木野川渡し(Konogawa watashi) was the river crossing site on Oze(Kono) river of San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido highway. And it was the boarder of the country of Suo(周防:today’s southwestern Yamaguchi prefecture) and the country of Aki(安芸: today’s Hiroshima prefecture).
I use Kono River here, but the river is actually called Oze River as well. This is because the river has different names by Hiroshima and Yamaguchi locals. In Hiroshima, it has been called Kono, while it is called Oze in Yamaguchi.
This is one of places not featured on regular guidebook. It looks that, many people who know this place visit because of San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido trail.
We are sort of derailing off from the trail. Konogawa boat ride site had a honjin inn, in case of high water level of Kono river. Tsuya honjin’s gate has been preserved here.
This is my discovery from Google map/street views. Near Tsuya honjin inn, there is a good number of old houses as if this was late Edo or early Meiji period(mid to late 1800s). I am sure that some of houses used to be offices of boat workers, cargo terminal, rest house for workers.
Today, JR San’yodo line goes on coast line, and San’yo Shinkansen goes through tunnels on tye mountain side. Before railway routes were established, San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido was the shortest way by the distance to go to Kudamatsu, Hofu and Shimonoseki.
According to Google map, this old house section continues for about 400-500 m in total. So it is a small old townscape.
Transportation wise, Konogawa watashi site does not have a good access by public transportations. The only transportation means other than taxi is a community bus from JR Otake station. There are 6 services per day on weekdays, and 4 services per day on weekends/holidays. Hiking up here from JR Otake station or JR Waki station takes about 50 minutes.
I’m personally interested in visiting Konogawa watashi site. But for most international travelers, there is no info in English or other languages. Plus, options of restaurants/cafes seem to be extremely limited. So far, I found only one restaurant, which serves okonomiyaki pancakes for lunch and dinner.
This old house street goes a bit more, but soon the end comes.
On the riverside, there is a dyke called 小林三角和久(Kobayashi Sankaku Waku). It is a triangular dyke to reduce the speed of the current. Lord Masanori Fukushima, who was the second lord of Hiroshima castle, built this dyke in early 1600s.
This information board explains a bit more about San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido and Kono/Oze River crossing.
On the shore, there is a recreated Gojinji, a place for high class samurai’s kago palaquin to be placed while the person is on board, in order to prepare for crossing the river.
Today, in order to cross the river, you will have to go in Ryogoku bridge, about 300m north of here.
Now we are in Iwakuni city, Yamaguchi prefecture.
This information board explains this side of Oze/Kono River crossing site. Apparently this side also had establishments including offices of boat workers. There is Chushoin temple, only two blocks northeast of here, seems to tell us a bit about old San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido time.
Next to this information board, there is a stone monument with a haiku song by Shoin Yoshida(1830-1859), who was from Hagi. Shoin as an educator and a scholar who trained renowned leaders such as Kogoro Katsura, Hirobumi Ito, Aritomo Yamagata etc. and consequently contributed to Meiji Restoration(1868). As commodore Matthew Perry demanded Tokugawa shogunate to open the country, Tokugawa shogunate made Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States in 1858, without consulting to the imperial court. Shoin criticized against Tokugawa shogunate for this, which angered Tokugawa shogunate. Shoin was arrested and executed in 1859 during Ansei Purge.
On his way to Edo for execution, he wrote a song here to say goodbye to his homeland:
夢路にも帰らぬ関を打ち越えて
今を限りと渡る小瀬川
Crossing over the checkpoint that I can never return even in my dreams,
Now I’m crossing Oze River, knowing this is my last.
The next stop is 関戸宿(Sekido inn town), the first inn town in Yamaguchi prefecture.
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