Happy New Year—please continue favoring Palaceside Building.
Tokyo had a calm New Year. How was yours? Calendar-wise, nine days off two years running
. Many traveled abroad; others rested like me.
New Year shrine report—"person of the year"… Yoshida Shoin (1830–59). NHK's Taiga drama Hana Moyu stars his sister. Shoin-linked sites… so first visit was Shoin Shrine (
Setagaya)—=photos right bottom; ~10 minutes in line for the offering box.
The shrine holds Shoin's grave. Photos left bottom—surprisingly small. After execution in the Ansei purge, remains were first buried at Kozukappara Eko-in (Arakawa), a branch of Ryogoku Eko-in built for Meireki fire victims
.
After Ii Naosuke's assassination ended the purge, 1863 pupils including Takasugi Shinsaku and Ito Hirobumi moved the grave from Kozukappara to the Mori estate in Setagaya—today's site. After the Hamaguri Gate Incident (1864), the Mori clan built the shrine.
Gravestones remain at Kozukappara; another in Hagi, Yamaguchi—100 days after death, family and pupils including Takasugi and Kusaka Genzui gathered; hair buried; later the Hagi shrine.
Shoin Shrine exists in Hagi too—Shoka Academy buildings remain there
and in Setagaya =photo right. Hagi is authentic; Setagaya is a replica. Compare with the drama's academy scenes.
I spotted two Shoin statues—prominent between torii and hall. The 1890 plaster by sculptor Oku Onko; 2013 bronze cast for the 130th enshrinement anniversary.
If you haven't visited Shoin Shrine, why not once?