Shimousa Kogane Nakanomaki ruins (captured) Wild horse catching that attracted spectators from Edo: Tokyo Shimbun TOKYO Web

The vast Shimousa Plateau lies in the northern part of Chiba Prefecture. During the Edo period, “Koganemaki” and “Sakuramaki” were grazing grounds established for breeding military horses under the direct control of the shogunate. Of these, Koganemaki, located in the northwestern part of the Shimousa Plateau, was called Koganemaki in the late Edo period, including Takadadai, Ueno, Nakano, Shimotsuke, and Inzai, and the present-day Kashiwa City, Matsudo City, Kamagaya City, and Funabashi. It had spread to cities. Among them, I visited the Shimousa Kogane Nakanomaki Ruins (Tokkome) in Kamagaya City, which was designated as a national historic site in 2007.

Kamagaya City, located on the Shimousa Plateau, is located within 25 kilometers from the city center and has been developed into a residential area as a commuter town for Tokyo. As soon as you exit Kitahatsutomi Station on the Shin-Keisei Line and exit on the south side, you will find National Route 464. As you walk along this national highway, you will see a place with dense trees at the back of the parking lot. This is the remains of the Shimousa Kogane Nakanomaki site.

There is an entrance with a stone monument and an explanatory board, and once you go inside, you will find that it is surrounded by an embankment 2.5 to 4 meters high. According to the commentary board, the horses were kept free-range and were semi-wild, so they were called wild horses. It is said that at the end of the Edo period, there were approximately 1,000 wild horses in Koganemaki. Every year, wild horse trapping was held to capture three-year-old horses, and the good horses were transported to Edo. Wild horse catching is depicted in encyclopedias of famous places, and was an annual event that attracted spectators from as far away as Edo.

The Nakanomaki is a facility for catching wild horses, and is the only one that still exists at the Nakanomaki ruins of the Kogane Gomoku. This also includes “tokume”, which is the act of driving and capturing horses, “temegome”, which is the keeping of horses to be sent to Edo or agricultural horses, and “harai”, which is the process of returning young horses to the wild. It consisted of three sections: “Gome”. However, currently, the only part that retains its original form is the “payment” section.

Other remains related to Maki include “Noma Bank.” In order to prevent wild horses from entering the village, a “wild horse embankment” was built between the village and the maki, and a “wild horse embankment” was built to trap the wild horses and lead them to a drinking hole. It is divided into “Seko Bank”. Many of these have been lost due to development, but small amounts still remain in various places.

Looking at the topographical map, the Nakanomaki ruins were built in a location adjacent to the tip of a long, narrow valley carved into the plateau. I suspect that this is because it is easier to drive in wild horses if it is built on the edge of a plateau, but what do you think? Then, when you go down to Yatsu, you will arrive at Kaigarayama Park, which has a large pond. In the plaza on the north side, there is a statue of a father and his son, “Kogane Nakanomaki Wild Horse.” Wild horses are said to have used springs such as Yatsugashira as drinking holes, so they must have drank water and rested here.

With the Meiji Restoration, Koganemaki was abolished in 1869 (Meiji 2) due to the new government’s policy of cultivating the area. After that, settlement was started as a national policy project to provide relief to samurai and impoverished people who had become unemployed.

The first place they settled in was Hatsutomi, a place named with the hope that the land would be the first to be cultivated and become rich and prosperous. Since then, 13 new towns have been established in the order of land cultivation: Futawa, Misaki (both in Funabashi City), Toyoshiki (Kashiwa City), and Goko (Matsudo City). was born.

After visiting Kaigarayama Park, they visited Hatsutomi Inari Shrine, which was built when the Hatsutomi area was cleared and settled in the same year, and learned about the history of the area at the nearby Kamagaya City Museum before returning home. (Kentaro Inagaki, Chairman of the Chiba Suribachi Society)