Kisokaidô: Iwamurata - Station 22

Keizai Eisen - Series of the 69 stations of the Kisokaido: Station Iwamurata (23th print) (Iwamurata)

(Edition done in 1950's by Kyoto Hanga-in under the supervision of Narazaki Muneshige, the most faithful to the first edition)

Iwamurata was the seat of the Naito family and their castle was in the centre of the station. The top of its keep (1) can be seen here. Eisen depicts here a brawl on the road between gangs of rival beggars. This is in line with the slapstick Edo period Japanese humour which tended to ridicule handicapped or drunk people. The most famous example is the best seller book Hizakurige, Shank’s mare by Jippensha Ikku published between 1802 and 1822 and still widely popular today. It tells the story of two heroes drifting from town to town along the Tokaido road, from bordello to bordello, and from bar to bar. They're petty grafters, always trying to pull another meager scam, and always getting the worst of it in the end. The print here must be seen in this light. The beggars are fighting, their belongings are all over the road, money (2) has been spilled, one of the figures has put his foot through his hat in the struggle, a dog barks at the melee, the confusion is complete. On the left in the fields, rags have been strung from poles to act as scarecrows.

No change in the print, but the printing became coarser as the editions progressed.

(Source: The 69 stations of the Kisokaido, Sebastian Izzard, Brazillier 2008)

Iwamurata in 1880

And now ?

Iwamurata was located at the intersection of the Kisokaido road and the Koshukaido road, the latter leading to the great Zenko-ji Temple in Nagano. There was an important regional economic centre and home to a large number of merchants and warehouses. It was also the seat of the Naito family, a 15,000 koku fief and the other Lords avoided stopping there, so there were no honjin and no waki-honjin. The Naito family was famous for successfully defending the Fushimi castle in 1600 against superior forces, thus preventing reinforcements to reach the Army of the West at the Battle of Sekigahara and ensuring Tokugawa Ieyasu’s victory. (see page Battle of Sekigahara)

Today, Iwamurata is an important rail traffic hub and a dynamic city. The solitary pine in the print which was in the countryside is now located within the city and a memorial stone indicates its location.

On the way to Nagano's Zenko-ji, the first station is Komoro. The ruins of its castle built by Takeda Shingen in 1560 during the civil wars are in a park near the station. There remain beautiful doors and the imposing base for its keep among cherry trees and maple trees, a superb spot in spring and fall.

Francis Minvielle has kindly informed me of an anonymous print dated 1868 which copied the fighting people of the Eisen print. This satiric print depicts fighting factions of the Boshin war (1868-1869) which opposed the forces of the ruling Tokugawa shogunate and the forces of a coalition seeking to seize political power in the name of the Emperor. This reference to the Eisen print may also be a reminder that Iwamura was the seat of the Naito clan who was instrumental in ensuring Tokugawa's victory at the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600.