Azumi Basin
Encyclopedia
The is part of the Matsumoto Basin in Nagano Prefecture
, Japan. It covers approximately the municipalities of Azumino
, Ikeda
and Matsukawa
, and some parts of Matsumoto
and Ōmachi
. Formerly called Azumidaira, it stretches from the west banks of the Azusa and Sai rivers to the foot of the Hida Mountains
(also known as the Northern Alps) in the west, and towards the southernmost watershed of the Takase River
. It is known for its natural beauty and its abundance of museums and art galleries.
. They were famed for their skills in fishing and navigation. Between the second and the fourth century, they built a shrine on Shikanoshima island in present-day Fukuoka city
in northern Kyūshū. The shrine, Shikaumi Jinja (Shikaumi Shrine), honors the gods of the sea, and has traditionally been administered by members of the Azumi people.
In the course of time the Azumi people spread to other parts of Honshū
, such as the Atsumi peninsula in Aichi Prefecture
and Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture. Most of their new settlements were built along seashores, with the exception of the landlocked basin in the mountainous region that was later called Azumidaira and then Azumino. The reason for their choice of this area is still unclear. Hotaka Jinja (Hotaka Shrine), located near Hotaka Station, attests to the connection between this area and Shikaumi Jinja. Hotaka Jinja, like Shikaumi Jinja, enshrines the gods of the sea.
Yoshimi Usui from this area wrote a long novel entitled Azumino, which won the prestigious Tanizaki Prize
in 1974. The name Azumino has since become more common than Azumidaira.
) characterized by the low water-holding capacity of the soil. Some streams suddenly disappear into the ground and some of these reappear as springs in the middle of green groves known in the local dialect as kemi. Many such springs are found in the Azumi Basin, but probably the most concentrated area is Azumino Wasabi-da Yūsui-gun (Azumino horseradish farm springs), designated by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment
as one of the hundred best waters. The Daiō Wasabi Farm
is located in the area.
Because of the low water-holding capacity of its soil, the Azumi Basin had been a parched wasteland for many centuries, except for limited small areas close to rivers and springs. The agricultural history of Azumino is almost the same thing as the history of the segi (irrigation network – another local dialect word). Since the Heian period
, a number of irrigation networks have been built, for example Ryūda-segi, Nuru-segi, Toba-segi and Iida-segi. These networks are still in service. But the region had remained unproductive before the innovation of building a segi along a contour line
. This type of irrigation network is called yoko-segi (horizontal irrigation network), as opposed to usual tate-segi (vertical irrigation network). In the early Edo period
, after many failures, the mayor of Yabara village succeeded in building Yabara-segi along the 545-meter contour line. This success was followed in 1685 by the building of Kan'zaemon-segi and in 1849 by the Jikka-segi, designated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan as one of the 100 best agricultural waterways. Both were designed to run along a contour line. Today, farm land in the Azumi Basin has twice the density of irrigation as the national average, giving rise to its high agricultural productivity. The main agricultural products are rice and fruits.
(1638? -1687) was a former Nakagaya village head who led a failed appeal to the magistrate’s office of the Matsumoto Domain
, asking for lower taxes. It was in 1686, the third year of the Jōkyō
era (1686) of the Edo period,
when Azumidaira was part of the Matsumoto Domain under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate
. In the feudal social structure of the time, appealing was strictly forbidden. Tada Kasuke and seven other farmers were caught and executed, along with twenty people from their families, including a sixteen-year-old girl. The incident has been called the Jōkyō Uprising
, or the Kasuke Uprising.
) of the 1870s and 1880s. A talented actor, he had the idea that a play about local hero Tada Kasuke would help educate people about people’s rights. He wrote and produced Minken Kagami Kasuke no Omokage (The Image of Kasuke, a Model of the People’s Rights Movement). The play was a great success and was instrumental in relating farmers’ uprisings to people’s rights at the national level.
), and then at Sapporo Agricultural College
(now Hokkaidō University
). He returned to Azumidaira and established a successful silk worm business. He was involved in a campaign against drinking and brothels. He was one of the supporters of Kigenji Iguchi (see below). He married a girl named Ryō from Sendai, but she could not get used to rural life, and he moved his family to Tokyo where he founded a successful bakery called Shinjuku Nakamuraya with his wife.
. While he was studying law in Tokyo at Meiji Law School (now Meiji University
), he associated with Uchimura Kanzō
and decided to pursue a career as an educator. He returned to Azumidaira and, after overcoming some difficulties typical of rural society, founded the school.
