Walk around Oiso
大磯ぶら歩き
The paths to Oiso
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KENEC
Places of Interests
1．Oiso Station ....................................................................... 2
2．Miki Sawada’s Memorial House ....................................... 3
3.
“Oiso Guest House” .......................................................... 4
4.
Shigitatsuan （Shigitatsu Hermitage） ........................ 5
5．Jo Niijima’s Memorial Landmark .................................... 6
6．The old house of Toson Shimazaki ................................... 7
7．Tokaido Pine Tree Road .................................................... 8
8．The Old House of the Late Mr.Hirobumi Ito.................... 9
9．The Old House of The Late Mr. Shigeru Yoshida .......... 10
10．Oiso Joyama Park ......................................................... 11
11．Rokusho Shrine ............................................................. 12
12．Oiso fishing port ............................................................ 13
13．Shounandaira (Shonan Plateaus) ................................ 14
14．Komayama and Takaku Jinjya(Takaku Shrine) ......... 15
15.
Koyurugi Beach ............................................................ 16
16.
Terugasaki and “AOBATO” ......................................... 17
The paths to OISO
Geography
Oiso (around 33,000population) is located in the
southwestern part of Kanagawa prefecture, belonging to
the categories specified in the Shonan.
South of Sagami Bay, Oiso’s shallow sea and beautiful
sandy beach, is loved by fishers, ocean sports fans and
sightseers.
History
< The Edo Period>
Oiso was one of the busiest of the 53 post stations on
Tokaido national road.
< The Meiji Era>
The (then resident-in-Japan) German Dr Belz’s
recommendation for sea bathing prompted the army surgeon
Jun Matsumoto to choose Oiso with mild climate as the best
location to open the first bathing beach in the country.
<From the Meiji through the Showa Era>
Oiso became the fashionable seaside resort where
business tycoons, politicians and celebrities built their
opulent seaside villas.-- e.g. the house of 1st Prime Minister,
Hirobumi Ito, the house of post-war 1st Prime Minister,
Shigeru Yoshida、Aritomo Yamagata, Kinmochi Saionji,
Shigenobu Okuma, Munemitsu Mutsu, Yanosuke Iwasaki,
Zenjiro Yasuda,・・・around 150 villas in total came to be
together.
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1．Oiso Station
Tokaido railway (the 1st track: Shinbashi‐Yokohama in
1872)was extended through Yokohama to Kozu in1887,when
Oiso was established as a station nearest to the sea.
The current simple nostalgic yellow-tiled roofed wooden
station was restored shortly after the Kanto earthquake
(1923).
It looks like a plain countryside railway stop for its
legendary big name.
When you step onto the platform, unexpectedly you’ll see
simply beautiful small hills in the background and neither
any advertisements nor even traffic signals. However,
stepping into town, you can find many places of interests
with both Shonan sea-view and Tanzawa moutain-view. It’s
also fun walking around historical properties, fishing and
swimming alongside the seashore.
Mariko O.
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2．Miki Sawada’s Memorial House
Ms. Miki Sawada（1901-1980）, a founder of The Elizabeth
Saunders Home was born into a wealthy and distinguished
Iwasaki Family. She devoted her passion to the education for
orphans of mixed parentage (after-the-war-mongrels). She is also
well-known as a collector of the relics and heritage of the
crypto-Christians（kakure-kirishitan）. Miki Memorial House was
established in 1998 with her last wishes to dedicate it to her
collections.
A ship-shaped chapel is standing in silence on top of the green
hill （Iwasaki-yama） just in front of Oiso station. The figure of
the building is oblong hexagon in the image of Noah’s ark
（designed by Toshiro Miyake）, with St.Stephen chapel on the
upper floor and the exhibition room on the ground floor showing
historical materials of the martyrs from the Civil War to the Edo
period. Memorial House with her collections is exactly the
treasure that Oiso own was keen to have as part of their cultural
heritage.
Later on, a charming concert hall with 200 seats was built on the
hill of St. Stephan School in the area for both citizens and visitors
to enjoy musical concerts, lectures and cultural events.
The wide-open ocean which you can see through transparent glass
curtain behind the stage should be highlighted.
Shigemi Y.
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3.
“Oiso Guest House”
The former cottage of Kenpei Kinoshita was such a unique
Western-style house in Oiso that was built with a
breakthrough housing technology, so called 2x4 construction
in 1912, the first year of the Taisho Era.
In 2012, Oiso town office bought the cottage located just in
front of Oiso station as a symbolic landmark and a starting
point of the Southern Sightseeing Special Zone reaching over
to Shigitatsu hermitage.
