long supported everyday life through small washing places and fish pens, and the water channels (kawabata) remain a distinctive feature of the townscape. Aquatic plants such as baikamo (Ranunculus nipponicus) bloom in season.[2]
Samegai-juku in The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō
Utagawa Hiroshige’s ukiyo-e print of Samegai-juku, produced between 1835 and 1838, centers on a large pine tree with the thatched roofs of the Rokken jaya in the background. Two samurai retainers, one bearing a spear, approach the buildings, while others carry loads up the slope behind them. A seated farmer smokes a pipe as the Hira Mountains rise in the distance, beyond which lies Lake Biwa.
Gallery
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Edo-period building in Samegai-juku
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Panoramic view of Samegai-juku along the Jizogawa
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Jizogawa River (spring-fed channel)
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Kamo-jinja, guardian shrine of the post town
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Former Samegai Post Office (now the Samegai-juku Archives Museum)
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Samegai Woodcarving Museum
Neighboring post towns
| Previous post town | Current | Next post town |
|---|---|---|
| Kashiwabara-juku 5.9 km away |
Samegai-juku | Banba-juku 3.9 km away |
(in Japanese)[5]
Notes
- ^ Machinami Kaidō Samegai-juku Archived 2007-10-16 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed July 23, 2007.
- ^ a b Samegai-juku Kankō & Rējā Gaido Archived 2006-06-28 at the Wayback Machine. Shobunka Publications, Inc. Accessed July 23, 2007.
- ^ "報道発表: 「日本遺産(Japan Heritage)」の認定結果及びロゴマークの発表について" (PDF) (Press release) (in Japanese). 文化庁. 2015-04-24.
- ^ "「琵琶湖とその水辺景観－祈りと暮らしの水遺産」" (PDF) (in Japanese). Retrieved 2023-10-21.
- ^ Kishimoto, Yutaka (2016). 中山道浪漫の旅 西編. 信濃毎日新聞社. ISBN 978-4-7840-7294-1.
References
- Izzard, Sebastian (2008). The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaido. George Braziller. ISBN 0807615935.
- Berna, Cristina (2019). Hiroshige: 69 Stations of the Nakasendō. Missys Clan. ISBN 2919787667.
- Kishimoto, Yutaka (2016). 中山道浪漫の旅 西編. 信濃毎日新聞社. ISBN 978-4-7840-7294-1. (in Japanese)
- Kishimoto, Yutaka (2011). 中山道63次を歩く. 信濃毎日新聞社. ISBN 978-4-7840-7174-6. (in Japanese)
- "報道発表: 「日本遺産(Japan Heritage)」の認定結果及びロゴマークの発表について" (PDF) (Press release) (in Japanese). 文化庁. 2015-04-24.
- "「琵琶湖とその水辺景観－祈りと暮らしの水遺産」" (PDF) (in Japanese).
- "Samegai-juku Kankō & Rējā Gaido". Shobunka Publications, Inc. 2006-06-28. Archived from the original on 2006-06-28. (in Japanese)
- "Machinami Kaidō Samegai-juku". Archived from the original on 2007-10-16.
External links
- Hiroshige Kiso-Kaido series
- Takamiya-juku on Kiso Kaido Road Archived 2021-09-18 at the Wayback Machine
- Maibara city home page (in Japanese)