Nagano Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano...
, Japan. It covers approximately the municipalities of Azumino
Azumino, Nagano
is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan.The city was founded on October 1, 2005, when the town of Akashina, from Higashichikuma District, and the towns of Hotaka and Toyoshina, and the villages of Horigane and Misato, from Minamiazumi District, merged to form a new city...
, Ikeda
Ikeda, Nagano
is a town located in Kitaazumi District, Nagano, Japan.As of 2003, the town has an estimated population of 10,647 and a density of 264.98 persons per km². The total area is 40.18 km².-External links:*...
and Matsukawa
Matsukawa, Nagano (Kitaazumi)
is a village located in Kitaazumi District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. As of September 2011, the village has a population of 10,256. The total area is 47.06 km2.-External links:*...
, and some parts of Matsumoto
Matsumoto, Nagano
is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Matsumoto is designated as a Special City.-Outline:The new city of Matsumoto is the city comprising the mergers of the old city of Matsumoto and four villages. Matsumoto officially absorbed those villages without creating a new municipal...
and Ōmachi
Omachi, Nagano
is a city located in Nagano, Japan.As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 31,079 and the population density of 55 persons per km². The total area is 564.99 km²....
. Formerly called Azumidaira, it stretches from the west banks of the Azusa and Sai rivers to the foot of the Hida Mountains
Hida Mountains
The , or , is a Japanese mountain range which stretches through Nagano, Toyama and Gifu prefectures. A small portion of the mountains also reach into Niigata Prefecture. William Gowland coined the phrase "Japanese Alps" during his time in Japan, but he was only referring to the Hida Mountains when...
(also known as the Northern Alps) in the west, and towards the southernmost watershed of the Takase River
Takase River
The is a canal in Kyoto, Japan. It rises from Nijō-Kiyamachi, going along Kiyamachi Street, and meets the Uji River at Fushimi port. The canal crosses with the Kamo River on the way. Today the south half is not connected with Kamo River.-History:...
. It is known for its natural beauty and its abundance of museums and art galleries.
Etymology
At least a thousand years ago, the Azumi people moved into the area and settled there. Originally, the Azumi, or "the people who live on the sea", lived in northern KyūshūKyushu
is the third largest island of Japan and most southwesterly of its four main islands. Its alternate ancient names include , , and . The historical regional name is referred to Kyushu and its surrounding islands....
. They were famed for their skills in fishing and navigation. Between the second and the fourth century, they built a shrine on Shikanoshima island in present-day Fukuoka city
Fukuoka
Fukuoka most often refers to the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture.It can also refer to:-Locations:* Fukuoka, Gifu, a town in Gifu Prefecture, Japan* Fukuoka, Toyama, a town in Toyama Prefecture, Japan...
in northern Kyūshū. The shrine, Shikaumi Jinja (Shikaumi Shrine), honors the gods of the sea, and has traditionally been administered by members of the Azumi people.
In the course of time the Azumi people spread to other parts of Honshū
Honshu
is the largest island of Japan. The nation's main island, it is south of Hokkaido across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyushu across the Kanmon Strait...
, such as the Atsumi peninsula in Aichi Prefecture
Aichi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region. The region of Aichi is also known as the Tōkai region. The capital is Nagoya. It is the focus of the Chūkyō Metropolitan Area.- History :...
and Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture. Most of their new settlements were built along seashores, with the exception of the landlocked basin in the mountainous region that was later called Azumidaira and then Azumino. The reason for their choice of this area is still unclear. Hotaka Jinja (Hotaka Shrine), located near Hotaka Station, attests to the connection between this area and Shikaumi Jinja. Hotaka Jinja, like Shikaumi Jinja, enshrines the gods of the sea.
Yoshimi Usui from this area wrote a long novel entitled Azumino, which won the prestigious Tanizaki Prize
Tanizaki Prize
The Tanizaki Prize , named in honor of the Japanese novelist Jun'ichirō Tanizaki, is one of Japan's most sought-after literary awards. It was established in 1965 by the publishing company Chūō Kōronsha Inc. to commemorate its 80th anniversary as a publisher...
in 1974. The name Azumino has since become more common than Azumidaira.
