{"id":12983,"date":"2016-07-30T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T23:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/?p=12983"},"modified":"2020-03-27T10:59:30","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T01:59:30","slug":"mikage-kobe-and-ghibli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/mikage-kobe-and-ghibli\/","title":{"rendered":"Mikage, Kobe \u2013 Granite, Luxury Real Estate and Ghibli"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beside the famed Nada sake (\u7058\u9152) and the omnipresent Mount Rokko (\u516d\u7532\u5c71), I just discovered yet another subject that I can accentuate when introducing my neighborhood: The \u201cMikage\u201d in \u201cMikage-ishi\u201d (\u5fa1\u5f71\u77f3; synonymous to granite) is none other than the Mikage neighborhood that\u2019s within walking distance from my house!<\/p>\n

Mikage is in general referred to the western part of the Higashinada ward (\u6771\u7058\u533a), between Mount Rokko in the north and the ocean to its south. And yes, it\u2019s also the \u201cMikage\u201d in \u201cMikage-Gou\u201d (\u5fa1\u5f71\u90f7) of Nada-Gogou (\u7058\u4e94\u90f7; lit. \u201cFive Villages of Nada\u201d). In terms of stations, there are Mikage Stations of Hankyu Kobe Line (\u962a\u6025\u795e\u6238\u672c\u7dda) and Hanshin\u2019s Main Line (\u962a\u795e\u96fb\u6c17\u9244\u9053\u672c\u7dda).<\/p>\n

\"Mikage<\/a>
\n\"Mikage<\/a><\/p>\n

So what brings granite into the picture?<\/p>\n

It turns out that Mikage was the major area that granite rocks that had been mined from Mount Rokko were shipped out from, thus the name \u201cMikage-ishi\u201d (lit. \u201crocks of Mikage\u201d). Due to the area\u2019s close proximity to the ocean, Mikage-ishi were conveniently shipped out to everywhere in the country and made its name since Sengoku period (15-17 century AD) and especially in the Edo period (17-19 century AD).<\/p>\n

Mikage-ishi has been traditionally known for its high and consistent quality. While the term \u201cMikage-ishi\u201d can be synonymous to the official name of granite \u201c\u82b1\u5d17\u5ca9,\u201d the real Mikage-ishi (i.e. granite that was actually produced in the area) is rare nowadays and is called \u201c\u672c\u5fa1\u5f71\u77f3\u201d to specify.<\/p>\n

\"Mikage<\/p>\n

The region\u2019s mining history also explains the origin of other rock-related place names in surrounding areas, such as Ishiyagawa (\u77f3\u5c4b\u5ddd), Oishi (\u5927\u77f3) or Iwaya (\u5ca9\u5c4b) (which are also the Hanshin stations following Mikage).<\/p>\n

\"Mikage<\/a>
\n\"Mikage<\/a>
\n\"Mikage<\/a>
\n\"Mikage<\/a>
\n\"Mikage<\/a><\/p>\n

For local Kobe residents, Mikage means luxury real estate. A quick research shows, the high-end residential area around Hankyu Mikage and north of JR Sumiyoshi (\u4f4f\u5409) is in fact the original luxury real estate of Hyogo prefecture and is more historical than the city of Ashiya (\u82a6\u5c4b) (which is known for its premium premises and where the legendary Rokurokusouchou (\u516d\u9e93\u8358\u753a) is located).<\/p>\n

But less would know that the now-glamourous Mikage is indeed the backdrop of the post-war short story Grave of the Fireflies (\u706b\u5782\u308b\u306e\u5893; Hotaru no Haka) \u2013 which the most of us would know it by the Studio Ghibli adaption of the same name. The story, for those who don\u2019t recall, tells of the story of a pair of brother-sister siblings who struggled to survive as orphans near the end of WWII and died of malnutrition and starvation separately.<\/p>\n

The story was written as a semi-autobiography by Akiyuki Nosaka (\u91ce\u5742\u662d\u5982) about his experience with the war in particular after the Bombing of Kobe that took place in March 1945. The episodes in the story such as losing of family during the bombing, staying at his relatives in Sannomiya, memories of the fireflies and losing of one of his sisters due to starvation were based on actual events in the writer\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Today, you can see a stone statue with a scene from Ghibli\u2019s Grave of the Fireflies near Ishiyagawa station and across from Mikage Kougaidou (\u795e\u6238\u5e02\u7acb\u5fa1\u5f71\u516c\u4f1a\u5802; lit. Kobe Public Mikage Meeting Hall), which is the same building that appeared shortly in the animation and is literally minutes\u2019 walk from my home!<\/p>\n

\"Mikage<\/a>
\n\"Mikage<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mikage, Kobe, is a quiet neighborhood that has been historically known for production of granite, or “Mikage-ishi” in Japanese. The area is viewed as luxury real estate by the locals, and is lesser known as being the backdrop of Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no Haka). <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":12985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pgc_meta":"","_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[26,23],"tags":[1309,1286,1285],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMikage, Kobe \u2013 Granite, Luxury Real Estate and Ghibli<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/mikage-kobe-and-ghibli\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mikage, Kobe \u2013 Granite, Luxury Real Estate and Ghibli\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mikage, Kobe, is a quiet neighborhood that has been historically known for production of granite, or "Mikage-ishi" in Japanese. 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