Reading Fushimi’s History Era by Era: From Before the Castle to the Port Town, Chushojima and Modern Life

The Appeal of Fushimi-Momoyama

Fushimi’s history includes not only Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s castle, river shipping through the port and sake brewing, but also the imperial family and villagers before the castle was built, the Chushojima pleasure quarter, and the formation of railways and residential areas. The place at the center also differed from era to era. Looking only at the castle sites in the hills, or only at the sake brewery district, will not give you a grasp of how the area as a whole changed.

This history guide brings together entry points to four articles, one for each era. Beyond the details of events, each article explains who used the land, what was transported, and how people worked and lived.

First, distinguish the locations of the hills, the old town and Chushojima

The Momoyama Hills to the east were home to the Fushimi mountain villa at Shigetsu, Fushimi-dono and, later, Fushimi Castle. West of the hills, daimyo residences and townspeople’s quarters were laid out, and the Kyobashi area to the south became the center of the port linking Kyoto and Osaka. The former Chushojima pleasure quarter consisted of Higashi-Yanagicho and Nishi-Yanagicho, and Minami-Shinchi, which developed after the railway opened, lies to their south. [1, 2, 44, 52, 53]

Further north, Fukakusa had old settlements, temples and shrines, and in the modern era military land was also located there. Ogura Pond, which spread out to the south, was reclaimed in the 20th century. Today’s Fushimi Ward is an administrative ward that includes these different areas. This feature focuses on the old town and hills of Fushimi-Momoyama and on Chushojima, while also covering their relationship with the surrounding areas. [55, 57, 58]

The center of Fushimi shifted from era to era

Toba in the Heian period, Yodo in the Kamakura and Muromachi periods and Fushimi in the early modern period all lie along the same rivers, yet the place that served as the hub of the port differed. Boats carrying members of the imperial family toward Kumano, boats bringing goods into Kyoto, and boats transporting castle materials or cargo from Osaka each had different destinations and required different facilities. The Port of Fushimi developed by Hideyoshi was a new hub that emerged within this long history of water transport. [DXH009]

Even in the castle era, the history is not confined to Shigetsu and Kohatayama. On the south bank of the Uji River, Mukaijima Castle was built and connected to the north bank by Bungo Bridge, today’s Kangetsukyo Bridge. When present-day areas such as Mukaijima Honmarucho are also taken into account, the picture emerges of a city that combined a castle on the hill with a castle on the opposite bank, and waterways with overland routes. [DXH001, DXH002]

To understand today’s town, both the places where old buildings remain and the places that were turned into other facilities offer clues. Kitabori Park conveys the landform of the castle moat, part of which was also used for a modern water purification plant. The boat basin southwest of Chushojima Station was filled in and has become Fushimi Port Park. [DXH007, DXH008, DXH003, DXH009, DXH017]

Ancient, Heian and medieval periods: the mountain villa, the Fushimi-no-miya and villagers’ lives

Fushimi Before the Castle covers farming and pottery-making in Fukakusa, the Fushimi mountain villa built at Shigetsu, and the palace of the Fushimi-no-miya, a house of the imperial family. Records of villagers offering performing arts at the palace also show how the imperial residence related to the surrounding community. The article also explains how Fushimi differed from the Toba Detached Palace and Daigo.

Azuchi-Momoyama to the early Edo period: Hideyoshi’s castle building and Ieyasu’s political base

Fushimi Castle and Its Castle Town traces separately the expansion from a residence into a castle, the relocation from Shigetsu to Kohatayama after the earthquake, and Ieyasu’s rebuilding. It covers the works that shifted the Uji River toward the Fushimi side, the embankments and highway across Ogura Pond, urban development including the port, the town layout and the Ginza (silver mint), and the city’s role as a political base, and also introduces what excavation findings such as stone walls and roof tiles bearing family crests reveal.

If you want to learn about the place name that arose after the castle was abolished, you can continue to The Origin of the Name “Momoyama”. The peach trees planted on the castle site, Emperor Meiji’s mausoleum and the present-day replica castle keep each belong to a different era.