Irrigation network (segi)
The Azumi Basin was created by numerous streams and rivers that take their water from melting snow on the Northern Alps. The Azusa, Kurosawa, Karasu, and Nakabusa rivers, among others, run through this region and have formed a composite fan (compare alluvial fanAlluvial fan
An alluvial fan is a fan-shaped deposit formed where a fast flowing stream flattens, slows, and spreads typically at the exit of a canyon onto a flatter plain. A convergence of neighboring alluvial fans into a single apron of deposits against a slope is called a bajada, or compound alluvial...
) characterized by the low water-holding capacity of the soil. Some streams suddenly disappear into the ground and some of these reappear as springs in the middle of green groves known in the local dialect as kemi. Many such springs are found in the Azumi Basin, but probably the most concentrated area is Azumino Wasabi-da Yūsui-gun (Azumino horseradish farm springs), designated by the Japanese Ministry of the Environment
Ministry of the Environment (Japan)
The ' of Japan was formed in 2001 from the sub-cabinet level Environmental Agency established in 1971. The minister is a member of the Cabinet and is chosen by the Prime Minister, usually from the Diet., the current is Goshi Hosono...
as one of the hundred best waters. The Daiō Wasabi Farm
Daio Wasabi Farm
The is a wasabi farm established in 1915 and located in Azumino, Nagano Prefecture near the center of Honshū, the main island of Japan. It is a popular tourist spot due to its beautiful watermills and for the river that runs through it....
is located in the area.
Because of the low water-holding capacity of its soil, the Azumi Basin had been a parched wasteland for many centuries, except for limited small areas close to rivers and springs. The agricultural history of Azumino is almost the same thing as the history of the segi (irrigation network – another local dialect word). Since the Heian period
Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. The period is named after the capital city of Heian-kyō, or modern Kyōto. It is the period in Japanese history when Buddhism, Taoism and other Chinese influences were at their height...
, a number of irrigation networks have been built, for example Ryūda-segi, Nuru-segi, Toba-segi and Iida-segi. These networks are still in service. But the region had remained unproductive before the innovation of building a segi along a contour line
Contour line
A contour line of a function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value. In cartography, a contour line joins points of equal elevation above a given level, such as mean sea level...
. This type of irrigation network is called yoko-segi (horizontal irrigation network), as opposed to usual tate-segi (vertical irrigation network). In the early Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
, after many failures, the mayor of Yabara village succeeded in building Yabara-segi along the 545-meter contour line. This success was followed in 1685 by the building of Kan'zaemon-segi and in 1849 by the Jikka-segi, designated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan as one of the 100 best agricultural waterways. Both were designed to run along a contour line. Today, farm land in the Azumi Basin has twice the density of irrigation as the national average, giving rise to its high agricultural productivity. The main agricultural products are rice and fruits.
Tada Kasuke
Tada KasukeTada Kasuke
was a Japanese farmer who led a failed appeal for lowered taxes in Azumidaira, a part of the Matsumoto Domain under the control of the Tokugawa shogunate. He was caught and executed along with twenty-seven farmers without trial...
(1638? -1687) was a former Nakagaya village head who led a failed appeal to the magistrate’s office of the Matsumoto Domain
Matsumoto Domain
The ' was a Japanese feudal domain in Shinano Province . Home to a major strategic center in the form of Matsumoto Castle, it was ruled by various families during the course of its history, the Hotta among them.-List of Daimyo:...
, asking for lower taxes. It was in 1686, the third year of the Jōkyō
Jokyo
was a after Tenna and before Genroku. This period spanned the years from February 1684 through September 1688. The reigning emperors were and .-Change of era:...
era (1686) of the Edo period,
when Azumidaira was part of the Matsumoto Domain under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate
Tokugawa shogunate
The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...
. In the feudal social structure of the time, appealing was strictly forbidden. Tada Kasuke and seven other farmers were caught and executed, along with twenty people from their families, including a sixteen-year-old girl. The incident has been called the Jōkyō Uprising
Jokyo Uprising
The , or the Kasuke Uprising, was a large-scale peasant uprising that happened in 1686 in Azumidaira, Japan. Azumidaira at that time, was a part of the Matsumoto Domain under the control of the Tokugawa shogunate. The domain was ruled by the Mizuno clan at the time...
, or the Kasuke Uprising.
Kyūsaku Matsuzawa
Kyūsaku Matsuzawa (1855–1887) was a newspaper journalist and a people’s rights activist in the Jiyū Minken Undō (Freedom and People's Rights MovementFreedom and People's Rights Movement
The was a Japanese political and social movement for democracy in 1880s....
