A Casual Glance | Jiro Kokuryo (Dean of the Faculty of Policy Management)

2010.12.16

When I find a connection to a new place, I become interested in its place names and their origins. For any place, there are experts and enthusiastic local historians who post articles online, and it's fun to trace the history through various searches. There isn't always an established theory; sometimes there are various hypotheses, and it can be unclear what the truth is. But this allows my imagination to run wild, which is actually quite enjoyable.

Until I started working at SFC, the place name Kōza was something I only associated with a brand of delicious pork. I learned that it is a historic name dating back to the Ritsuryō period, and that Kōza District was once a vast area stretching from Sagamihara in the north to the coastal area of Kugenuma. (My apologies to the locals if this is common knowledge). When an article reminded me that it was not originally read as "Kōza" but was called "Takakura," and that the word "kura" meant "cliff," I felt a sense of affinity for Takakura Junior High School, which I can see atop a cliff while jogging along the Sakai River (apparently the river that formed the border between Kamakura and Kōza districts).

While towns that were once part of Kōza District established their own municipal governments one after another and left the district, Samukawa Town, located to the west of SFC, is the only one that still bears the name Kōza District. Learning that Samukawa Shrine, the Ichinomiya (first shrine) of Sagami Province, is located there changes my usual geographical perspective, which is typically focused on Tokyo to the east. Incidentally, according to Wikipedia, Samukawa Shrine has long been known in the television industry as the "shrine for praying for high viewership ratings," and there is a constant stream of TV personnel who visit to pray for the success of new programs.

Samukawa is a town along the Sagami River, and visiting it reveals how crucial the river, which runs north-south through Sagami Province, was to the development of the eastern provinces. And while most of the railways and highways we use today run east-west, connecting Tokyo and the Kansai region, one can see that in the past, there was also a great deal of north-south exchange. Looking at a map of the area with this in mind, the Kamakura-michi, which samurai from Musashi Province traveled, also runs north-south. A little to the east, the Hachioji-kaido, known as the "Silk Road," which was used to transport raw silk collected in Hachioji to Yokohama for export during the Meiji period, also runs north-south (or more accurately, southeast-northwest). Knowing this history and seeing the Ken-O Expressway now being built on the riverbed of the Sagami River gives me a sense that the old north-bound routes from Sagami are being revived.

Within the everyday scenery that we often overlook when caught up in our busy lives, various historical stories lie hidden, forming the context of our present time. With a little curiosity, even just walking down the street can be enjoyable.

(Date of publication: 2010/12/16)