The locals are excited by the prospect of their own culture
being developed further for visitors’ pleasure. Atsuko S.
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4.
Shigitatsuan （Shigitatsu Hermitage）
The priest Saigyo Hoshi (1118-1190）sang a famous
haiku（Japanese poem）around this area, “Even to me who
lack a delicate sense of art, this beauty of a fall evening in
Shigitatsu Dale is quite evident”. After many years, the
priest Sosetsu living in Odawara built this small hermitage
and named it Shigitatsusawa in 1664 for the memory of
Saigyo.
In 1695 the first master Michikaze Oyodo started to live
there.
This is one of the three famous Japanese haiku halls.
Miki I.
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5．Jo Niijima’s Memorial Landmark
Jo Niijima（1843-1890), the founder of Doshisha University
is listed, alongside Yukichi Fukuzawa for Keio University
and Shigenobu Okuma for Waseda University, as a
revolusionary educator in the Meiji Era. He passed away at
the age of 47 at an inn called Mukade-ya in Oiso.
The monument written by Soho Tokutomi (an editor and a
historian,1863-1957) of the great man remains alone in a
narrow space.
Kayoko H.
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6．The old house of Toson Shimazaki
Toson Shimazaki (1872~1943) is one of the Japanese
venerable writers, novelists and poets.
He was taken by this Oiso village while travelling and lived
there for the last two years of his life with his wife, Shizuko.
This house in the groves is not big but he liked his den and a
small Japanese-style garden. In autumn especially,beautiful
white bush flowers bloom.
You can visit their tombs and sit quietly in the Jifukuji
Temple, about 5 minutes’ walk from Oiso station. The
temple is also famous with beautiful plum trees through late
January to February.
Mariko O.
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7．Tokaido Pine Tree Road
After Ieyasu Tokugawa(1543-1616)won the Battle of
Sekigahara Civil War(1600） he set-out to create 53 post
stations on the Tokaido（a de-facto national road on the
Japanese mainland linking Tokyo to Kyoto）. The Tokaido
was gradually developed following his long–term plan as a
highway with pine trees planted alongside as landmarks.
The trees have been well saved until now, of which some are
more or less 300 years old.
Oiso was one of the busiest post towns of the Tokaido ,
where many travelers stayed at local inns and took a rest in
small tea shops
Sumie M.
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8．The Old House of the Late Mr.Hirobumi Ito
The first Japanese Prime Minister, Hirobumi Ito
（1841-1909）, who drafted the first Constitution of Japan
picked this place to live as his permanent residence. The
name “Sohroh Kaku”was presented by Chinese Lee Kosho
of the Qing Dynasty, meaning a pavilion with a magnificent
sea view.
After Ito died, Sohroh Kaku was sold to the Seibu
business group and became a Chinese restaurant by the
same name which was loved by the Oiso residents and
visitors alike for a long time .But now it is sadly closed.
Sumie M.
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9．The Old House of The Late Mr. Shigeru Yoshida
The house of Shigeru Yoshida（1878-1967）, the ex-Prime
Minister of Japan, was burnt down in 2009. As of 2013, a
solid plan to restore the house is ongoing, thanks to the
financial support of the government and donations from the
citizens across the country.
The vast field occupying 33,000 sq meters laid out well
with traditional Japanese houses was made entirely of
Japanese cypress including Yoshida’s main resident and a
refined Japanese garden.
His place seemed to be a political focal center where so
many celebrities were invited. It should be noted that
Japanese-U.S. Summit （Ohira-Carter） was held there in
1979.
That’s why it was called “Yoshida Palace” and the
meetings taking place there were called “Oiso Moude（Oiso
Visit）”
Yumi Y.
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10．Oiso Joyama Park
In this place once stood the Castle Koiso in the medieval
period.
After that, the Mitsui Financial group had been using that
as a country house until 1990, when it was opened for public
use by Kanagawa prefecture under the name of “Oiso
Joyama Park”.
You can find some cultural heritage and documents
concerning regional history of Shonan Area in the Provincial
Library, “Oiso Municipal Museum”.
And the traditional tea house “Joyama An”, a copy of Mitsui
tea house “Jo-An” (a national treasure those days) and two
old storehouses are open to the public for ceremonies,
exhibitions and events.
In addition, this park is planned to be further expanded and
developed as a new attractive view point by engulfing a
renovated “Yoshida Palace” in the near future when it is
restored.
Atsuko S.
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11．Rokusho Shrine
It’s told that in about AD 600, the peoples who immigrated
from Izumo (Shimane Prefecture at present) to Oiso built a
shrine of Yanagida Daimyoujin dedicated to
Kushiinada-Himemiko.
