Column The Blessings of Water IWAI Hiromi Professor of Folklore, Tezukayama University Water rich in the emotions of travel The Yodo River is a major river running through the Kinki region, and since ancient times it has been the main artery connecting Kyoto and Osaka. A number of towns, such as Kawajiri, Kanzaki, Kanijima, and Eguchi, developed at the mouth of the river, with Eguchi in particular becoming quite prosperous. OE Masafusa described Eguchi as "the most pleasurable place in the world" in his book titled Yujoki (*9). This well-known tale of Eguchi-no-kimi ("Princess from Eguchi") long passed down from generation to generation features a conversation made up of questions and answers between a priest named Saigyo and a harlot. Similarly, Eguchi, the Noh drama written by Kan'ami, features a conversation of questions and answers conducted between an itinerant priest and Eguchi-no-kimi, a harlot. The painter MARUYAMA Okyo often used the Yodo River as his subject, while the poet YOSA no Buson expressed his love of the river in richly evocative sung haiku. Also of great enjoyment to local people were the sanjikkoku-bune (150-bushel rice boats) and cha-bune (tea boats) that plied the Yodo River. Sanjikkoku-bune carried both cargo and passengers and operated between Kangetsukyo Bridge in Fushimi-ku, Kyoto, and Tenma Hakkenya in Osaka. People still sentimentally recall the Tokaidochu Hizakurige (Shank's Mare) series of comic novels written by JIPPENSHA Ikku (*10), as well as Sanjikkoku-bune(*11), a rakugo story. Jirocho Gaiden Ishimatsu Daisan, an anecdote about two gallant men named Jirocho and Ishimatsu, is a well-known verse from a naniwa-bushi (*12) that also tells of the sanjikkoku-bune. Cha-bune, on the other hand, were boats from which food and drink were sold to travelers on the sanjikkoku-bune. These boats were also fondly known as "kurawanka-bune", from the uncultured expression "kurawanka," meaning "Why don't you eat some?" The nickname arose from the merchants' cries of "A cup of sake, sushi, burdock soup...kurawanka?" Water that transports culture The blessing of a welcome rain The Yamato River, an important artery flowing into Osaka Bay, begins in a valley in Hatsuse, Yamato (Nara Prefecture), is joined by most of the rivers in the Yamato Basin, and then flows westward to the sea. The frequent mentions of this river in the Man'yoshu (*13) indicate that the region's water transportation system was already well developed in ancient times, while the Hatsuse riverbank in the upper reaches of the Yamato River was home to Miwa no Tsuba-ichi (*14), Japan's oldest market. Even into Japan's modern period, the river maintained its vital role as a regional transportation system. Kame-no-se Valley, located on the border between Yamato and Kawachi, held an important position as a transfer station along the river. Yana-bune (Yana boats) worked the upper reaches of the Yamato River between Kame-no-se and Yamato, while kensaki-bune (kensaki boats) (*15) worked the lower reaches, in Kawachi. The boats from Osaka transported upriver such materials as charcoal, firewood, salt, oil fertilizer, and dried sardines, while the boats from Yamato transported downriver rice, cotton, and other commodities. In fact, the town of Tawaramoto became known as "Osaka in Yamato" as it grew and prospered. During a period of drought, the people of Yamato began cultivating cotton. Because dried sardines transported from Ezo Matsumae and Ou to Osaka by kitamae-bune (*16) and forwarded to Yamato by kensaki-bune were used as fertilizer in the cultivation of the area's cotton crops, the river thus played an important role in the development of Yamato's cotton production. Used clothes sent northeast by a reverse route resulted in the development of hishizashi (*17) and sakiori (*18) in that area. Also serving as a major artery since ancient times is the Kino River in Kii-no-kuni (Wakayama Prefecture). The source of this river is the Kawakami River in Odaigahara, Yamato, and it crosses the Kii Peninsula. Traffic on the river increased after a town sprang up in Hashimoto, at the foot of Mt. Koya, where travelers going downriver to Kishu embarked. Timber felled in the beautiful forests of the Yoshino River basin was made into rafts and floated down the Kino River, as was timber for sake barrels. Detailed descriptions of the people and materials moving down the Kino River are found in Kino River, a book by ARIYOSHI Sawako (*19). BACK All images Copyright. 1997 Kansai International Public Relations Promotion Office. All Rights Reserved.