Iwase

Iwase in southern Mutsu encompassed the country around present-day Sukagawa, where the Abukuma River and its tributaries connected settlements across the inland basin. In the medieval period its western districts belonged to the Nikaido family, while the Suda controlled the east. The Nikaido established their seat at Inamura and later ruled from Sukagawa Castle, a fortified centre with several enclosures and a surrounding castle town. Their long tenure ended in 1589, when Date Masamune captured Sukagawa. The district subsequently passed under successive rulers associated with Aizu, including the Gamo, Uesugi and Kato families. By the Edo period Sukagawa also belonged to a wider world of merchants, travellers and poetry. Matsuo Basho stayed there for eight days during his northern journey in 1689, visiting the wealthy merchant Sagara Tokyu. Local hosts arranged linked-verse gatherings and showed him nearby temples and shrines. His encounter with rice-planting songs joined the district's agricultural landscape to the literary memory of the northern road.