In Sagami district, there had been another five shrines
besides Yanagida Daimyoujin. Those were Samukawa
Shrine, Kawawa Shrine, Hibita Shrine, Sakitori Shrine and
and Hiratsuka Hachiman Shrine.
In AD 718, the shrine of Yanagida Daimyoujin was
nominated as the general Shrine in Sagami district by the
order of the Emperor and as a result those five
shrines were dedicated partly to Yanagida Daimyoujin .
Since then Yanagida Daimyoujin has been called Rokusho
Shrine where these spirits of the six shirines are dedicated
all together.
Rokusho Shrine and the five shrines had been protected
and assisted by the government in each period until the
Meiji Era.
Now on the 5th of May, the festival of Kouno Machi is held
in Oiso to hand on the history of Rokusho Shrine as a
symbolic event.
Atsuko S.
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12．Oiso fishing port
The port of Oiso is about a ten-minute’s walk from Oiso
station. The tiny fishing port is blessed with a wide variety
of fishes, providing locals and visitors with beautiful scenery
of wide open ocean at the front, and a long stretch of a hill
called “Shonandaira” behind them.
Nowadays, a new attraction is popping up there.
Every Saturday morning, weather permitting, the fresh
market is opened on the ground floor of Oiso Fishery Co-op
selling not only fresh fishes but also vegetables, flowers,
tasty breads and daily dishes.
Shigemi Y.
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13．Shounandaira (Shonan Plateaus)
Shonandaira plateaus rise 179m above sea level and are
one of the best fifty attractive sceneries in Kanagawa.
From the top visitors can enjoy View of Sagami Bay,
Tanzawa through to Hakone mountain chains and Izu and
Boso peninsula beneath.
On the way from Oiso station to Shonandaira, there are
twenty horizontal holes called “YOKOANA” which are the
ruins of the old graves dug in the 7th century preserved as a
cultural heritage in Kanagawa.
Miki I.
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14．Komayama and Takaku Jinjya(Takaku Shrine)
Takaku Jinjya was established in AD 717 with another
name “Koma Jinjya”.
Koma Mountain（168m）is depicted as one of the symbolic
sceneries of “Tokaido Gojyusantsugi”(the fifty-three stations
of the Tokaido)by a famous Ukio-e artist Hiroshige Utagawa.
It is blessed with a wide variety of trees. About 10 hectars in
the southern Komayama is designated as protected species
of Kanagawa prefecture.
Enjoy a nice hike in the mountain. The back of the
venerable Takaku Jinjya is an entrance to the treasures of
nature. You can select either of the two routes, a steep slope
called “Otokozaka” or a gentle one called “Onnazaka” as you
like.
The top of the Mountain provides you with a fabulous view
of Oiso town and the Bay of Sagami.
Yumi Y.
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15.
Koyurugi Beach
The coast-line from Shigitatsu-sawa, the mouth of the
brook of Oiso, through the Ninomiya is named “Koyurugi- no
-hama(Koyurugi Beach)”, well-known with many colorful
pebbles called “Sazare Ishi”.
In the Edo Period, the pine trees were planted alongside
the beach as a windbreak. In 1885, the beach was selected
and officially authorized as the first sea-bathing place in
Japan for medical purposes by the Surgeon General, Jun
Matsumoto(1832-1907)
This was a perfectly attractive spot for so many celebrities
to flock together to build their villas or country houses there.
Townspeople enjoy fishing, seining(jibikiami) and strolling
alongside the beach and in crisp weather you can see Izu
peninsula, Oshima island and Mt.Fuji at a glance from any
spot on the beach.
Mariko O.
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16.
Terugasaki and “AOBATO”
Terugasaki is a wavy rocky corner of the old and familiar
beach called Koyurugi-no-hama. This specific area has been
popular among bird-watchers and sightseeing visitors to see
the Japanese Green Pigeons called “AOBATO” which land
on rocks to drink sea waters, flying all the way out into the
ocean from the Tanzawa mountains. They have pretty bright
feathers, a blue beak and a blue eye-ring. Males have
reddish shoulders.
In 1996, Kanagawa Prefecture designated the shores of
Terugasaki as a natural monument to protect this unique
spot for the Japanese green pigeons to drink sea water.
The best season to see:from mid-May through late
September.
The best time to arrive:from 7 to 10 am. About 3000
pigeons during the day.
Yumi Y.
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KENEC
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Oiso,Kanagawa Prefecture,Japan
Editor & Painter. Ken Nagayama
E-mail: ken.n@mh.scn-net.ne.jp January,2014