Nagaokakyo ~OCT,2024~

Heijo-kyo was originally built as an eternal capital, but Emperor Kanmu moved the capital to Nagaoka-kyo 74 years later, and to Heian-kyo 10 years after that. It was only 10 years, but it seems that the construction was extensive, so I stayed for a while at the site of the Daigokuden, which appeared in the middle of the emperor's residential area.

The Nara period, the "Aoniyoshi" Flower City, saw many political upheavals by imperial succession and the Fujiwara clan, the imperial family that supported them, and there was a rapid change of government. The most significant events were the death of Emperor Shotoku and the demotion of his lover, Dokyo, which resulted in the end of the Tenmu line of emperors, and Emperor Tenchi's grandson, Prince Shirakabe (Emperor Kōnin), was chosen to succeed her. He took Emperor Shōmu's daughter, Princess Inoue, as his empress, and had two children, Prince Osabe and Princess Sakahito. If Prince Osabe were to ascend to the throne, the Tenchi and Tenmu lines of the imperial line would be united, and it would seem that the legitimacy of the imperial throne would be peacefully guaranteed. However, after Emperor Kōnin ascended to the throne, Princess Inoue was made empress and Prince Oto was made crown prince, but the following year both were deposed for cursing Emperor Kōnin, and Prince Yamabe (Emperor Kanmu) was made crown prince. He became the crown prince at the age of 36 and ascended to the throne at the age of 44.

Emperor Kanmu's mother was Takano no Niigasa, said to be a descendant of the king of Baekje, and he was born to a mother of lower rank than Princess Inoue, but he ascended to the throne with the support of the Shiki family Fujiwara no Momokawa, and made his younger brother Prince Sawara the crown prince. The new emperor, who had risen from a side branch of the Tenchi lineage that had been living in the shadows, was already at a good age and I imagine he felt the need to quickly demonstrate his raison d'être and his capabilities in order to stabilize his own imperial line. Three years after ascending to the throne, he moved the capital to Nagaoka-kyo, and appointed Fujiwara no Tanetsugu as the person in charge of the construction, but Tanetsugu was assassinated.

Emperor Kanmu confined Prince Sawara to Otokuni-dera Temple, citing him as the main culprit, and the prince died on the way to be exiled to Awaji Island. He was later posthumously named Emperor Sudou, and his tomb is in Nara, however the memorial tower was been built in Otokuni-dera. The successor to the throne was Emperor Kanmu's son, Prince Adeno (Emperor Heizei), but after the Kusuko Incident, the imperial line was passed on to his younger brother, Emperor Saga. Both Takeda Yoshinobu and Tokugawa Nobuyasu had problems with the development of their heirs, but the story of the Nara period gives a stronger sense of the shadow of a conspiracy.

The area around Nagaoka Tenmangu Shrine was originally the territory of Sugawara no Michizane, and it seems that he and Ariwara no Narihira enjoyed poetry, music and music here. Michizane stopped here on his way to Dazaifu, and was reluctant to leave, but after his death, the Sugawara clan founded the shrine. Incidentally, Narihira was the grandson of the Emperor Heizei mentioned above.

On the mountain side of Nagaokakyo, there are three temples called Nishiyama Sanzan, which are the head temples of the Nishiyama Jodo sect. This time, I visited two temples (Komyoji Temple and Yokoku-ji Temple) as I was touring Nagaokakyo City and Oyamazaki Town. Komyoji Temple was originally the Nembutsu Sammai Hall where Rensho (Kumagaya Naozane) retreated after killing Taira Atsumori at the age of 16 in the Battle of Ichinotani and becoming a monk after that.

Yokokuji Temple has an unusual structure where you can walk from the main hall to the inner sanctuary through corridors and stairs while looking at the garden, and at the end of the corridor is the Ganriki Inari Shrine, which is said to be effective against eye diseases. It was still too early for the autumn leaves to change color, but it is a recommended spot for those who are tired of walking around the crowded streets of Kyoto.

