[Gojo (② The impact of the Tenchugumi and the “Vertical Axis”)] (Gojo City, Nara Prefecture, former province name: Yamato)

Facing the Yoshino River, Gojo flourished as a key transportation hub connecting the mountainous and plain areas of Yamato Province (present-day Nara Prefecture) and even Kii Province (present-day Wakayama Prefecture). At the beginning of the Edo period, when Matsukura Shigemasa (?-1630) developed a castle town with Gojo Shinmachi at its core, its prosperity increased even more and it developed into the central city of the central and southern part of Yamato Province in both name and reality. In 1616, the Matsukura clan was transferred to Shimabara in Hizen Province (present-day Saga Prefecture and most of Nagasaki Prefecture) with an additional fief, and Gojo became a direct territory of the shogunate. Behind this lies the fact that the shogunate placed great importance on Gojo as a base for water transport of timber from the Yoshino and Omine mountain ranges to Kii Province and further to Osaka, and as a base for the Kishu Kaido road. At the end of the 18th century, the Gojo magistrate's office was established next to Shinmachi, and governed the area's 70,000 koku of land. Today, exhibition facilities such as the Gojo City Townscape Heritage Museum (photos 2 and 3) and the Gojo City Shinmachi Machiyakan (photos 1 and 4) stand in Gojo Shinmachi, allowing visitors to recall the prosperity of the past. Throughout the Edo period, Gojo was neighboring the Kishu Domain, one of the three main clans, the Tenryo, and minor feudal lords such as the Takatori Domain (Uemura clan, Takatori Castle in Yamato Province), and although it was sometimes plagued by floods of the Yoshino River, it lived in peace. However, on the night of August 17, 1863, exactly 10 years after Perry's arrival, the magistrate's office was suddenly attacked by several dozen ronin, and the magistrate Suzuki Gennai was killed. This was the beginning of the so-called "Tenchu-gumi Incident," and Gojo was caught up in the turbulent waves of the times with this vivid shock. The Tenchu-gumi was originally a group formed by sonno joi ronin who wanted to be the vanguard of Emperor Komei's (1831-1867) visit to Yamato, which had been announced by imperial decree at the time. They had Chamberlain Nakayama Tadamitsu (1845-1864, Emperor Meiji's uncle) as their commander, and Fujimoto Tesseki (1816-1863, defector to Okayama Domain), Matsumoto Keidou (1832-1863, defector to Kariya Domain), and Yoshimura Toratarou (1837-1863, defector to Tosa Domain) were the three leaders who effectively led the group. All three leaders were leaders of Sonno Joi rōshi, and it is notable that they linked the theory of Sonno Joi to the "overthrow of the shogunate." Therefore, while officially calling it a prelude to the Imperial visit, in reality they were the ones who appointed themselves as the initiators of the overthrow of the shogunate. The Tenchugumi traveled from Kyoto to Osaka, and once there they took a boat to Osaka Bay, but quickly turned back to Sakai in Izumi Province (present-day southern Osaka Prefecture), crossed Chihaya Pass, and invaded Gojo from the northwest. The magistrate's office, which they faced, was manned by only the magistrate and a few shogunate officials, as was customary in times of peace, and although it was the government office governing a fief of 70,000 koku, it had no military forces whatsoever. The Tenchugumi had their eye on this, and since they had allies in Gojo town, such as Inui Juro (1828-1864), they attacked as a symbol of their overthrow of the shogunate. Once the Tenchugumi occupied Gojo, they made the area a direct territory of the emperor, and proclaimed the arrival of a new era. Today, the Gojo Civic Museum (photos 6 and 7), a renovated version of an existing Nagayamon gate, stands on the site of the magistrate's office, and provides a detailed explanation of the incident. You can also visit Sakurai-dera Temple (photo 8), where the Tenchu-gumi had their headquarters, and recall their high-spirited spirit. However, the Tenchu-gumi were left without a ladder, so to speak, and suffered a tragic fate when the Imperial Visit to Yamato, which was the premise for their existence, was canceled and the Sonno Joi faction was defeated in Kyoto. For Gojo, which had prospered since ancient times due to the physical conditions of its "horizontal axis" along the Yoshino River, the Tenchu-gumi's attack from the north was a "vertical axis" shock that shattered the long-standing peaceful mood. Also, at the end of the Meiji era, long after the Tenchugumi had left, plans for the "Goshin Railway" that would have run from Gojo to Shingu City in Wakayama Prefecture were scrapped, leaving only a small amount of laid track (photos 9 and 10). When you add this to the facts, I was struck by the mystery of how something like a "flow" of history, deeply rooted in the climate and the spirit of the people who live in the area, must have acted unconsciously as some great invisible force. Recommended for solo travelers: ★★★★ (There are people, but not many. You can enjoy sightseeing in peace!) Visited: Around 2pm on a weekday in the first week of October Access: About 15 minutes on foot from Gojo Station (to the Gojo Folklore Museum) #Gojo Folklore Museum #Gojo Shinmachi #Gojo Shinmachi Street #Nara #Nara Prefecture #Nara Trip #Nara Sightseeing #I'm a Nara School #Delicious and Beautiful Nara #Back to Nara now #Nara is Beautiful #Gojo City #Domestic Travel Lover #Tenchugumi #Late Edo Period #Late Edo Period Patriots #Lover of the Late Edo Period #Meiji Restoration #Torataro Yoshimura #Important Traditional Buildings #Old Streets #Old Streets #Famous Architecture #Walking the Highway #Goshin Railway #Abandoned Railway Line #Abandoned Railway Remains #History Lover #Solo Travel #Life with Travel