) of the 1870s and 1880s. A talented actor, he had the idea that a play about local hero Tada Kasuke would help educate people about people’s rights. He wrote and produced Minken Kagami Kasuke no Omokage (The Image of Kasuke, a Model of the People’s Rights Movement). The play was a great success and was instrumental in relating farmers’ uprisings to people’s rights at the national level.
Aizō Sōma
Aizō Sōma (1870–1954) was a Christian philanthropist who founded Shinjuku Nakamuraya. Having received his secondary education in Matsumoto, he studied at Tokyo Senmon Gakkō (now Waseda UniversityWaseda University
, abbreviated as , is one of the most prestigious private universities in Japan and Asia. Its main campuses are located in the northern part of Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as Tokyo Senmon Gakko, the institution was renamed "Waseda University" in 1902. It is known for its liberal climate...
), and then at Sapporo Agricultural College
Sapporo Agricultural College
was a school in Sapporo established in the purpose of education of student who would pioneer Hokkaidō by Kaitakushi, the local government of Hokkaidō in those days...
(now Hokkaidō University
Hokkaido University
Hokkaido University is one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. It can be seen in the several rankings such as shown below.-General Rankings:...
). He returned to Azumidaira and established a successful silk worm business. He was involved in a campaign against drinking and brothels. He was one of the supporters of Kigenji Iguchi (see below). He married a girl named Ryō from Sendai, but she could not get used to rural life, and he moved his family to Tokyo where he founded a successful bakery called Shinjuku Nakamuraya with his wife.
Kigenji Iguchi
Kigenji Iguchi (1870–1938) was a Christian educator who founded Kensei Gijuku, a small private school in Hotaka, NaganoHotaka, Nagano
was a town located in Minamiazumi District, Nagano, Japan.On October 1, 2005 Hotaka was merged with the town of Akashina, from Higashichikuma District, the town of Toyoshina, and the villages of Horigane and Misato, all from Minamiazumi District, to form the new city of Azumino.As of 2003, the town...
. While he was studying law in Tokyo at Meiji Law School (now Meiji University
Meiji University
is a private university in Tokyo and Kawasaki, founded in 1881 by three lawyers of the Meiji era, Kishimoto Tatsuo, Miyagi Kōzō, and Yashiro Misao. It is one of the largest and most prestigious Japanese universities in Tokyo, Japan....
), he associated with Uchimura Kanzō
Uchimura Kanzo
was a Japanese author, Christian evangelist, and the founder of the Nonchurch Movement of Christianity in the Meiji and Taishō period Japan.-Early life:...
and decided to pursue a career as an educator. He returned to Azumidaira and, after overcoming some difficulties typical of rural society, founded the school.
Points of interest
- Itoigawa-Shizuoka Tectonic LineItoigawa-Shizuoka Tectonic Line, also Ito Shizu Sen is a major fault on Honshu island that runs from the city of Itoigawa, Niigata Prefecture, through Lake Suwa to the city of Shizuoka in Shizuoka Prefecture. It is often confused with Fossa Magna which lies to the east....
- Mount Jōnen and other high mountains of the Northern Alps
- Hotaka Shrine
- Tōkō-ji Temple
- DōsojinDosojinis a generic name for a type of Shinto kami popularly worshiped in Kantō and neighboring areas where, as tutelary deities of borders, they are believed to protect travelers and villages from epidemics and evil spirits...
sculptures scattered across the region - Hotaka Onsen-kyō (hot springs town)
- Daiō Wasabi Farm
- Alps Azumino National Government Park
- Jikka Segi and other irrigation networks
- Yukio Tabuchi Memorial Hall
- Ariake Museum of Art
- Azumino Jansem Museum (art museum)
- Azumino Picture Book Museum
- Toyoshina Museum of Modern Art
- Rokuzan Art Museum
- Takahashi Setsurō Art Museum
- Jōkyō Gimin Memorial MuseumJōkyō Gimin Memorial MuseumThe Jōkyō Gimin Memorial Museum is a museum dedicated to the Jōkyō Uprising that occurred in Azumidaira, Japan in 1686 . The uprising, also called the Kasuke Uprising , is perceived to be a struggle for the right to life...
- Yoshimi Usui Literary Museum
Further reading
- Oana, Kiichi (1987). Tsuchi to Mizu kara Rekishi wo Saguru (History through Studying Soil and Water). Shinmai Shoseki.