Kagami no Shuku (Inn of Mirrors) (鏡の宿)

Kagami no Shuku was an inn on the Tosan-do Road, north of Mount Kagami, in Gamo Country of the Omi Province (present day Gagami, Oaza, Ryuo-cho, Gamo-gun, Shiga Prefecture) that has existed since the Heian Period. It was the first stopping place of most of the travelers that started out from Heian-kyo (present day Kyoto) early in the morning.

In the "Heiji Monogatari" (Tale of the Heiji), it is known as the place where MINAMOTO no Yoshitsune personally performed the ceremony celebrating his attainment of manhood. Rushanao (Yoshitsune), at the age of 16, left Kurama-dera Temple, where he had been placed as a Chigo (child in a Buddhist possession). Arriving at the Kagami no Shuku in the evening, he waited until the fall of night before arranging his own hair and donning the eboshi (formal headwear for court nobles), thus celebrating his entrance into manhood. As there was no one to perform the ceremony and give him an adult name, he named himself GENKURO Yoshitsune.

[Original Japanese]