Beach! 大磯宿(Oiso inn town)

 Shonan beach is a well-known surfing beach today. 
Oiso Tokaido inn town is right in front of Shonan beach. Hiratsuka is also close from the beach, but you can see the beach from the route directly.
There are pine trees by the road just before entering Oiso inn town. Now you see that this is a default of Tokaido Highway.
Around this pine trees, you would want to check out several things. 
This part of Tokaido goes slightly downhill, and it’s called Kesho-zaka(Makeup slope), and there is an old well, Kesho-ido. The actual sign of Kesho-ido says “Kesho Well”. The well water was used by women, especially prostitutes in this inn town, for their makeup. 
And this is the area where Hiroshige Utagawa drew another Ukiyoe, “Oiso: Tora’s Rain”. 
On this artwork, you will see that the beach is right there.
From here, the name “Tora”(Tiger) is a key word of this area. 
When you hear something related to tiger, or “Tora”, it’s mostly about Toragozen(1175-possibly 1238?) a famous prostitute from Hiratsuka, who grew up in Ōiso. She became a concubine of Sukenari Soga(1172-1193). His father was killed by Suketake Kudo, so he planned a revenge in 1193, when Yoritomo Minamoto(1147-1199) held a party one night. He succeeded the revenge, but he was arrested and killed at the site by Tadatsune Nitta, a vassal of Yoritomo. There is a legend that, it rains on 5/28 of Lunar calendar each year, which the revenge was carried out, and the rain advocates the sorrow of Toragozen for Sukenari. 
There is a stone called Toragoishi in Endaiji temple, about a few blocks toward the beach sides from National Route 1. As Toragozen as a young girl was growing up, this stone became bigger. 
Really…?

Oiso’s fun part is definitely the fact that it’s close to the beach, and several old houses are scattered. There are used as a sweet shop, restaurant, etc. 
This is near former Honjin.(The old house on the picture is not Honjin) in Oiso, there were 3 Honjin. One inn town can have more than 2 Honjin. In fact, Shinagawa had 2 Honjin, but later one of them was closed. 




The picture below is a ryokans inn with probably Edo-time warehouse. 

The picture on the right is a Japanese sweet shop. 
Right before National R-1 bears slightly right, the actual Tokaido goes a bit more toward the beach, then takes sharp right curve back to R-1. 
In this area, notable historical figures such as Shigeru Yoshuda(politician, 1878-1967) and Toson Shimazaki(novelist, 1872-1943) used to live. 
Near JR Oiso station, there is Sawada Miki Memorisl Hall. Apparently the founder was a collector of hidden Christian goods of 16-17th centuries. 

The beach in this area, including Hiratsuka city, is called Shonan beach. Including this street, you will see the monuments that say that the origin of Shonan beach is here. 
It says “湘南発祥之地大磯”(The land of the origin of Shonan; Oiso). I will put the link about the name origin of Shonan on reference section. 






Another old house. I am not sure if this was built in 1900s or not. It’s a restaurant. 

After passing Kyoto-side of guard gate, you will see another pine trees. 
This time, too, I had to skip a lot of stuff including shrines and temples. 





The access is JR Oiso station. From what I saw on street views and others’ pictures, most of signs at historical sites related to Tokaido Oiso inn town are written in Japanese and English. So I hope my blog readers will have easier time in figuring out. 

References: 

Oiso Sightseeing Guide Map. Oiso Tourism Association. https://mitte-x-img.istsw.jp/oisokankou/file/map2020_all_a.pdf (Accessed in 2/24/2025) 

大磯町郷土資料館　大磯宿の名所マップ　https://www.town.oiso.kanagawa.jp/material/files/group/30/oisojuku2022map.pdf (aAccessed in 2/21/2025)

Miki Sawada Memorial Museum. https://www.elizabeth-sh.jp/memorialmuseum-eng/access.html (Accessed in 2/21/2025)

Toragozen. Wikipedia.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tora_Gozen (Accessed in 2/22/2025)

Masashi, Soiri. “What’s in Tokaido Main Line Oiso Station, “the Mysterious Station of the Origin of Shonan”? Bunshun Online. (Original title: 鼠入昌史　東海道本線”ナゾの湘南発祥の駅”「大磯」には何がある？　文春オンライン 7/31/2023) https://bunshun.jp/articles/-/64651?page=1 (Accessed in 2/24/2025)




　　

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