After Oda Nobunaga entered Kyoto with Ashikaga Yoshiaki, he drove out the Miyoshi Triumvirate and entrusted Shoryuji Castle to Hosokawa Yusai, ordering him to reinforce it. Yusai was eventually given the fief of Tango and ruled from this castle for ten years. During that time, his legitimate son Tadaoki married Akechi Mitsuhide's daughter Tama (Gracia) here and had two children (Tadataka and Okiaki). Mitsuhide quickly took control of the castle after the Honnoji Incident and tried to prepare for Hideyoshi's army coming from the west, but as is well known, he was overwhelmed by the speed and size of Hideyoshi's army and was defeated at Yamazaki. The Hosokawa father and son, who believed that the Hosokawas were allies, politely refused the reinforcements, saying that they were in mourning. The Hosokawa family seemed to have a deep attachment to Nagaoka, and after the Battle of Sekigahara, Tadataka retired to Kyoto and called himself Nagaoka Kyumu. His descendants later became chief retainers of the Hosokawa family of the Kumamoto domain and welcomed the Meiji Restoration. As I wrote in a separate article, Takamoto Hosokawa, a political commentator famous for his talks on current affairs, comes from that family.

Just 3km south of Shoryuji Castle, you will reach the site of the Battle of Yamazaki, where the Katsura, Uji, and Kizu rivers join together to form the Yodo River. Halfway up Mount Tenno, there is Ogura Shrine, where Hideyoshi is said to have prayed for victory before the battle and to have donated 3,000 bales of rice there every year since. After his defeat, Mitsuhide attempted to flee to his base at Sakamoto Castle, but it is commonly believed that he was killed in a hunt for fugitives in Ogurusu on the way. There are many books written about the mysteries surrounding Mitsuhide, so I would like to touch on this again if I have the opportunity.

In the mid-9th century, more than 60 years after the capital was moved to Heian-kyo, Emperor Seiwa enshrined a separate shrine to Usa Hachiman on the site of his great-grandfather Emperor Saga's villa, and later on on the opposite bank at Otokoyama, establishing two Hachimangu shrines. The former is called Rikyu Hachimangu and the latter Iwashimizu Hachimangu, and although both shrines are located in the back demon's direction of Heian-kyo and remain to this day, Iwashimizu Hachimangu is by far more well-known today.

In the Middle Ages, Rikyu Hachiman Shrine made its living from a monopoly on perilla oil, and until the end of the Edo period it maintained a large shrine grounds as the "Nikko of the West." However, it was burned down in the Battle of Kinmon as it was used as a garrison for the Choshu clan, and when the Meiji period began most of the shrine grounds were converted into land for the Tokaido Main Line, causing it to shrink considerably.

I was reminded of a story I read a long time ago by Ryotaro Shiba called "The Tale of the Conquest of the Country," in which Saito Dosan was described as selling oil as a shrine priest in Yamazaki in his youth, and this was quite moving.

There is only 200-300m between JR Yamazaki Station and Hankyu Oyamazaki Station, but from here you can enter the hiking trail with a steep slope leading to Mt. Tennozan. In front of Yamazaki Station is Myoki-an, which has the teahouse "Tai-an" (national treasure) built by Sen no Rikyu, but we did not make a reservation and were unable to visit. On the mountainside are Kannon-ji Temple, Dainen-ji Temple, and Hoshaku-ji Temple, but all of these were exposed to attacks by the Shogunate army because the Sonno Joi faction's martyrs set up camps on Mt. Tennozan during the Kinmon Incident. From the Hoshaku-ji Temple gate, you can see a distant view of Osaka from the confluence of the three rivers, and it seems that you can see Hideyoshi's army rushing in. This is probably the only place to wait for a large army of tens of thousands.

Near Nagaoka Palace, the Motoinari Kofun, one of the oldest keyhole-shaped tumuli (from the late 3rd century), is adjacent to a children's park. It dates back to the time of Queen Toyo, who succeeded Queen Himiko, and is a first-class ruin that unravels ancient history, but it is not in good condition. It appears to have been the victim of large-scale grave robberies during the Edo period, but a pit-type stone chamber and a few grave goods, haniwa clay figures, and pottery fragments have been unearthed. The surrounding area is collectively known as the Muko Hills Kofun Group, and there are several other keyhole-shaped tumuli scattered around. We hope to see more valuable discoveries in the near future.