{"id":998,"date":"2024-07-15T15:15:00","date_gmt":"2024-07-15T06:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maplat.jp\/?p=998"},"modified":"2026-05-12T20:53:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T11:53:35","slug":"%e3%80%8c%e9%ab%98%e7%95%91%e3%81%ae%e9%a2%a8%e5%9c%9f%e3%81%a8%e6%ad%b4%e5%8f%b2%e3%82%92%e8%aa%9e%e3%82%8b%e9%9b%86%e3%81%84%e3%80%8d%e7%ac%ac2%e5%9b%9e%e4%be%8b%e4%bc%9a%e3%81%ab%e5%8f%82%e5%8a%a0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maplat.jp\/en\/2024\/%e3%80%8c%e9%ab%98%e7%95%91%e3%81%ae%e9%a2%a8%e5%9c%9f%e3%81%a8%e6%ad%b4%e5%8f%b2%e3%82%92%e8%aa%9e%e3%82%8b%e9%9b%86%e3%81%84%e3%80%8d%e7%ac%ac2%e5%9b%9e%e4%be%8b%e4%bc%9a%e3%81%ab%e5%8f%82%e5%8a%a0\/","title":{"rendered":"Attending the 2nd Gathering on Takabatake's History and Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Until about eight years ago, I lived in Hon-Yakushi Higashi, Takabatake-cho, Nara City. Around that time, an elderly resident of the neighborhood lent me a local history book, which became one of the reasons I developed an interest in regional history. Since then, I have continued to be particularly interested in the local history of Takabatake and Kyobate in Nara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of that interest, I joined a group called \u201cThe Gathering on Takabatake's History and Culture\u201d, which was established in April 2024, and I attended its second regular meeting on Saturday, July 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The venue was Shalom, the second chapel of the Nara Takabatake Church of the United Church of Christ in Japan. When I think of a Christian chapel, I usually imagine Western-style architecture, and the church\u2019s main building located a short distance away does indeed have that atmosphere. However, this second chapel blends beautifully into the Takabatake streetscape. Inside, there is a comfortable tatami room where people can relax together, giving the whole place a warm and welcoming feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
A charming building that blends naturally into the Takabatake landscape \u2014 Takabatake Church Shalom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Some of the furnishings inside appear to have been inherited from Takabatake\u2019s former shrine priest families (photo taken during the first meeting in April)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
In addition to audiovisual equipment for meetings and events, the building also includes a spacious tatami room for relaxing together<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first half of the meeting featured a lecture by local historian Akihiko Otsuki on the shrine priest families (shake) and negi priests of Kasuga Shrine in Takabatake. He explained the history of the shrine families who once lined the streets of Takabatake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had already known that the Kasuga shrine and negi families were traditionally divided into the \u201cNorthern Group\u201d around the Noda area and the \u201cSouthern Group\u201d around Takabatake. However, I learned that this distinction had become largely nominal quite early on, and that in practice both lineages eventually came to reside in Takabatake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, Shingo Sakuma of the Takahata Trust Association spoke about the preservation and restoration of the Toma Residence, the last remaining former negi family residence in Takabatake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had personally contributed to the crowdfunding campaign for the restoration project, so I had already seen the completed building during a supporters\u2019 tour. However, this talk provided many fascinating behind-the-scenes stories, including how close the building had been to collapse before restoration began, the difficult decisions surrounding the restoration policy during construction, and discussions about how the building has been utilized since completion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have also been casually researching Kasuga-utsushi (replicas or transferred shrines associated with Kasuga worship), so during the supporters\u2019 tour I had been particularly intrigued by a story that a small shrine in the Toma Residence garden was a transferred sub-shrine of Kasuga Shrine. I asked about this again during the meeting, but was told that the story was incorrect \u2014 the shrine is actually dedicated to Inari and was transferred from Fushimi Inari Shrine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was an excellent meeting filled with fascinating stories and discoveries. I hope to continue participating in future gatherings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Until about eight years ago, I lived in Hon-Yakushi Higashi, Takabatake-cho, Nara City. Around that time, an elderly resident of the neighborhood lent me a local history book, which became one of the reasons I developed an interest in regional history. Since then, I have continued to be particularly interested in the local history of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":582,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_locale":"en_US","_original_post":"https:\/\/www.maplat.jp\/?p=581","sns_share_botton_hide":"","vkExUnit_sns_title":"","_vk_print_noindex":"","sitemap_hide":"","_veu_custom_css":"","veu_display_promotion_alert":"common","vkexunit_cta_each_option":"","_lightning_design_setting":{"layout":"default"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[25,56,55],"class_list":["post-998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-report","tag-25","tag-56","tag-55","en-US"],"veu_head_title_object":{"title":"","add_site_title":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maplat.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maplat.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maplat.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maplat.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maplat.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.maplat.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":999,"href":"https:\/\/www.maplat.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions\/999"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maplat.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maplat.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maplat.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maplat.jp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}