Our couple stayed in Hagi City for 4 days, April 1st thru 4th, 2012.

For myself, I just wanted a change of air, after I had been a little too busy since autumn last year. The travel around Baltic Countries and Poland for 12 days, that was in December. Urayasu International Center (UIC) had planned the report meeting for myself after the travel. Therefore I had been busy working prestudy before the start too.
Caught up in this event, the long essay I had been writing since a half year ago, had to be discontinued for a while. It was about my office-worker days between the age of 20s and 60s, which I completed later as a novel titled "My Hayatama Steel Days".

After the report meeting at UIC, I spent a couple of months to complete this overseas travelogue and finished it in late January. And then working for the restarted above novel, I really wanted to take a rest somewhere away from home. I did not care wherever it was. That's why the travel to Hagi was realized.

We arrived at Hagi Grand Hotel "Tenku" at 11:00 by the hotel shuttle bus. We decided to stroll around and left the hotel with a simple map of the city, thinking to have lunch somewhere. It was fine and warm with no wind.

We came to Ganjima Bridge over Matsumoto River, and walked along the river a little farther to the left, when the sea appeared in an inner bay. It seemed to be a local fishing port. It must be facing the Japan Sea beyond.
Walking with a view of the calm sea about 1 km, we looked around some restaurant in vain. As we did not feel hungry, we decided to go back to the hotel for the time being. It was just before 1 o'clock.

There was unexpectedly a nice-looking seafood restaurant "Hagi Shinkai" near the hotel. The fish preserve was seen from the entrance. We were guided to the front seat.
Our lunch was gorgeous under the master's advice, with full of fresh raw fishes caught in the surrounding sea.

Satisfied in body and heart with local raw fishes including blowfish and tilefish, we strolled around again and learnt the local climate and history like an overnight cramming.

Walking over and over back and forth far south to the city hall, we finally realized it was nearly evening. This long walking made our stay there after that fruitful.
The town was comparatively consentrated in the center, with a traditional atmosphere similar to the map of Edo period.
Two whole days from the next became a little too short with various kinds of sights to visit.

There was a convenient transportation for sightseeing in the city. It was a mini bus called Hagi Cycle Bus "Mawaru", which had two directions, the eastward course "Teacher Shoin" and the westward course "Boy Shinsaku". Each of them served every 30 minutes, circling the city and stopping at all sight spots.
100 yen per ride wherever you go, but we bought a 2-day ticket for 700 yen and used it a lot of times.

The gate was magnificent. We went through without hesitation. The front cover of the leaflet said "This museum is the City Tour Starting Point ".

It was true. The keep and the secondary bailey were where the lord Mohri of Choshu Domain lived. The third bailey was the living area of chief retainers and samurais. Hagi Museum was said to be designed in the place and built as such a warrior's residence. Yes, the museum perfectly fitted the old circumstances.

Mr. H, a curator, guided our couple kindly and courteously.
Though I was aware that this town had infrangible relationship with the last days of the Tokugawa Shogunate, especially Shoin Yoshida and Shinsaku Takasugi, it had much more long history.
The Historical Exibition Room showed the history of 260 years from the time Mohri Terumoto, a grand child of Motonari, built Hagi Castle in 1604 to Meiji Restoration (in the 1800s). Yes, Hagi is a historic castle town.

The pictures of 100 famous people from the last days of Tokugawa Shogunate until today were posted at the "Historical figures in Hagi" corner. (Sorry, this part is skipped in English version.)

I remember well the Shoin Shrine at Setagaya-ward, Tokyo. It is near Sangenjaya.
When entered Hitotsubashi University after studying an extra year, I was boarding at Shimodaita in the opposite direction of Shoin Shrine from Sangenjaya. It was the shrine I visited before the examination and after the success.

This Shoin Shrine in Hagi City where Shoin Yoshida was born is in fact famous for Shokason-juku in the precincts.
It was built in 1907, Meiji period, by the petition of Hirobumi Itoh, Yasushi Nomura and other graduates from Shokason-juku.
Nowadays Shoin Shrine is admired most as the god of literature in Hagi City, so that a lot of people pay the New Year's first visit there.

Shoin Shrine

We skipped the house of Shoin Yoshida as a prisoner (Shoin History Hall) and the treasury "Shisei-kan" next to Shokason-juku.

I had expected too much that this school must have been a dignified appearance, as it was so famous.
How amazing it was, such a gazebo used to be one of the indispensable sources of Meiji Restoration. It somewhat confused me, but on the other hand made me feel the breath of pride from the circumstances.

This school was opened by Bunnoshin Tamaki, Shoin's uncle, in 1842, Edo period. Shoin learnt here and succeeded the teacher after 15 years though he was a prisoner, and guided the young generation for about 2 years here until put to death.

It will be unfair not to write Shoin Yoshida and Shinsaku Takasugi, in spite of visiting Hagi City. But shamefully I have no knowledge to introduce them. I am going to have the help of Wikipedia for my study. Attached please take a look clicking each underline.

Oya omou kokoro ni masaru oyagokoro Kyo no otozure nanto kikuran (Shoin Yoshida) - - - - - - Parental Love Superior to Child's Considerarion to Parents. How Will They Feel Today's News?

I just happened to read a pocket-sized edition "The Study of Rivals in History" (published by PHP). It is a talk between Mr. Yuji Aida and Eiichi Yazawa.

In it there was a story of the rivals "Hirobumi Itoh, an optimist, and Aritomo Yamagata, a pessimist. Both of them are from Choshu Domain (around Hagi City), learned under Shoin at Shokason-juku and were around the same age (Yamagata, 3 years older).
Itoh joined the activities to revere the Emperor and expel the barbarians, following Koin Kido.
Yamagata became the chief of the Irregular Militia commanded by Shinsaku Takasugi.
Both served as Prime Minister in later years.

Mr. Aida and Mr. Yazawa talk about the differences of their characteristics and behaviors freely as follows.

Hirobumi Itoh Aritomo Yamagata lecherous, caring little about money, clean opposite entered the school by the senior's advice entered the school by his own desire lack of desire to succeed much desire to succeed activity on the sharp intuition, providency, possibility, democracy based on experience, sincere, understanding, tenacious, obsessive planner doer liked by Meiji Emperor disliked by Meiji Emperor made a party made a faction assassinated at the Harbin Station in 1909 at the age of 68 died by the cause of right-wingers' attck in 1922 at the age of 83