Map of Seba, 31st post town of Nakasendo
Seba-juku is a Nakasendo post town located on the right bank of the Narai River, at the southern end of the Matsumoto Basin, at an altitude of 750 meters. It corresponds to the present-day Soga area of Shiojiri City, Nagano Prefecture. It is the 31st post town from Edo(Tokyo).
At Seba-juku, the Hokoku Kaido (Zenkoji Kaido) branched off from the Nakasendo. The origin of Seba name is said to be that Imai Kanehira washed Kiso Yoshinaka's horse legs and healed the horse in the nearby Ahuta Spring.
Following is a map of Seba ( printable PDF map, double click here )
Another Guide Map of Seba-Juku
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② Hijikake-no-matsu: It is said that a famous waka-poet and warlord of the late Sengoku period, Hosokawa Yusai, traveled through Seba-Juku on the Kiso-Kaido with his men. He was impressed by the fine pine tree branch growing by the roadside. He rested his arm on it, and composed a poem. “Rest in the shade of large pine tree, with my arm on its branch, cool winds from river run through my sleeve.” After that, the pine tree was called Hijikake-no-matsu. It is also said that Tokugawa Hidetada, the second shogun of the Edo shogunate, rested his arm on it too. This pine tree withered in the early years of the Showa era and was cut down. The current pine tree is the second generation.
④ The junction of the Nakasendo and the Hokkoku Kaido (Zenkoji-do) on the north side of Seba-Juku was set up as a“Masugata”(right angle turn which prevents large army movement) At junction, a stone made, large eternal street lamp was donated by the influential locals in the fourth year of Ansei (1857). 80 meters south of the old junction, the new junction was formed for easy traffic in the early Showa period. There are stone monuments such as stone signposts, Dosojin, Tokuhon-hi, and Koshintsuka that were relocated from the old junktion.
⑥ Autano-shimizu (Spring of Encounter)
It is said that this is the place where Kiso Yoshinaka, a military commander of the Genji who defeated the ruling Heike clan at the end of the Heian period, and Imai Kanehira, a subordinate of Yoshinaka who came from Matsumoto, met at this Spring. Yoshinaka’s horse was tired from long marching, but when Imai Kanehira washed horse and gave it water from this Spring, it immediately regained its strength. According to the legend, the village name “Seba” was come from this story.
The view of the Naraigawa River seen from around here is said to have become the model for “Seba no Yoruzuki,” a masterpiece of Hiroshige Utagawa’s ukiyo-e series of "Kiso Kaido 63 posts."
⑧ The Site of Seba School
The Meiji government established school system throughout the country from the beginning of the Meiji era to promote elementary education. The Seba School was initially opened in a private house in 1873, and then moved to the former Kanme Aratajo(Weighing Station). In 1878, a three-story Western-style school was built by Tateishi Kiyoshige, a master carpenter who previously built the national treasure “Kaichi School”in Matsumoto. The building was called “Babylon Castle” because of its grandeur. The third-floor gable was decorated with a statue of Imai Kanehira washing Yoshinaka ’s horse at the Auta-Spring. It was used until 1920 when the Soga Elementary School was relocated to its current location.
Currently, the site is used as a community center of Seba.
⑨ Seba-juku Honjin (Official Inn of Seba)
Seba-juku Honjin was initially operated by the Misawa family, and later by the Momose family, which also served as a Kami-donya (a forwarding agent). Honjin, as well as Waki-honjin, had beautiful gardens which were referred as “very rare on the Nakasendō”in many travel guidebooks, but they were lost when the Seba Station of Japan Rail was built on the gardens.
The building of the former Honjin was rebuilt as a fire-resistant building just before the Seba Great Fire, so the lodging book for daimyōs and nobles were saved from destruction. Samurais and officials stayed at the Honjin, and the group led by Inō Tadataka, who created the “Dai Nihon Enkai Yochi Zenzu” (Map of Great Japan), also stayed here during their surveying journey.
⑩ Waki-honjin(Sub-official Inn) and “Garden” of Akutagawa
During the Edo period, the Seba-juku Waki Honjin was managed by the Shimura family for generations. In the middle of Meiji, the head of the family, Iwao Shimura, served as the first village mayor of Soga. The garden of the Waki-Honjin was referred as a very rare garden on the Nakasendo, but when the Seba Station of Japan Rail was built in the late Meiji, most of the Shimura’s garden became station site and the famous garden was lost.
Oana Ryuichi, a painter and grandson of Iwao Shimura, was a close friend of Akutagawa Ryunosuke, so Akutagawa wrote a short story called “Garden” based on this garden. “Garden” depicts the efforts of the old family to restore the desolated garden.
⑰ Seba Park/Shinfukuji
In the Edo period, there was a Sohtoh Zen temple called Jizosan Shinfukuji. A part of temple is now maintained as SEBA Park that has become a place for people to relax. About two centuries ago, a picture of Shinfukuji was appeared in the Nakasendo Guide Book. Shinpukuji had a building called Zenkoji-do which was regarded as a substitute/representative of Zenkoji Temple in Nagano. During Edo period, it was very popular, however, it was destroyed in the Meiji era. Early 19 century, the Sougamura Village Office was established here until it merged with Shiojiri City in 1959. Within the park, there is a Haiku monument of Basho: “A fine day in rainy season, few showers under broken clouds.”
⑲ inari-Jizo(Wish-come-true Jizo)
Iinari-Jizo is a Jizo statue that has gained popularity in the southern Shinshu as a “Jizo who will surely make your wishes come true”. This Iinari-Jizo was the main statue of Jizosan Shinpukuji Temple, which was located where the current Seba Park is. In the early Meiji period, Shinpukuji Temple was abolished due to the Haibutsu Kishaku (Abolishing Buddhism)movement but Jizo statue was secretly kept by the members of the temple. There was also a small building called Zenkoji-do in Shinpukuji Temple, where the Gokaichou (Open curtain) of Nagano Zenkoji Temple was also held.
In the early Showa period, the Jizo faith was revived when a small temple was built in the current location by volunteers from the district, and it became famous as one of the eight famous Jizo temples in southern Shinshu.
⑳ Seba Shinmeigu Shrine
Seba Shrine is said to have been founded in the early Edo period when Seba-juku was established on the Nakasendo. Initially, there were two shrines in Seba-juku: the Kamisha (Upper Shrine) enshrining Ise Daijingu and the Shimosa (Lower Shrine) enshrining Kumano Shrine. During Post war period, the Shimosa became a construction site of an elementary school, so the Shimosa was abolished and merged with the Kamisha to become Seba Shrine. The male and female Lion dances performed annually at the autumn festival in Seba are designated as intangible cultural properties of Shiojiri City.
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