Shonan: Routes and local life | LoreMania
Walking through Shonan reveals two different faces of local life: the history of Edo-period post towns, and citizen-driven festivals that continue today. This page traces the different characters of neighboring Hiratsuka and Oiso through their Tanabata festival and Tokaido post-town history.
Hiratsuka grew from the Edo-period post town of Hiratsuka-juku and today is known for the Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata Festival. Oiso also traces back to a Tokaido post town (Oiso-juku), but developed a different character from the Meiji era onward as a villa retreat for politicians and business leaders.
Each entry links to a primary source from the relevant municipality. Look past the shared "post town" origin to see how each place diverged.
Routes and local life: names to know first
Hiratsuka grew from the Tokaido post town of Hiratsuka-juku and is now famous for the Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata Festival, launched in 1951 as a postwar recovery effort modeled on Sendai's.
Hiratsuka City
Hiratsuka flourished in the Edo period as the post town of Hiratsuka-juku on the Tokaido highway, then lost roughly 70% of its central district to air raids near the end of WWII. After a 1950 recovery event called the "Reconstruction Festival," the city relaunched it the following year as a Tanabata festival modeled on Sendai's, which grew into today's Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata Festival. About 300 bamboo decorations go up in the city center each year, nearly 2,000 across the whole city, and the festival is often ranked among Japan's three great Tanabata festivals alongside Sendai and Ichinomiya.
Source:平塚市「湘南ひらつか七夕まつり」
Routes and local life: connections used in the quiz
Oiso also began as a Tokaido post town, but from the Meiji era onward it took a different path, becoming a villa retreat for statesmen like Ito Hirobumi and Yoshida Shigeru.
Oiso Town
Like Hiratsuka, Oiso began as a Tokaido post town (Oiso-juku), but took a different path from the Meiji era, becoming a favored villa retreat for statesmen and business leaders such as Ito Hirobumi and Yoshida Shigeru. Historic sites like the former Yoshida Shigeru residence and Shigitatsu-an still stand today, giving the town two faces: an ancient claim as the "birthplace of the name Shonan" and a newer identity built on modern villa culture.
Source:大磯町「鴫立庵」
FAQ
What triggered the start of the Shonan Hiratsuka Tanabata Festival?
It began as a recovery event for the war-flattened city center, modeled on Sendai's Tanabata festival. It started as a commercial-revival effort, and the city itself took over as organizer from the 7th festival in 1957. Each decoration is built around a bamboo-woven kusudama ball about 55cm across.
Why is Oiso called the "birthplace of the name Shonan"?
Because the inscription "Chojin Shonan Seizetsu-chi," carved on the back of a stone marker at Shigitatsu-an in town, is said to be the origin of the place name "Shonan."