August 30, 2023 : I Will Find the Answer Someday
© 安岡喜晴 (JoyShine)
I went on a business trip today.
I went from Shijo Street to Nishioji Street and crossed the Katsura River,
which was probably the reverse route that Akechi Mitsuhide took in the Honnoji incident.
The Honnoji incident occurred during the medieval Warring States period,
when Oda Nobunaga, who was on the verge of unifying the country, was defeated by his retainer Akechi Mitsuhide, who rebelled against him,
and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a retainer of Oda Nobunaga, took his place and unified Japan (later the country belonged to Tokugawa Ieyasu).
By the way, the Honnoji incident took place in the neighborhood where I live now.
When I close my eyes, I imagine the day of the Honnoji incident.
Oda Nobutada's army was stationed at the current location of the International Manga Museum, and it takes about 15 minutes to reach Honnoji Temple.
Given that time, the only way to gain the advantage of distance is to cross the Katsura River and come up from Nishioji Street.
If they went west from the Shiga direction, they would collide with Nobutada's forces,
and if they went up Omiya Street from the Toji direction, Nobutada's forces would reach Honnoji Temple first.
Therefore, the only way to gain a time advantage in attacking Honnoji Temple was to secretly cross the Katsura River,
pretending to go to Osaka via Mount Tennozan.
By the way, Honnoji Temple was located in a different place than it is today.
The Honnoji Temple of today is located near Kyoto City Hall, but the Honnoji Temple of the past was located near Shijo Horikawa.
The Kyoichi Amusement Park, which can be seen before crossing the Kuze Bridge from east to west, is a mysterious place to me,
it has been there since I was a child, but I don't know if it is open now or not.
Looking through the window of a moving bus, there are traces that it used to be open and crowded with people.
Is it open now?
The answer is quick if I get off the bus and go there to check, but it's too much trouble to get off all the way at the bus stop and check,
and I don't feel like doing that, so it's okay it will remain a mystery in my brain forever.
As for the Kuze Bridge, when I was a kid, I used to go by it to visit my relatives.
So whenever I pass it, I always remember the time when I was a child.
But today I am going to a different place.
Back then, my path went straight through the crossroads, but today my path will turn left at the crossroads.
The path I took when I was a child, and the path I'm taking now,
which path will lead to happiness?
I am sure I will find the answer someday.