Yamanouchi, Kamakura

Kita-Kamakura station with its cherry trees in full bloom

Yamanouchi (山ノ内 or 山之内) is a neighborhood of Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Because of the presence of East Japan Railway Company's (JR) Kita-Kamakura Station, it is better known as Kita-Kamakura. It lies within the Ofuna administrative subdivision of the city of Kamakura.

History

Yamanouchi used to be the northern border of the city during the shogunate.[1] The border post was about a hundred meters from today's Ōfuna Station.[1] The name of the area during the Kamakura shogunate used to be Sakado-gō (尺度郷).[2] During the Muromachi period Yamanouchi also gave its name to the Yamanouchi branch of the Uesugi clan.

The land where the station itself stands used to be part of Engaku-ji, but it was expropriated during the Meiji period to let the Yokosuka Line pass through.[1] The area nonetheless has not changed much, and is still visually an integral part of the temple. Within it, under the road next to the bridge on the Meigetsu river, was buried a famous and magical stele, the Seimeiseki (晴明石).[1] According to the legend, it was buried there in Heian times by Abe no Seimei as an offering.[1] It was dug up accidentally by US military bulldozers after World War II and now it is kept in nearby Yakumo Jinja.[1]

Although very small, Yamanouchi is famous for its traditional atmosphere and the presence, among others, of three of the five highest-ranking Rinzai Zen temples in Kamakura, the Kamakura Five Zen Temples, or Kamakura Gozan. These three great temples were built here because Yamanouchi was the home territory of the Hōjō clan, the family which ruled Japan for 150 years.

Notable temples

A house in Kita-Kamakura

Notable residents

The artist Isamu Noguchi lived and worked here in 1952. Film director Yasujirō Ozu lived near Jōchi-ji from 1952 until his death.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ōnuki (2008:50)
  2. Yume Kōbō (2008:4)
  3. Kamakura Shōkō Kaigijo (2008:170-188)
  4. http://www.easterwood.org/ozu/gravesite/directions.htm
  5. Harada (2007:41)

References

Coordinates: 35°20′13.60″N 139°32′43.96″E / 35.3371111°N 139.5455444°E / 35.3371111; 139.5455444

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