Fun of Good Old Japanese - 江戸・明治に学ぶ　楽しむ生き方

The museum is at Narai post-town in Nagano prefecture of central Japan. It was on Nakasendou highway which linked Edo (old name of Tokyo) and Kyoto. There is no big fire since the 19 th century, so old town still remains. Therefore, Narai is a popular tourist spot along with Tsumago and Magome which were also post-towns on Nakasendou highway. Narai people have a traditional festival in summer . Young people back to their home town during the festival and hold it. It’s very nice to love and keep their tradition. 資料館は、中山道・奈良井宿にあります 。宿は、江戸後期以降、大火にあわず古い街並みが観光地として人気になっています。また、 鎮守の祭り への情熱が凄いです。少子高齢化に悩む今も、都会から若手が戻ってきて祭りを続けているそうです。 Narakawa, Historical and Folkloric Museum 、楢川歴史民俗資料館 The museum is at the south end of the post-town. It is next to the shrine in which the festival is held. 奈良井宿の南端、鎮守の鎮（しずめ）神社に隣接しています。   Old utensils and furniture on the first floor 、民具の展示（一階） Lunchbox for children, especially for a cherry-blossom-viewing  is exhibited. It’s small and so cute....

There were checkpoints at major highways until the Edo period (1603 ～ 1868). The ex-checkpoint was rebuilt in 1976 due to strong requests of residents; it was 106 years later after the checkpoint was abolished. The building is smaller than it was, however, we can imagine the checkpoint . It is the pride of local people, isn’t it? The checkpoint was built to control shipping of lumbers (the area is a production center) while Toyotomi Hideyoshi ruled. In the following Edo period, the checkpoint controlled the traffic of women, goods and so on. It worked as a sub-checkpoint of Fukushima checkpoint which was around 30km south of Niekawa. Btw, Niekawa is an entrance of Kiso area which had eleven post-towns in the Edo period. 住民の粘り強い活動で廃関から 106 年後の 1976 年に復元されました。 規模は大幅に縮小されていますが、関所のイメージを感じさせる施設 です。住民のみなさんの誇りですね。 木曽十一宿の北の入口にあたり、関所は秀吉の時代に木曽材木の持ち出しの監視のため設置されました。関ケ原の戦いの後、 福島関所が設置されるとその副関として、女改めを中心に人と物の通行に目を光らせた ということです。 There are five rooms in it. The room above is a living room for gua...

Motoseba is in Nagano prefecture of central Japan, and is at the foot of high mountains which are called “Japan Alps” . The museum introduces Sugae (1754-1829) a lot; he was a traveler and wrote local customs in details. He stayed at Motoseba around a year. It was a comfortable place for him. And it is an honor for locals even until now. 長野県塩尻市の北アルプス西麓 にある資料館です。江戸時代に、旅をしながら民俗学的な著作を残した 菅江真澄（ 1754-1829 ）が一年間滞在 しました。スポンサーが良かっただけでなく、住み心地も良かったのでしょう。人々の楽しみではありませんが、菅江が滞在したことが誇りになっているのがよく分かりました。   The little museum is at a castle mountain. It was conquered by the famous warlord “Takeda Shingen” in 1555. 城山（妙義山城、鎌倉時代から国人領主の三村氏が支配したが、 1555 年に武田信玄によって謀殺された）の麓にある小さな資料館です。 The panel at the entrance of the exhibition room introduces rulers of Honseba, visitors of culture in the latter half of the  Edo period  (1603 ～ 1868) and local ceramic industry. ホールの先、展示室の入口にあるパネルには、本洗馬の支配者、江戸後期に菅江を含む文人墨客が訪れたこと、江戸後期から大正初期にかけて「洗馬焼」が操業されたことが紹介されています。 Then, there is a section of  Sugae’s w...