英語訳
## 【Right Page】
(Continued from previous page) …it appears to be so. The one on the left is then the grave of his wife.
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### Akatsuka Myōjin Shrine (赤塚明神祠)
In front of the gate of Shōgetsu-in, there is a mound of earth upon which two or three hackberry trees (enoki) stand. At the base of these trees, a small shrine has been established, and Hakusan Gongen has been enshrined therein. The local people say that if anyone should touch the trees or other vegetation of this mound, a divine curse (tatari) will certainly befall them, and thus they hold it in great dread. Upon reflection, this is likely an ancient burial mound (kōryō) in which a person of high rank was interred in antiquity.
**As recorded in the "Musashi no Kuni Fudoki Zanpen" (Remaining Fragments of the Musashi Provincial Gazetteer):**
> Musashi Province, Toshima District, Aramaka Township, Aramaka Shrine.
> In the second year of Taika (646), the year Hinoe-Uma, the deity enshrined was Saruta-hiko. Divine tribute: fifty bundles, three-character field (田), et cetera.
> [Interlinear note] Upon reflection, "Akatsuka" (赤塚) may be a corruption of "Aramaka" (荒墓, "rough tomb"). In the Azuma Kagami, the names "Akatsuka Sakon" and "Kurando Sukemochi" are mentioned; these may have been people from this area. The matter warrants further investigation.
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### Jūrasetsunyō-no-miya (十羅刹女宮, Shrine of the Ten Rākṣasī)
Located to the north of the same area (Akatsuka). The Shingon-sect temple Jōfuku-ji serves as its bettō (administrative temple).
**Ta-asobi Festival (田遊び祭, Agricultural Ritual)**
> [Interlinear note] Each year on the thirteenth day of the first month, the farmers of this area first visit the shrine, then gather at Jōfuku-ji, and perform the ceremony into the night. The procedure is as follows:
> [Interlinear note] This festival begins with the pounding of approximately three to (roughly 54 liters) of rice cakes (mochi). From these pounded cakes, a variety of farming implements are fashioned. Those requiring handles are made using elderwood (niwatoko). Even saddles for cattle and horses are made in their entirety, without exception.
> [Interlinear note] After this, carrying the implements, the participants reenact every stage of the agricultural cycle from start to finish — beginning with the seedbed, transplanting seedlings, through to the autumn ripening and harvest — including all tasks such as plowing, weeding, and every other agricultural activity, omitting not a single one.
> [Interlinear note] Though it is a rustic rural custom, it is admirable that the old traditions have not been lost. Each performer has a name. Those called "Yonan-sō" and "Inan-sō" play the role of elderly persons. The one called "Yasume" wears a woman's mask;
## 【Left Page】
> [Interlinear note] the one called "Taroji" wears the mask of Saruta-hiko. Those named "Shaku-tarō" and "Shaku-jirō" each carry a sickle as they appear. "Yonehō" is a figure of a woman fashioned from straw, made to carry a lunch box (bentō), which is
> [Interlinear note] brought out to the gathering and shared in eating and drinking. At the conclusion, the following words are spoken as the finale: "Of ninety thousand chō of rice, ten thousand chō shall be offered to the guardian shrine; last year's rice, pile it in the storehouse; this year's rice, pile it in the garden."
> [Interlinear note] Upon reflection, the saying "of ninety thousand chō of rice, ten thousand chō shall be offered to the guardian shrine" likely derives from the ancient well-field system (seiden no hō). Today, among the farmers of the nearby villages of this province, there is a saying in local parlance called "onakawi." When asked its origin, it is said that the finest grain harvested from the central portion of the cultivated fields is offered to the authorities, and this is what the saying refers to — which also suggests it is a surviving custom from the well-field system mentioned above. Writing the word "onakawi" as "御中井" (Honorable Central Well) also fits well with the meaning of the well-field (seiden) system.
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### Former Castle Site of the Chiba Clan (千葉家古城趾)
This refers to the hill (oka) to the west of the same area (Akatsuka). The local people call it "Shiroyama" (Castle Mountain). It is now government-managed forest, and there are fields on its summit. Nevertheless, the forms of the dry moats (karahori) remain as they were, and the areas that appear to have been the outer enclosure (demaru) and main keep (honmaru) still retain the form of castle ditches (hori) even today, holding water within them.
In the Kamakura Ōsōshi (鎌倉大草紙, "Great Kamakura Miscellany"), it is recorded that in the first month of Kōshō 2 (1456), Shigeuji (成氏) besieged the castle at Ichikawa; on the nineteenth of the same month, the castle fell; Sanetane (実胤) fled to Ishibama in Musashi Province, and Yoritane (自胤) likewise moved to Akatsuka. It is therefore certain that this location was Yoritane's residential castle. Upon reflection, Yorihide (自秀), said to be the founder of Shōgetsu-in, must also have been a member of Yoritane's clan.
> [Interlinear note] Upon reflection, among the names of those who donated to the casting of the bell at Shōgetsu-in, there are many people of the Kasuga clan from this village. The local people say that the Kasuga clan are descendants of the Chiba family, and indeed many of their kin reside in this area. It is said that a man named Kasuga Heiemon currently holds ancient documents in his home. Furthermore, in the Odawara-ki (小田原記, "Record of Odawara"), it is recorded that in the tenth month of Tenshō 1 (1573), during the Battle of Sekiyado in Shimousa Province, Chiba Jirō, the lord of Ishibama Castle in Musashi Province, was killed in battle. At this time, the Chiba clan of Ishibama was left with only women…