Where is Aoi’s house in Japan?

The shrine where Aoi 'first' met Ōdanna-sama in Ep 1 of the anime (source)

Within a few hours, I am going to post Vol 12 Ch 13 translation about the night when Ōdanna-sama spent the night at Aoi’s place. However, this chapter also has some interesting tidbits that may give clues to the location of Aoi’s house, such that I originally wrote a short paragraph in the footnote of my translation about it. However, the post ended up being several paragraphs long. というわけで, I decided to post it as a separate, short post.

Vol 12 (p137) gave me the first hint that Aoi’s home is in Kitakyushu (North Kyushu) Japan. Back in Vol 9 Ch 2, Aoi told Setsu that she studied the World Civilisation as a student of Literature Studies. Now, there is a university in Kitakyushu called (yep, you got it!) the University of Kitakyushu, complete with a Faculty of Humanities, Dept. of Comparative Cultures. It sounds like what Aoi would study, so I think this is where she would study in the real world. The campus for the Comparative Studies is in Kitagata, Kitakyushu, thus this is one of the landmarks in my investigation.

In Vol 1 Ch 1 and Vol 12 Ch 13, Aoi said that her house is nearby the train station. It should be near enough that she can hear the trains passing by. In Ep 1 of the anime, we saw her walking through some shopping districts etc. en route to the uni, but she also stopped by a big river to feed some temari kappa (including Chibi). Therefore, there is a big river between her house and her uni. In Vol 12 Ch 13, Aoi eventually had to take a train from a big station to go the uni, maybe because she woke up late. Therefore, her house is within the walking distance to her campus, but she can reach the campus faster if she takes a train. Let's say, her campus must be more than 20 min walking distance from her house, and there should be a big river en route.

Later in Vol 12 Ch 13 p 146, Chibi would say that he just arrived from Mojikō Retro, a tourist town in Kitakyushu. Chibi also said that temari kappa (his species) can travel up to 20 km per day. Kitagata is about 15 km from Mojikō Retro, so it stands to logic that Kitagata is listed as a potential locality for Aoi’s house, or at least it should be quite accessible from Aoi’s house. However, in Vol 12 Ch 13 she had to take a train to the uni. Therefore, I don't think Kitagata is Aoi’s neighbourhood, but it is close enough to her house that she can walk if she has time.

 

The former customs building in Moji Port (Mojikō, by 663highland, Wiki Commons)

In this Kakuriyo series, there is the iconic Shinto shrine (jinja) that is used by Ōdanna-sama et al. to go back and forth Kakuriyo (the Hidden World) and Utsushiyo (the Human World). I do think that Ōdanna-sama would use a different jinja when visiting, say, Asakusa in Tokyo, but when he visits Aoi, he'd use the jinja closest to Aoi's place as the inter-dimensional gate to Utsushiyo.

As with many typical Shinto shrines, the jinja in Kakuriyo anime is in a green, hilly place, but it is very much next to a road on the way to her university (Ep 1 of the anime). This shrine should be close to Aoi’s house, because – after she returned to Utsushiyo with Suzuran (Ep 5 of the anime) – Aoi would walk pass this jinja to go home, carrying her groceries. Therefore, there should be a shrine within walking distance to her house.

source

Based on those descriptions, I triangulated some places where Aoi would only travel a short distance to the university (let's say 30 min walk). This place should also have a shrine within walking distance (this one should be like 10 min walk), it should be within 20 km from Mojikō Retro, and it should be around a big river.

Interestingly, there is a place in west Kitakyushu called Orio 折尾, but it’s more than 45 min away by train from the University of Kitakyushu, Kitagata campus. Orio is even further away to Mojikō Retro; about 29 km; too far for Chibi to travel. Therefore, I scratched Orio as Aoi’s home, though it’s an interesting find, because Yūma Midori-sensei clearly used Orio as the inspiration for Orio-ya　折尾屋.

Moving on...There are hills to the west and south of the Kitagata Campus of the University of Kitakyushu, and these hills are dotted with Shinto shrines. This area is called Kokura Minami Ward, and I am interested in this area. The problem is… this area is dotted with Shinto shrines.

The main gate of Kamô Hachiman Jinja, photo by Yasu Ito (Google Map)

There is the famous Kamô Hachiman Jinja (Shrine) on one of these hills, and it takes 30 min of walking and train ride to the Kitagata Campus. Kamô Hachiman Jinja is also about 17 km from Mojikō Retro, so I think we’re getting somewhere here. The current Google Map shows that the forest behind the Kamô Hachiman Jinja has been cleared… for “development”, I bet. However, back pre-2018 before the anime was made, the forest behind the shrine might be still intact, and thus served as inspiration for the end of Ep 5 of the anime. However, Kamô Hachiman is such a big shrine and a bit further up the hill, not by the road at all. 

Walking up the Kamô Hachiman Jinja with trees around it (photo by Momo, Google Map)

There is quite a big river called Murasaki River (murasaki = purple) running between the Kamô Hachiman Jinja and the closest train station. It fits the fact that Aoi used to feed Chibi and his temari kappa friends along a river bank before she goes to the uni.  The bridge that goes over the river in Ep 1 of the anime is quite big, hence it fits a bridge over the Murasaki River. The Murasaki River also runs through the Kitagata neighbourhood. 

