Hirano
The hot-spring that gushed out in Hirano area was considered one of "3 Settsu Springs"(others are Hitokura Hot- spring and Arima Hot -spring) in the Edo era.
More than 20 hot- spring hotels stood along the Shiokawa river and were crowded with many worshipers to Mt. Myoken and spa visitors.
There is a mark stone which shows the ruins of "Yakushian" (the place for medical care in the old days). The address name "Hirano 3-chome" was called "Yu-no-cho" or the town of hot-spring.
After the hot-spring place collapsed due to a big fire about 150 years ago, a soft drink factory was founded for the first time in Japan in Meiji 17 (1884).
The finest mineral spring water was bottled as beverage and marketed under the brand name "Hirano-sui" or "Hirano-water", "Mitsuya saida" (Mitsuya soda pop), made of the carbonated drink and syrup. Manufacture began in Meiji 40 (1907). About 500 people were working there in its prime and the scale of the factory was the biggest in the East. The building with a symbol mark, "Mitsuya" (three arrows), reminds us of the old days.
Shinden
Shinden district spreads from Nose Railway "Tada Station" to the northern-west.
The name of Shinden, or New Paddy Field, is originated from the place where Minamoto-no-Mitsunaka, the founder of Tada-in (the predecessor to the Tada Shrine), settled and cultivated about 1000 years ago.
It is said that there was "Shinden Castle" on the hill in the northern part of that area. As to its origin, there are two opinions. One is the residence of Minamoto-no-Mitsunaka, who consolidated the foundation of Seiwa Genji clan at the base of Tada-in, and built up a small independent nation. Another is the castle of a landlord, Shiokawa, who governed there about 500 years ago.
Actually Shiokawa had the residential castle in Yamashita, so Shinden Castle can be considered to have been the Dejiro or Fort-castle. It seems that there were dry moat to defend against the invasion of enemy and the post place to keep sentry.
Although the street was called "Shinden-aza-Shiroyama" (New Paddle Field, Mountain Castle) before, we see many residential houses around there with no sign of the castle now. |
