The was a post station on the ancient ''Saigoku kaidō'' highway in what is now the Sakurai neighborhood of the town of

Shimamoto, Osaka 280px, Suntory Yamazaki distillery in Shimamoto is a town consisting of the entirety of Mishima District, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 32,292 in 14334 households, and a population density of 1900 people per ...

in the

Kansai region The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It is noted for its connection to theb imperial loyaloist

Kusunoki Masashige , or , was a Japanese military commander and samurai of the Kamakura period remembered as the ideal loyal samurai. Kusunoki fought for Emperor Go-Daigo in the Genkō War to overthrow the Kamakura shogunate and restore power in Japan to the ...

and was designated a National Historic Site in 1921.

Overview

The Sakurai post station was an ''umaya'', or horse station, on the ''Saigoku kaidō'', the official government highway connecting

Heian-kyō Heian-kyō was one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. It was the official capital of Japan for over one thousand years, from 794 to 1868 with an interruption in 1180. Emperor Kanmu established it as the capital in 794, mo ...

with

Shimonoseki file:141122 Shimonoseki City Hall Yamaguchi pref Japan01s3.jpg, 260px, Shimonoseki city hall is a Cities of Japan, city located in Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 248,193 in 128,762 households and a pop ...

. Established by the

Taika Reform The were a set of doctrines established by Emperor Kōtoku (孝徳天皇 ''Kōtoku tennō'') in the year 645. They were written shortly after the death of Prince Shōtoku and the defeat of the Soga clan (蘇我氏 ''Soga no uji''), uniting Jap ...

s, such stations were located approximately every 30 ''ri'' (about 16 kilometers) along the route. Per Volume 5 of the ''

Shoku Nihongi The is an imperially-commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 797, it is the second of the '' Six National Histories'', coming directly after the and followed by ''Nihon Kōki''. Fujiwara no Tsugutada and Sugano no Mamichi served as t ...

'', under an entry for the year 711, "Ohara Station, Shimakami County,

Settsu Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises the southeastern part of Hyōgo Prefecture and the northern part of Osaka Prefecture. It was also referred to as or . Osaka and Osaka Castle were the main center of the province. Most of Settsu's ...

" was created on the route between Kyoto and

Nishinomiya 270px, Nishinomiya City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Nishinomiya city center 1985 270px, Hirota Shrine is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 484,368 in 218,948 households and a population density ...

, and it is believed that this location corresponds to the Sakurai post station. This was the location in Volume 16 of the ''

Taiheiki The (Chronicle of Great Peace) is a medieval Japanese historical epic (see '' gunki monogatari'') written in the late 14th century and covers the period from 1319 to 1367. It deals primarily with the Nanboku-chō, the period of war between the ...

'' where

Kusunoki Masahige , or , was a Japanese military commander and samurai of the Kamakura period remembered as the ideal loyal samurai. Kusunoki fought for Emperor Go-Daigo in the Genkō War to overthrow the Kamakura shogunate and restore power in Japan to the I ...

, en route to his death at the

Battle of Minatogawa The Battle of Minatogawa (), also known as the Battle of Minato River, was part of the Nanboku-chō Wars fought near the Minato River in Settsu Province (present day Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture) on 5 July 1336. The Imperial forces loyal to Empe ...

against the forces of

Ashikaga Takauji also known as Minamoto no Takauji was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. ...

, parted ways with his son

Kusunoki Masatsura was the eldest son of Kusunoki Masashige (1294 – 1336), and succeeded him as the head of the Kusunoki lineage. Along with his father and his younger brothers Masanori and Masatoki, Masatsura was a supporter of the Southern Imperial Court duri ...

, whom he ordered to

Kawachi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan in the eastern part of modern Osaka Prefecture. It originally held the southwestern area that was split off into Izumi Province. It was also known as . Geography The area was radically different in th ...

. The events of the ''Taiheiki'' were greatly romanticized and promoted by the

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

and pre-war Japanese nationalists, who drew parallels between the

Kenmu restoration The was a three-year period of Imperial rule in Japanese history between the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period from 1333 to 1336. The Kenmu Restoration was an effort made by Emperor Go-Daigo to overthrow the ruling Kamakura Shogunate ...

and the

Meiji restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

550 years later. In November 1876, the British ambassador to Japan, Sir Harry Parkes erected a stone monument on this site commemorating Kusunoki Masashige, and further monuments were erected by General

Nogi Maresuke Count , also known as Kiten, Count Nogi GCB (December 25, 1849September 13, 1912), was a Japanese general in the Imperial Japanese Army and a governor-general of Taiwan. He was one of the commanders during the 1894 capture of Port Arthur from ...

in 1913 and Fleet Admiral

Tōgō Heihachirō , served as a '' gensui'' or admiral of the fleet in the Imperial Japanese Navy and became one of Japan's greatest naval heroes. As Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, he successfully confine ...

in 1931. In 2008, Shimamoto Station on the Tokaido Main Line opened nearby. Previous to this, plans had been proposed to construct a train station near this location many times.

Minase Station is a train station located in the town of Shimamoto, Mishima District, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. It is operated by the private transportation company Hankyu Railway. Lines The station is served by the Kyōto Main Line and is 25.7 kilometers ...

and Kammaki Station on the

Hankyu Kyoto Line The is a railway line in Japan operated by the private railway operator Hankyu Railway. It connects Osaka-umeda Station in Osaka and Kyoto-kawaramachi Station in Kyoto. Definition The Kyoto Main Line is often called the for short, and in ...

were originally opened under the names "Sakurai-no-eki eki" and "Kanmaki Sakurai-no-eki eki", respectively. The site of the Sakurai post station is now a park. Sakuraiekiato03s2040.jpg, Monument by Tōgō Heihachirō 桜井の駅102.jpg, Monument by Sir Harry Parkes

References

External links

Shimamoto town home page
{in lang, ja History of Osaka Prefecture Shimamoto, Osaka Historic Sites of Japan

Overview

See also

References

External links