Life in Faraway Forests of 400 years ago: Hakone Sengokubara Community 仙石原

 

Historically, Hakone was a place where travelers endured the rugged road for commuting between Kyoto and Kanto Plane. Now that the town welcomes tons of international visitors as touristic destination, the area was not so populated. Especially after 1619 the border guards for Edo (=Tokyo) watched the traffic in Hakone with severe eyes. The main route to pass Hakone Mountains was the present-day National Route 1. It had the famous Hakone Sekisho (Checkpoint) where Samurai Warlords from the west must have passed to meet their boss, the Shogun in Edo. This National Historic Site on Lake Ashi was a sort of headquarter for a checkpoint system around Hakone. In this system there were 6 checkpoints, including the HDQ. The other 4 checkpoints were outside of Hakone area; Nebukawa 根府川, Yagurasawa 矢倉沢 (near the place we visited in my post August 4, 2017), Yagamura 矢ケ村 (near the place we visited in the post March 23, 2018), and Kawamura 川村 (ditto in my post November 3, 2023). The fifth checkpoint was in Hakone, in present-day Sengokubara town 仙石原 to be exact.

Hakone Checkpoint HDQ

When you enter Hakone via Route 1 from Odawara, we pass a steep hairpin curve at Oohiradai, go in front of Fujiya Hotel, one of the oldest western style hotels in Japan, and meet a Y-crossing. It’s a departing point of Highway Route 1 and the historic byway for Tokaido now with the name National Route 138. Route 1 leads us to the oceanside main route to Kyoto. Route 138 will bring us to Gotemba City 御殿場 and foothills of Mt. Fuji via Otome (= Maiden) Pass 乙女峠. With meticulous planning for security of Edo, the Shogunate of course built a checkpoint along the byway. That office was in Sengokubara. The reason why it was there would be simple. Before, from Sengokubara to Otome Pass, there was no human settlement to speak of. The place was just a forest. There remains a written public record for 1611, which says Sengokubara community had 4 households and 5 people.

To Otome Pass.
Exactly speaking, “Otome” meant
 “Stop anybody here 御留” in old Japanese.
 The word happened to have same pronunciation
as “Maiden,” and hence the 21^st century notation.
Peaceful days are good.

Now the place on Route 138
where Sengokubara checkpoint stood
had a stone monument explaining the situation.

Once Mr. Teruo Katsuyama, the Chief Curator Emeritus for Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Natural History, told us from a view point of professional botanist Sengokubara was/is not a good place for traditional Japanese agriculture where rice is uber-important. Yes, Sengokubara is the flattest boggy place in Hakone. The wide expanse of marsh is seemingly suitable for rice paddies. Though, the volcanic soil is too poor for rice, and cold climate in the plateau of ASL 650-750m provides too short growing season for tropical rice. The population of Sengokubara community did not grow much until 1869 when Sengokubara checkpoint was abolished by new Meiji Government. The place could not feed many people from local ag crops. I imagine the main industry at that time there was forestry to keep Shogun’s forest spreading to Otome Pass whose duty included surveillance of illegal evaders from the checkpoint and bureaucracy for policing.

This flatness is good for
summer house community of the 21^st century.
 But …

With such view for traditional life in Sengokubara, it’s a bit difficult to color life of yester centuries in rose as an inspiration for Nature-based solution. Still, the remoteness of north-most area of Hakone shows interesting cultural characteristics of the people who lived with the forest. One is Choanji Temple 長安寺 that has the written official record of existence for 1670. The old temple have many statues of Hayagriva 馬頭観音 that have been worshiped by the community. Old families of Sengokubara normally had at least one horse. As their business was always connected to the mountainous byroad of Tokaido (= Route 1), horses for traffic and logistics were very important. People had a serious reason to enshrine equestrian deity. The old rea of the town also has many husbands and wife statues of Dosojin 道祖神 = Guardians for Community. The religious activity for Dosojin itself became common in Japan during the 18th century, and Dosojins of Sengokubara were built around that time. They were expected to ward off evil spirits to come into the community. Considering the village lived with the road connecting Edo and western cities of Japan, the existence of these old statues tells something about the mentality of the community …

Lots of Hayagriva in Choanji Temple.

The current resident priest of Choanji Temple has
 an ambition for the temple with 500 Arhat statues.
The number of them is growing little by little,
and visitors identify ourselves with some of them.
It’s good meditative exercise.

The biggest Dosojin in Sengokubara community.

It’s the youngest Dosojin built about 40 years ago.

Another religious establishment of the community is Suwa Shrine 諏訪神社 enshrined the Suwa Deity whose main shrine is in mountainous Nagano Prefecture. The legend says the original families of Sengokubara were defeated samurais from Yamanashi via Otome Pass. They fled from the fall of their master Takeda Clan. They may have brought the deity of war from their home. Every March 27th, the shrine in Sengokubara offers very peculiar lion dance that remains only in Hakone and in Numata community of Gotemba on the south slope of Mt. Fuji. The style itself was said to be brought in 1776 by a guy called Kayanuma Gihei 萱沼義兵衛 of Fujiyoshida City 富士吉田, in the north slope of Mt. Fuji. It is obvious the dance came via the byway of Tokaido. In Hakone, the form is passed down for Kintoki Shrine 金時神社 which is a child shrine of Suwa Shrine of Sengokubara, for Suwa Shrine of Sengokubara, and for another Suwa Shrine of Miyagino 宮城野. All the shrines are along Route 138. It tells something about the life in forests of Hakone centuries ago. Next week I tell you about my adventure with the lion dance held in Miyagino. Their festival day is every July 15. Please stay tuned!

Suwa Shrine in Sengokubara over there.

The sanctuary of the Shrine has a pond
whose water is used for lion dance.

Hakone Town Hall 箱根町役場

256 Yumoto, Hakonemachi, Ashigarashimo-gun,
Kanagawa 250-0398
〒250-0398 神奈川県足柄下郡箱根町湯本256

Phone: 0460-85-7111
https://www.hakone.or.jp/