@ Intro-San-InΦίι
2DPeople of Matsue, still haunted by Gensuke
Matsue, the Principal City in Shimane
Prefecture, is a
beautiful
castle town.
Some 400 years ago, the City of Matsue was being constructed by feudal
lord. The central part, with a castle, was
on the peninsula separated from the main
land by a few rivers which flow into Shinji-ko Lake. Building bridges between the mainland
and the peninsula was vitally important from
strategic as well as commercial points of
view. But it had been awfully difficult to
build one of them. Failure after failure.
One day, a young town man by the name of Gensuke happened to come near the construction site.
They caught and buried him alive into the
river as a sacrifice (called ehitobashiraf) to please the God. The construction of the
bridge
went successfully. People of Matsue owe him prosperity of the City today. But
it seems to me, they paid a price. They are
still haunted by the spirit of the poor man,
in that their disposition is somewhat notoriously
queer: they are afraid of accepting anything
new, they are always reluctant to make a
change until really forced to, they never
trust anyone unless the person has been around
for quite a long time, all in fear of being
caught by powerful strangers. It is generally
hard for newcomers to get along with the
old inhabitants here.
Gensuke Matsuri Service--- People
of Matsue stll hold
a service for Gensuke once a year.
Please forgive me if you are a resident of
Matsue. I am not saying all the
Matsue residents have such peculiar disposition. But what I said is generally true,
everybody admits that. Actually, the true story is: Matsue residents are tradi-
tionally somewhat overcautious against outside
world. A typical old residence looks
more a castle than a house. Inside is secluded
from outside by a stone fence just
like a castle defending itself from invaders.
A typical Matsue residence for rich people