Ōeyama (mountain)
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Ōeyama (Japanese: 大枝山), also known as Ooe-yama and Mount Ooe, is a mountain in
Kyoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Kyoto Prefecture has a population of 2,561,358 () and has a geographic area of . Kyoto Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the northeast, Shiga Prefecture ...
, Japan.
Helen Craig McCullough Helen Craig McCullough (February 17, 1918 – April 6, 1998) was an American academic, translator and Japanologist. She is best known for her 1988 translation of ''The Tale of the Heike''. Early life McCullough was born in California. She graduat ...
. ''Genji & Heike: Selections from The Tale of Genji and The Tale of Heike''. 1994, . glossary Page 478: "Oeyama. A hill in what is now Ukyo-ku, Kyoto; the road over it led to Tanba Province."
The mount is 480m high. The mountain is located in the boundary between Nishikyo Ward,
Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
, and
Kameoka is a city in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 87,518 in 29,676 households and a population density of 390 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Kameoka abuts Kyoto to the west and is locate ...
. It is also called 大江山 (Ōeyama) (in
Man'yōshū The is the oldest extant collection of Japanese (poetry in Classical Japanese), compiled sometime after AD 759 during the Nara period. The anthology is one of the most revered of Japan's poetic compilations. The compiler, or the last in ...
) or (大井山) Ōiyama (大井山) (in
Nihon Kōki is an officially commissioned Japanese history text. Completed in 840, it is the third volume in the Six National Histories. It covers the years 792–833. Background Following the earlier national history '' Shoku Nihongi'' (797), in 819 Em ...
). Oinosaka-toge Pass (老ノ坂峠) is located on the north-side slope of this mountain. In the past, the slope where pass of Mt. Oe was called 'Oeno-saka Slope' (大江坂), but is now referred to as Oino-saka Slope (老の坂).


History

Before the capital was moved to
Heian-kyō Heian-kyō was one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. It was the official capital of Japan for over one thousand years, from 794 to 1868 with an interruption in 1180. Emperor Kanmu established it as the capital in 794, mo ...
, this route was used for going to
Heijō-kyō was the Capital of Japan during most of the Nara period, from 710 to 740 and again from 745 to 784. The imperial palace is a listed UNESCO World Heritage together with other places in the city of Nara (cf. Historic Monuments of Ancient ...
via
Yodo River The , also called the Seta River (瀬田川 ''Seta-gawa'') and the Uji River (宇治川 ''Uji-gawa'') at portions of its route, is the principal river in Osaka Prefecture on Honshu, Japan. The source of the river is Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefectur ...
. People using the
San'indō is a Japanese geographical term. It means both an ancient division of the country and the main road running through it. ''San'in'' translates to "the shaded side of a mountain", while ''dō'', depending on the context, can mean either a road, o ...
Road from Heian-kyō, passed through Oeno-seki (the Oe gate station) placed on Oeno-saka Slope, located in the boundary between
Yamashiro Province was a province of Japan, located in Kinai. It overlaps the southern part of modern Kyoto Prefecture on Honshū. Aliases include , the rare , and . It is classified as an upper province in the '' Engishiki''. Yamashiro Province included Kyoto it ...
and
Tanba Province was a province of Japan in the area of central Kyoto and east-central Hyōgo Prefectures. Tanba bordered on Harima, Ōmi, Settsu, Tajima. Tango, Wakasa, and Yamashiro provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . In terms of the Gokishichid ...
, in order to bid farewell to the capital; therefore, it was known as a place of
utamakura is a rhetorical concept in Japanese poetry. Definition is a category of poetic words, often involving place names, that allow for greater allusions and intertextuality across Japanese poems. enables poets to express ideas and themes concise ...
. Due to its strategic location from a transportation and military perspective, it was recorded that, in Jowa Incident and in
Hōgen rebellion The was a short civil war fought in order to resolve a dispute about Japanese Imperial succession. The dispute was also about the degree of control exercised by the Fujiwara clan who had become hereditary Imperial regents during the Heian p ...
, many were stationed to prevent suspicious persons from entering or exiting the capital. It is also known that famous military commanders passed through here: it is said that
Minamoto no Yoshitsune was a commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian period, Heian and early Kamakura period, Kamakura periods. During the Genpei War, he led a series of battles that toppled the Ise-Heishi branch of the Taira clan, helping his half-br ...
,
Ashikaga Takauji also known as Minamoto no Takauji was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate."Ashikaga Takauji" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. ...
attacking Rokuhara Tandai and
Akechi Mitsuhide , first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period. Mitsuhide was originally a bodyguard of the last Ashikaga shogunate, Ashikaga ''shōgun'' Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later, one of ...
, passed through here on their way to battle. A sekisho (checking station) was placed here in the
Muromachi period The , also known as the , is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate ( or ), which was officially established in 1338 by the first Muromachi ...
. This place was designated as one of (four boundaries) to prevent unclean influences from outside from entering the Capital of Heian-kyo and to rid the capital of
filth Filth or The Filth may refer to: Common uses * Dirt, unclean matter * Police officer, a pejorative in British slang Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Filth'' (film), a 2013 film based on the novel * ''Filth'', an alternative title for '' ...
generated from within. For this reason, it was known that thieves ousted from Kyoto lived in the areas around Ōeyama and it was also believed that
oni An ( ) is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. They are believed to live in caves or deep in the mountains or in hell. Oni are known for their superhuman strength and have been associated with powers like th ...
lived there as well. In the past, Kyoto and Kameoka were connected via Oino-saka-toge Pass, but now, the Shin-Oino-saka tunnel for national road 9 and for the KyotoJukan expressway was constructed directly under the pass.


Folklore

It was known in popular mythology as the residence of
Shuten-dōji Shuten-dōji (, also sometimes called , or ) is a mythical ''oni'' or demon leader of Japan, who according to legend was killed by the hero Minamoto no Yorimitsu, Minamoto no Raikō. Although decapitated, the demon's detached head still took a bi ...
, an oni. A
kubizuka Kubizuka (首塚, literally ''neck mound'' in Japanese, often translated as ''head tomb'') is a type of burial mound in Japan, in which severed heads are interred. The heads were often those taken as trophies following a battle or in some cases, t ...
where the head of Shuten-dōji is supposed to lay is said to exist on the south side of Oino-saka-toge Pass.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oeyama Mountains of Kyoto Prefecture