Wakamiya Ōji

[2] The name Wakamiya Ōji means "Young Prince Avenue" and derives from its having been built in 1182 as a prayer for the safe delivery of Yoritomo's first son, future shōgun Yoriie.

[3] During the Muromachi period Wakamiya Ōji was called with a number of different names by different sources, including Nanadō Kōji (七度小路), for example in Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū's official records, Nanadō Kōrō (行路) in the Kaigen Sōzuki (快元僧都記), and Sendō Kōji (千度小路) or Sendōdan (千度壇) in a poetry collection called Baika Mujinzō (梅花無尽蔵).

[3] Recent excavations have revealed that Wakamiya Ōji was originally 33 m wide (much more than now), was flanked by pine trees (now present only next to Ichi no Torii, see below), and on its sides run a 1.5 m ditch.

[1] In May 1185[6] Taira no Munemori, captured after the decisive Minamoto victory at the battle of Dan-no-ura, entered Kamakura with his son through Wakamiya Ōji.

[3] The entrance of all buildings not belonging to the Hōjō or the Bakufu (with the curious exception of houses of ill repute) had to face away from Wakamiya Ōji (today's Hongaku-ji is a good example).

[1] The reason seems to be that, because six of the Kamakura's Seven Entrances faced west and any attack was in any case likely to come from Kyoto, which lies in the same direction, Wakamiya Ōji had a military value as a line of defense, and positions on its east side were desirable.

Immediately after the San no Torii begins the dankazura (段葛), a raised pathway flanked by cherry trees which becomes gradually wider as it goes toward the sea.

In March 1182, Minamoto no Yoritomo, wanting his wife Masako to have a safe delivery, had this sandō built from Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū all the way to Yuigahama's Great Torii.

[3] It also describes the efforts of a private citizen who entered priesthood, started carrying dirt and stones to repair the Dankazura, and begged for money to fix Geba's bridge.

So called because they were thought to have been brought to Japan from China via Korea, their name is derived from "Koma" (高麗), the Japanese term for the Korean kingdom of Koguryo.

[2] The stele in front of the gas station reads:[15] A long time ago, when samurai came to worship at Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, they had to dismount from their horses here, and for that reason this place was called Geba.

It is said that, on September 12, 1271, Nichiren, arrested in his hut in Nagoe and on his way to the execution ground in Tatsunokuchi to be beheaded, turned to Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū and yelled: "Hachiman Bosatsu, if you are a kami, give me a sign for the sake of Buddhism!"

The Azuma Kagami informs us that here in Geba Wakamiya Ōji stopped to be a rich and stately avenue, and became the main street of a bustling pleasure quarter.

The name appears several times in the historical records, and we know from the Shinpen Kamakurashi that it indicated what today we call Ichi no Torii, the gate closest to the sea.

The remains of its pillars were dated on the basis of objects found with them to the Warring States period (戦国期, sengoku-ki), and it is very likely to be the one erected by Hōjō Ujiyasu in 1553.

According to Kaigen's diary,[22] in 1535 An'yō-in's Gyoku'un in a dream was asked to rebuild Hama no Ōtorii and so, brought in the material via sea from the mountains of Kazusa Province he started the construction.

The remains are about 180 m north of Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū's Ichi no Torii, have an unusual structure and have been important in determining the position of the original Hama no Ōtorii.

We don't know where Hama no Ōtorii used to stand in the Kamakura period, but it is certain that the shoreline a thousand years ago was much behind today's, so the sea was probably very close to the great gate.

[5] This particular torii was the point where Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū's approach met the water, a symbolic link between a road sacred to the city's tutelary kami Hachiman and the sea.

Since all the crossings with other big roads where further north, this spot was probably not very frequented, but it was here however that periodically was held a ceremony to calm a wind called Fūhakusai (風白祭).

[5] Its great religious significance can be guessed also from the fact that, during the Muromachi period, every February[23] the Kantō Kubō (the shōgun's representative in western Japan) would come and walk seven times around Hama no Ōtorii.

Its construction was started by Minamoto no Yoritomo in December 1180 and finished in 1182 together with the dankazura by his wife Hōjō Masako, bringing the magnificent Wakamiya Ōji to completion.

The job was entrusted to the direction of Nakarai Kiyoshi, governor of Kanagawa, who in respect of tradition reused as much as possible the old parts, and requested the necessary stone replacements from Inushima.

A few meters past Ichi no Torii, on the eastern sidewalk there's Hatakeyama Shigeyasu's grave, consisting of an imponent hōkyōintō and of a black stele erected in the 1920 which explains the circumstances of his death.

Nonetheless, because Shigeyasu suffered from asthma and was having an attack when he was killed in battle, the hōkyōintō is popularly known as Rokurō-sama (from Rokurō, his childhood name) and is supposed to have the power to cure colds and cough.