The Murasaki River that flows between Kitagata and Kamô Hachiman Jinja 
(the river has a serious drought issue here)

The view over one of the bridges over Murasaki River,
overseeing the hills where Kamô Hachiman Jinja is

There is also another shrine (Higashiono Hachiman Jinja) and even a smaller shrine (Kochi Jinja) to the south and southeast of Kitagata Campus, but neither of them are nearby a big river. I found another shrine (Taga Jinja) to the east of a cemetery complex (remember that, at the end of Ep 5 anime, Suzuran later took a permanent residency at Shirō’s grave?). Last but not least, Kifune Jinja is just by a road, and near a hill as well, but – again – it’s not near a big river. 

Therefore, I just keep returning to the Kamô Hachiman Jinja as the proxy location for Aoi’s place, though this shrine is not by the road. Then I realised that there is a supermarket nearby the shrine called Gyomu Super Kokura Minamigata. This supermarket is 15 min walk to the shrine, which is close enough. Aoi could just buy the groceries here and walk to her house, passing by a shrine in this area. Then I realised that the red torii gate of Kamô Hachiman Jinja is very much by the road, but you do have to walk uphill to go to the main shrine. Bingo.

Depending on what station she takes from the Kamô Hachiman Jinja to the Kitagata Campus, Aoi and Setsu might drop by the local Seven Eleven and then pass by the Tokuriki Kusunoki Park. This park might be the breakfast location for her and Setsu in Vol 12 Ch 13.

Interestingly, this neighbourhood also has some cafe, one of them serving hamburgers with sunny-side up topping, just like how Aoi served it for Ōdanna-sama in Vol 12 Ch 13. I understand that the Japanese love hamburgers, and definitely the sunny-side up topping isn't just found in Kitakyushu. Also, it's possible that I got the causation wrong, i.e., the cafe might have started serving this dish after the publication of Vol 12 of Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi in 2022 (instead of the cafe existing before Kakuriyo was written). But it's still interesting that there's such a cafe right in the vicinity of the Kamô Hachiman Shrine. 

Hamburger topped with jiggly sunny-side up egg 
(from Route63 Cafe in Gamō, Kokura Minami Ward, Kitakyushu, Google Map)

Because I want to post Vol 12 Ch 13 translation as well tonight, I must stop here. It is indeed quite hard for me to pinpoint the exact Shinto shrine nearby Aoi’s house, and – consequently – Aoi’s house. Come to think of it, it was to be expected, for Yūma-sensei might have combined many aspects of this place for her Kakuriyo novel. However, overall, the Kokura Minami Ward south of the Kitagata Campus the University of Kitakyushu still fits the description of Aoi’s place, and the area around the Kamô Hachiman Jinja is quite a plausible candidate for her neighbourhood. If she has to, she can walk for ~30 min to her Kitagata Campus, though trains (monorails) and busses are available as well.

Therefore, I surmise that Aoi’s neighbourhood is modelled after a locality in the Kokura Minami Ward of Kitakyushu, specifically around the Kamô Hachiman Jinja. What do you guys think?

Update Sunday 26 May 2024

Oooh, I found another Shinto shrine in the vicinity of a river and a train station! It's called Yahata Hachiman Jinja and it's ~1.5 km to the east of the Kamô Hachiman Shrine. The Yahata Hachiman Jinja is 5 min walk to Moritsune Station, and if Aoi takes a train from Moritsune Sta., she will arrive at the Kitagata Campus in 5 min. So that's 10 min from the Yahata Hachiman Jinja to the Kitagata Campus. Let's say Aoi's house is 5-10 min walk further away from this shrine, thus it would take her 20 min to reach the uni by a combination of walking and the train. A branch of Murasaki River flows to the west of Yahata Hachiman, and that could be where Aoi usually saw and fed Chibi in Ep 10. 

Come to think of it, the location of Yahata Hachiman Jinja is more suitable as an inspiration for Aoi's neighbourhood. It's just 5 min from the station, and since Aoi should be able to hear the train passing by, her house should be just around the corner from the shrine. She also may not be shopping in Gyomu Super Kokura after all, because she did say that she sometimes bought tofu from a local shop (Vol 7 Ch 2). Japan has many small, independent, family-owned local grocery shops, and that's where she might be buying her groceries from. However, Yahata Hachiman Jinja isn't in a hilly place, and the jinja in Ep 1 and Ep 5 anime is going uphill.

Therefore, I'm revising my conclusion slightly. I think Aoi's neighbourhood is a combination of the Yahata Hachiman Jinja and the Kamô Hachiman Jinja. The locality of Yahata Hachiman might serve as the inspiration of the location of the shrine in Ep 1 and Ep 5 anime (though I have to say, the cobbled stone streets are definitely an improvement), but the shrine in those episodes was also modelled after the Kamô Hachiman Jinja, with its hilly backyard. Aoi's house would be further away from the Yahata Hachiman, crossing the small branch of Murasaki River, but just 5-10 min walking distance from the shrine.

Of course, I may revise my conclusion again, but so far, I'm happy with where I'm now.