is a 1.8 km street in Kamakura, a city in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan, unusual because it is at the same time the city's main avenue and the approach () of its largest Shinto shrine, Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū. Over the centuries, Wakamiya Ōji has gone thorough an extreme change. A heavily trafficked road today, it used to be, to the contrary, off limits to most people as a sacred space. At the time of the Kamakura shogunate it was an essential part of the city's religious life, and as such it hosted many ceremonies and was rich with symbolism. Since its construction, Wakamiya Ōji has been the backbone of the city's street planning and the center of its cultural life.Kamiya Vol. 1 (2008:15–16) The street has been declared a Historic Site and was chosen as one of the best 100 streets in Japan.
History
Like most of Kamakura's famous things, Wakamiya Ōji was built at the time of the Kamakura shogunate. Its builder, first Kamakura shōgun Minamoto no Yoritomo, wanted to imitate Kyoto's .Kamakura Shōkō Kaigijo (2008:56-57) The name Wakamiya Ōji means "Young Prince Avenue" and derives from its having been built in 1182 as a prayer for the safe delivery of Yoritomo's first son, future shōgun Yoriie. That name also appears in the Azuma Kagami, but from historical records it seems likely that the avenue at the time was more often called . In fact, all other Kamakura streets called Ōji by the Azuma Kagami, for example Ōmachi Ōji and Komachi Ōji, are also called Kōji in other medieval texts.
During the Muromachi period, Wakamiya Ōji was called with a number of different names by different sources, including , for example in Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū's official records, in the , and or in a poetry collection called . The word Nanadō ("seven times") refers to the number of times the shōguns representative for the Kantō region (the "Kantō kubō") would walk around the torii gate called "Hama no Torii" (see below) in a ceremony part of a whole week of religious celebrations. Analogously, the term Sendō ("a thousand times") refers to the custom of praying a thousand times while on this sacred avenue.
Recent excavations have revealed that Wakamiya Ōji was originally 33 m wide (much more than now), was flanked by pine trees (now present only next to Ichi no Torii, see below), and on its sides run a 1.5 m ditch. Next to its upper course, on the two sides there were empty spaces where the remains of a market have been found.
Being a shrine's approach, the avenue passes under three torii, or Shinto gates, called respectively Ichi no Torii (first gate), Ni no Torii (second gate) and San no Torii (third gate). The ordinal number decreases with the distance from the shrine, so the closest to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū is actually San no Torii. All were destroyed and rebuilt many times. Today's San no Torii and Ni no Torii were built in reinforced concrete in 1934 and are painted bright red, the remaining one is made of stone and was erected by Tokugawa Ietsuna in the 17th century. We know from the Shinpen Kamakurashi that until the Edo period the gate closest to the shrine was called Ichi no Torii, the middle one Ni no Torii, and the one closest to the sea Hama no Ōtorii ("Great Beach Torii") (see the section Hama no Ōtorii below).Kamiya Vol. 2 (2008:221-222) This was by far the holiest of the three, a symbolic link between the city and the sea from which it depended.Takahashi (2005:86-88)
Wakamiya Ōji itself was a sacred and ceremonial road which led to a sacred beach, and was used only for the shōguns pilgrimages to the shrines in Izu and Hakone (see also the section Yuigahama), and during official visits of important dignitaries. In May 1185,Gregorian dates obtained directly from the original Nengō using Nengocalc : Bunji 1, 5th month) Taira no Munemori, captured after the decisive Minamoto victory at the battle of Dan-no-ura, entered Kamakura with his son through Wakamiya Ōji. Normal people were rarely allowed on it, but the Azuma Kagami records that on this occasion it was lined with onlookers.
The Azuma Kagami tells us that, on its east side, in Komachi, there were the houses of the powerful and, for almost the entire Kamakura period, the seat of the government (called Utsunomiya Bakufu, first, and Wakamiya Ōji Bakufu later). The entrance of all buildings not belonging to the Hōjō or the Bakufu (with the curious exception of houses of ill repute) had to face away from Wakamiya Ōji (today's Hongaku-ji is a good example). Like today, the social class of those living to the west of the avenue was in general lower. The reason seems to be that, because six of the Kamakura's Seven Entrances faced west and any attack was in any case likely to come from Kyoto, which lies in the same direction, Wakamiya Ōji had a military value as a line of defense, and positions on its east side were desirable.
Further south social status dropped even further, because near Geba (see below) there were the pleasure quarters.
San no Torii
Wakamiya Ōji begins at San no Torii, which stands at the exit of Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū. During the Kamakura period, this particular gate used to also be the point of departure of the three main routes in the Kantō region of the old Kamakura Kaidō network of roads.Kamiya Vol. 1 (2006:17) The Kamakura Kaidō, built by the shogunate for its own use, consisted of roads that from all directions converged on Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū.Kusumoto (2002:60-61) It allowed quick troop movements from and to Kamakura and was of great importance during the many internal wars of the period. The three main routes were called , , and .
