《25》Medieval Hakata: Mystery of Sode-no-Minato (Part 3) ...Dr. Nakayama Heijiro's Consideration of Sode-no-Minato
- In the early Showa period (1926-1989), Dr. Nakayama Heijiro of Kyushu Imperial University School of Medicine published a new study on Sode-no-Minato. Dr. Nakayama is a pioneer scholar and physician in Kyushu archaeology known for deriving the fact that the Korokan was located within Fukuoka Castle from ancient poems and other sources.
- Sode-no-Minato was often mentioned in poems in the " Shin Chokusen Wakashu (New Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry) " and "Shokukokin Wakashu (Collection of Ancient and Modern Japanese Poetry, Continued)" of the Kamakura period. Dr. Nakayama examined these poems about Sode-no-Minato and argued that Sode-no-Minato was the name of a place that actually existed in Hakata and that the reason why there were many poems about Chinese ships was because it was a famous trading port.
- He also pointed out that these poems were written after the beginning of the Kamakura period and not before 1158, when Taira no Kiyomori became Dazai-daini, the head of Dazaifu, and speculated that it was Taira no Kiyomori who built the port.
-Another evidence Dr. Nakayama used was the fact that the offshore beach of Hakata (near Gofukumachi, Hakata Ward) was raised in the shape of an island, which led him to conclude that the Sode-no-Minato was renovated at the end of the Heian period (794-1185), and that the only person who was capable and necessary to carry out such a large construction project at that time was Taira no Kiyomori, who was focusing on the Japan-Sung trade. /
中世博多-袖の湊のなぞ（その３）…中山平次郎博士の袖の湊の考察
- 昭和時代の初め、袖の湊について新たな考察を発表したのが九州帝国大学医学部の中山平次郎博士でした。中山博士は鴻臚館が福岡城内にあったことを古代の歌などから導き出したことで知られる九州考古学の草分け的な存在の学者兼医者です。
- 鎌倉時代の『新勅撰和歌集』や『続古今和歌集』に収められた歌には袖の湊がよく詠まれていました。中山博士はそれらの袖の湊の詩歌を検証して、袖の湊は博多に実際にあった地名で、唐船について詠んだ歌が多いのは名高い貿易港だったからだと主張しました。
- さらには、それらの歌が鎌倉時代の初め以降のもので、平清盛が大宰府を統括する大宰大弐となった1158年以前には詠まれていないことなどを指摘して、港を造ったのが平清盛だと推測しました。
- 別の根拠として中山博士は博多の海岸部の沖の浜（博多区呉服町近辺）に島状の地上げがされていることなどから、平安時代末期に袖の湊が修築され、当時そのような大工事が可能かつ必要だったのは日宋貿易に力を注いでいた平清盛以外には考えられないと断定したのです。