south. In the waves of ambitious expeditions in the early twelfth century, one member of the clan reached Kawagoe, and another reached Edo. The latter, based at the site of the present Imperial Palace, called himself Edo Shiro and established the Edo branch of the family. Other branches of the Chichibu family spread throughout the area that is present-day Tokyo, taking the names of the places in which they settled: Toshima, Iikura, Shibuya, Nakano, Asagaya, Kasai, Kawasaki. When Minamoto Yoritomo decided in 1180 to raise an army against the Heikes in Kyoto, he asked for the support of the Edo family in the uprising.
Buddhism had spread from western Japan by this time. Ascetic monks, first becoming active in Kumano, south of Nara, came to the mountains of Chichibu to practice an austere regime and to promote their half-shamanistic, half-Buddhist religion. Their influence grew strong in the medieval age and continued until the nineteenth century, when the Meiji government officially banned mountain asceticism.
The middle ages were a period of chaos, caused by infighting among the country’s military leaders. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, new warlords emerged, who grew more powerful through the conquest of neighboring clans. All of present-day Saitama belonged to the Hōjōs, who ruled from their base at Odawara. The castle of Yorii on the Arakawa river, just outside the Chichibu basin, was an important military base of the Hōjōs. Occasionally, troops of the Takedas, another warlord clan based in present-day Yamanashi Prefecture, stole into Chichibu to attack Yorii, causing great loss of life and property. For the most part, however, the basin was more of a refuge for fugitives of war than a battlefield.
After the Tokugawas unified Japan and made Edo the capital in 1603, the western half of Chichibu was ruled directly by the shogunate, because of its strategic position guarding Edo from invasion via the mountains. The eastern half was the fiefdom of a lord who controlled northern Saitama. During the Edo period (1603-1868), the whole basin of Chichibu rose to fame as a silk-producing region. The steep mountain slopes with their well-drained soil were ideally suited for raising mulberry trees, the leaves of which are fed to silkworms before they begin spinning. The silk was so highly prized that the name Chichibu soon came to be used as a term for high-quality plain silk.
The proximity of Chichibu to Edo and the absence of a major checkpoint between the two encouraged travel and trade, and regularly scheduled fairs for silk trading became eagerly awaited, festive events. The pilgrimage course of thirty-four Kannon temples also attracted a great number of pilgrims, who in turn stimulated local interest in the thriving culture of Edo. Edo influences are clearly visible in the architectural styles of temples and shrines, folk puppetry, and Kabuki, which have been carefully preserved in Chichibu.
In 1868, the shogun system was eliminated and imperial rule was reestablished. The new Meiji government abolished in 1871 the feudal fiefdoms that had been granted by the shogunate, replacing them with a new administrative system of prefectures. In the economic upheaval accompanying the rapid industrialization that followed, the silk farmers of Chichibu rebelled against the government’s despotic enforcement of modernization. Inspired by Western ideas of democracy, thousands of farmers armed themselves and seized the administrative center at Chichibu City. For a few days they controlled the entire basin, but after the government army laid seige to it, the rebels were isolated and crushed. Although short-lived, this war of resistance (told of in greater detail beginning on p. 186) is an enduring watershed in Japanese history. A gradually changing emphasis in products— from the plain, high-quality Edo fabric, to raw silk for export in the Meiji era, and later meisen, a striped textile used for women’s kimonos—allowed the region’s silk-based prosperity to continue until the early twentieth century. But Chichibu never fully recaptured the glory of the Edo silk fairs.
Nor, of course, has Chichibu been able to escape completely the rapid industrialization and economic upheaval that has created modern Japan. Excavation of limestone and cement production also started in the early twentieth century and became a major industry of the basin. In more recent years, manufacturers of precision machinery and electronic components have begun small-scale operations here. However, the magic of Chichibu remains. The folds of its many mountains enclose places and people imbued with the spirit of old Japan. There still can be seen verdant valleys, clear-flowing streams, and villages snuggled in the woods. Pilgrims still hike from temple to temple, greeted by weathered stone statues that have stood for hundreds of years. Robust men may leave off toiling in the fields and in no time become characters in a Kabuki play. Schoolchildren, drumsticks in hand, will rap out a fast beat. A lively festival, with hearty drinking and sincere merriment, may get under way at any time.
Why not, then, see and explore this land of folklore and tradition so close to and yet so different from ultramodern Tokyo? Visitors crossing the mountains into the Chichibu basin will discover sights and sounds to ease the strain of modern urban life. And they are sure to find a hearty welcome; unassuming hospitality is also a Chichibu tradition. As a refrain of the old folk song Chichibu Ondo puts it:
Nice to have you come through the morning mists!
Come, warm yourself by the fire pit.
GETTING TO AND AROUND CHICHIBU
Seibu Chichibu Station, the Chichibu terminus of the Seibu Railroad, can be reached in ninety minutes from Ikebukuro Station in Tokyo, via the comfortable Red Arrow Express. All seats on this train are reserved, and seats in nonsmoking carriages are available. Tickets may be purchased within a week of your departure date at Ikebukuro and Takadanobaba stations, or at the counter of the Seibu Kankō travel service in Seibu’s LOFT building in Shibuya. Your car number and three-digit seat number are printed on your tickets. The train leaves from an unnumbered platform next to track seven (look for the attendant collecting tickets).
For your convenience, and to avoid disappointment, you should purchase round-trip tickets to Chichibu several days before your departure. However, on weekdays seats are often available without advance reservation. The ticket window for the day’s trains is located to your right after you enter the Seibu Railroad terminus at Ikebukuro Station at the track level (it may also be entered from underground). To enter the Seibu terminus you will need a ticket. You should purchase the most expensive one available from one of the ticket-vending machines outside. This is your basic fare; the ticket that you purchase at the window inside represents a surcharge for the reserved-seat express service. If you strongly desire to return from Chichibu via the Red Arrow and have not purchased a return ticket in advance, you should buy it as soon as you arrive at Seibu Chichibu Station.
If the Red Arrow is full, you may take one of the other trains, but you must change at Hannō Station and it will take you an additional ten to fifteen minutes to reach your destination. Trains to Hannō usually leave from track five. Although the seats are not reserved, these trains are a convenient and less-expensive alternative to the Red Arrow (no additional ticket need be purchased). At Hannō, change to track four to continue to Chichibu. Of course, you should try to confirm the train’s destination before boarding. When returning from Seibu Chichibu Station, use the pedestrian overpass to cross over to the track for local trains, and walk across the platform when you get to Hannō to transfer to your Ikebukuro-bound train.
To transfer to the Chichibu Railroad, a local line serving the Chichibu area, you must go to Ohanabatake Station, about a five-minute walk from Seibu Chichibu Station (see map C). Turn left after handing in your ticket, walk past the station shops and turn left again at the end of the corridor. Follow the path until you come to a street, then turn left and cross the tracks. Turn right again immediately and you will see Ohanabatake Station ahead of you. Trains arrive at this small station only once or twice an hour; however, the station is located in the middle of town, so you can spend your waiting time seeing some sights. Train times may be checked on the schedule above the ticket gate, for weekdays and Saturdays (in black) and Sundays and holidays (in red). Trains heading toward Mitsumine-guchi are listed to the left, while trains for Kumagaya,