The exact courses of the three routes aren't known and are the subject of debate, but the following are the most widely accepted:
From Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū's gate, the Kami no Michi passed through the Kewaizaka Pass, then Susaki, Watauchi (today's Fujisawa), Karasawa, Iida (within today's Yokohama), then Seya, Tsuruma (today's Machida), Tamagawa, Bubai, Fuchū, Kokubunji, Sayama, and Ogawa, then, at the Usui Pass, divided in three, forming the (that went towards today's Nagano Prefecture), (that went towards today's Gunma Prefecture), and the (that went towards Musashi Province, today's Tokyo Prefecture).Kamakura Shōkō Kaigijo (2008:53-54) For unknown reasons, this route appears to be what the Azuma Kagami calls the Shimo no Michi.Nihon Rekishi Chimei Taikei, "Kamakura Kaidō
The road called Yoko Ōji that goes from San no Torii to Kita-Kamakura is still called "Kamakura Kaidō" once it leaves town, and used to be the Naka no Michi. The Naka no Michi departed from Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū with a left turn and passed through the Kobukurozaka Pass, Yamanouchi, Ofuna, Kasama (within today's Yokohama), Nagaya, Futamatagawa, and Nakayama, finally joining the Kami no Michi there.
The last road, known as the Shimo no Michi, was a branch of the Naka no Michi that departed before Tsurumi (within today's Yokohama), then crossed Maruko, Shibuya, Hatogaya, Yono, Iwatsuki, Koga, and Yūki, before reaching Utsunomiya.
The dankazura and Ni no Torii
Immediately after the San no Torii begins the , a raised pathway flanked by cherry trees which becomes gradually wider as it goes toward the sea. This structure makes the approach, when seen from Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, seem longer than it actually is. It is lined with cherry trees which bloom every year in early April, when many visitors come from all over the Kantō region to see them. Its entire length is under the direct administration of the shrine.
The stele under Ni no Torii reads:Original Japanese text available at kcn-net.org
The dankazura is also called . In March 1182, Minamoto no Yoritomo, wanting his wife Masako to have a safe delivery, had this sandō built from Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū all the way to Yuigahama's Great Torii. The stones and dirt necessary were personally carried by Hōjō Tokimasa and by many samurai of the Minamoto clan. The portion of the dankazura from the second torii onward was removed during the Meiji period.
Although this structure is as old as Wakamiya Ōji itself, the name dankazura first appears in the Edo period in the Shinpen Kamakurashi.Nihon Rekishi Chimei Taikei, "Wakamiya Ōji" During the Muromachi period it was called, among others, Okiishi as the stele says, , or .
The demolition of so much of the dankazura actually took place over a long time. The portion from Hama no Ōtorii to Geba Yotsukado was gradually demolished during the Edo period after having been damaged by an earthquake and a flood in 1495. The July 26, 1534Gregorian date obtained directly from the original Nengō using Nengocalc : Tenbun 3, 16th day of the 6th month) entry of the Kaigen Sōzuki tells us that damages from floods were so great that pilgrims going to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū and other pedestrians had to take a detour. It also describes the efforts of a private citizen who entered priesthood, started carrying dirt and stones to repair the Dankazura, and begged for money to fix Geba's bridge.
The avenue was then further shortened in 1878 to let the new Yokosuka Line pass through.
The two "lions" in front of Ni no Torii (visible in the photo) are in effect warden dogs called . So called because they were thought to have been brought to Japan from China via Korea, their name is derived from , the Japanese term for the Korean kingdom of Koguryo. They are almost identical, but one has the mouth open, the other closed. This is a very common pattern in statue pairs at both temples and shrines (it is in effect Buddhist in origin) and has an important symbolic meaning. The open mouth is pronouncing the first letter of the sanskrit alphabet ("a"), the closed one the last ("um"), representing the beginning and the end of all things
Geba Yotsukado
Between Ichi no Torii and Ni no Torii lies the , where Ōmachi Ōji crosses Wakamiya Ōji. The etymology of the name Geba ("Dismount horse") is interesting.
Wakamiya Ōji used to pass over three bridges (see Edo period print above): the first was Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū's Akabashi, the second was at Ni no Torii, where a brook (now covered but still visible on Komachi Dōri) crossed Wakamiya Ōji. The third was at today's Geba, where, according to a brass plaque found on the spot, the Sansuke river flows. (The river was covered in the 1960s to ease traffic.) Because at each bridge there was a sign with the order for horsemen to dismount, they were called respectively , , and . Only the third name stuck. At Shimo no Geba, riders would get off their horses and proceed on foot, in deference to the shrine ahead.
The stele in front of the gas station reads:Original text available at kcn-net.org A long time ago, when samurai came to worship at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, they had to dismount from their horses here, and for that reason this place was called Geba. The name has remained. Geba has an important position within Kamakura and old stories tell how it was often a battleground. It is said that, on September 12, 1271, Nichiren, arrested in his hut in Nagoe and on his way to the execution ground in Tatsunokuchi to be beheaded, turned to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū and yelled: "Hachiman Bosatsu, if you are a kami, give me a sign for the sake of Buddhism!"
The Azuma Kagami informs us that here in Geba Wakamiya Ōji stopped being a rich and stately avenue, and transitioned into the main street of a bustling pleasure quarter.
The Geba Incident At the end of the Tokugawa shogunate there were several incidents involving violence against foreigners, the most famous of which is the Namamugi incident in 1862. Two years later, in 1864, two more Britons were slashed to death at this intersection by some Japanese men.Kamiya Vol. 2 (2008:176–177)