郡山宿(Kooriyama inn town): for whatever reason, it’s surrounded by a bunch of ancient tombs

Kooriyama inn town is located in Ibaraki city of Osaka prefecture, not to be confused with IBARAKI PREFECTURE in east of Tokyo! On top of it, there are several “Kooriyama” throughout Japan, and this is one of the least known ones. 
When I researched Kooriyama inn town, other than preserved Honjin inn, all I found were ancient tombs, and the former residence of Yasunari Kawabata, known for his novel “The Dancing Girl of Izu”. 
Are there anything else we can find? Let’s get on the trail! 

First, about 1.5km from Kooriyama inn town Honjin, there is a monument of 1571 battle of Shiraigawara. This was a historical battle of Murashige Araki, Kiyohide Nakagawa vs Koremasa Wada and Shigetomo Ibaraki, which was recorded in the First European Descriptions of Japan(1585). The monument is right behind the fence at the center of the picture, So you cannot see it on this picture, unfortunately.

I circled red on ancient tombs. At least there are 4 ancient tombs, probably built in 4-6th centuries. At least one of them belongs to the imperial family.,Apparently there are some more ancient tombs on this map that did not come up on this scale of the map. 
The yellow circle is the monument of the former residence of Yasunari Kawabata(1899-1972) where he was born and spent his life until he graduated from the middle school. 
Today, only the monument stands. 















 Back on the track. Even before entering the inn town, you see old houses on the route. This is a fun part of Saigoku Kaido route. 



Entering Kooriyama inn town. 
I noticed that so far, on Saigoku Kaido route, the road is paved with either concrete blocks or light color stones to make it easier for the travelers to find the route. 










Here are old road signs to show the directions. There is a tall one at the center left, and two short ones under the picture of a child with yellow hat. 











The building of honjin inn is not open to public, according to Ibaraki city website. 













Although today’s Kooriyama inn town itself looks indeed boring like other modern towns in Japan, it does still have old houses that indicate what the inn town used to be. 











The big house on the left is apparently cafe. I would love to swing by for a cup of coffee here. 













In conclusion, there aren’t many excitements here. But when you expand the research to the surrounding are of Kooriyama inn town, there seems to be a lot to explore. 

Osaka monorail Toyokawa station is the closest to the inn town. I would recommend to do the research about ancient tombs along with Kooriyama in town visit. 
Btw I forgot to mention that there is a museum dedicated to Yasunari Kawabata in this city. 

Reference: 

Kiyohide Nakagawa. Wikipedia. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakagawa_Kiyohide (Accessed in 4/15/2025)

Profile of Yasunari Kawabata. Ibaraki City. https://www.city.ibaraki.osaka.jp/kikou/shimin/bunka/menu/kawabata/bungakuknnnituite/profilekawabata.html (Accessed in 4/15/2025)

Saigoku Kaido guide map. Rekishi Kaido Promotional Council. (The original title: 西国街道みちしるべ　歴史街道推進協議会) https://www.rekishikaido.gr.jp/kaido/saigoku/ (Accessed in 4/15/2025)




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Off the beaten paths in Japan: how I find these places

  I created this blog, hoping to build a bridge between Japan and others, Japanese and other people, whether travel or work or study.  I have read and seen blogs and videos of the same topic. So I have to creative, because otherwise it will be one of these blogs. And it can be very boring.  For those who don’t know me, I am Japanese, born and grew up in central Japan, living in northeastern USA. My wife is an American. And I am a nurse in Japan and the US.(I guess there aren’t many Japanese male nurses working outside Japan). We have 2 kids. We are homeschooling.  I have weird academic degrees: associate degree in nursing, bachelor in German, master in cross-cultural education.  And my tendency is that, when everybody goes on one direction, I go to the other direction.  Anyhow, from these background, I am figuring out what I can do and what I can offer.  I consider the foundation of my Japan travel is central Japan, specifically Aichi, Gifu, Mie, south...
Read more

Introducing old road network:KAIDO

Before traveling to Japan, it’s always good to do research about destination. Good research is the foundation of your enriched travel. However, for those who have never been to Japan, there is always the question of “Where do we start?”.  This is one of the tools I am giving you. One of things I often look for is the signs of 街道(Kaidō).  Kaidō is old highways and routes that have been used for centuries. Kaidō used to be all over, from Edo(modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto(Tokaido and Nakasendo), to Shomosuwa(Kōshū Kaidō), to Nikko(Nikko Kaidō), to Shirakawa(modern-day Shirakawa city of Fukushima prefecture: Oshu Kaidō), and so on. These first five routes I mentioned are called Edo Five Routes, aka 五街道(Gokaido). These were officially maintained by Edo shogunate during Edo Period(1603-1868).  Here is an example of Kaido route. These bypass following link shows the route of Tokaido highway.  https://www.hiroshige.org.uk/Tokaido_Versions/Tokaido_Versions.htm  (Quoted from...
Read more

Starting the Kaido 101: Tokaido/Nakasendo-Nihonbashi(日本橋)

Image
 I wonder how many of my readers thought how long this guy’s lecture will continue.  As a visual learner, I would prefer to get the basic quickly, then as I practice, I want to go in depth.  One of the most popular trails of Kaidos is probably Tokaido. Some might say Nakasendo is arguably the best. But historically Tokaido has been a top traffic route, probably “the busiest” one. It is hard to figure out data of Edo period. One research shows that 40,000-260,000 people used parts of Tokaido, while  most parts of Nakasendo hardly reached more than 50,000 travelers. (Resource: “Main routes traffic amount n Edo period” by Ryoichi Tsuchida. 1982. 土田良一著「江戸時代における街道交通量」歴史地理学通号117  歴史地理学会編　1982年6月発行   http://hist-geo.jp/img/archive/117_028.pdf ) Today, “Tokaido” Shinkansen is often referred to as “The Aorta of Japan.  The Tokaido route consists of 53 stations(inn towns), from Edo(Tokyo) to Kyoto. Some would add 4 more stations(inn towns between Kyoto and Osaka...
Read more