The work of the political base also included making coins and books. At the Ginza, silver had to be refined, its fineness checked and the official stamp applied; for the Fushimi-ban, books published under Ieyasu, type had to be set to reproduce the books. If you go beyond the explanation that daimyo gathered here and read on to what the regime sought to unify and which knowledge it tried to spread, the reasons for drawing people and skills to the castle town become concrete. The detailed article on the castle and castle town explains the Ginza, publishing and diplomacy in terms of their respective systems and historical sources.

Edo period to the end of the shogunate: port trade, magistrates and Chushojima

Fushimi in the Edo Period covers the system that relayed boats and cargo between Kyoto and Osaka, the rule of the Fushimi magistrate, and residents who filed complaints over boat fares and the magistrate’s rule. It also places in this era how the Chushojima pleasure quarter was developed in anticipation of customers from the port, as well as the faith and festivals of Chokenji Temple.

The Teradaya incidents of 1862 and 1866 and the Battle of Toba-Fushimi in 1868 are explained as separate events that took place in a town of ports and highways.

Meiji era to the present: railways and industry, changes in work and land

Fushimi from the Modern Era to the Present traces the canals, electric trains, the Misu Lock, the market expansion of the sake industry and the military land in Fukakusa. For Chushojima, it covers the business regulations from the Meiji era onward and the burdens borne by the women who worked there, Minami-Shinchi after the railway opened, and the changes from 1958 onward to ochaya (teahouses), inns, housing and restaurants.

The Misu Lock is a facility that raises and lowers boats so they can pass between the Gogawa River and the Uji River, which have different water levels, and it is also called the “Panama Canal of Fushimi.” The modern-era article traces, alongside construction photographs, the improvement of the navigation route in the Meiji era, flood control measures in the Taisho era, the lock’s completion in 1929 and the decline of freight transport. [36] [93]

The reclamation of Ogura Pond and the conversion of military land were events that changed where people lived. In addition to the history of places where old buildings survived, you can also read the history of land whose use has changed.

Learn the history first, then choose the area to walk

You can find today’s sights in the area-by-area guide, and the order for walking from Gokonomiya Shrine through the shopping streets and the sake brewery district to Chushojima in the half-day walking plan. That plan is not a route that covers every location mentioned in the four era articles in half a day.

References

• Kyoto City: The Castle Town Founded by Hideyoshi
• Kyoto City: The Prosperity of a Port and Commercial City
• Kiyoyama Yohei and Kanki Kiyoko (2021), Characteristics of Modern Sprawl Urban Space Arising from Its Development Process, as Seen in Chushojima Minami-Shinchi
• The Heian Period: Aristocratic Culture and Fushimi
• The Middle Ages: An Era of Upheaval / Fushimi and Its Ties to the Northern Court
• The Ogura Pond Reclaimed Land That Supports a Prosperous Life
• 90 Years of Fushimi Ward: A History of Diversity
• The Origins of Ancient Fushimi

• Map of Fushimi Town, Yamashiro Province, Tenpō Era (Jōshū Fushimi-machi zu) (Fukakusa Archives 024-046B)

• Kyoto Kanko Navi: Misu Lock and Fushimi Minato Hiroba

• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism: Misu Lock facility overview

• DXH001 Kyoto Prefectural Board of Education: Fushimi Castle Site, Shigetsu Castle Site and Mukaijima Castle Site
• DXH002 Kyoto City Library: Guide to materials on Mukaijima Castle (Collaborative Reference Database)
• DXH003 Kyoto City Archaeological Research Institute: Materials for the 248th Cultural Properties Lecture
• DXH007 Kyoto City: Part 2, The Era of the Kanmon Nikki
• DXH008 Ueda Shinpei, The Samurai of Fushimi: A Brief Study of Personal Names in the Kanmon Nikki (Bulletin of the Archives and Mausolea Department, No. 70)
• DXH009 Kyoto City: Part 4, Fushimi and Water Transport (From Kumano Pilgrimages to the Canal)
• DXH017 Fukakusa Archives: Life and Landscapes of Fukakusa

Featured image: Cafe & Sweets Parade Kyoto.