is a street in Kamakura

Kamakura, Kanagawa

is a city located in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, about south-south-west of Tokyo. It used to be also called .Although Kamakura proper is today rather small, it is often described in history books as a former de facto capital of Japan as the seat of the Shogunate and of the Regency during the...

, Kanagawa

Kanagawa Prefecture

is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.-History:The prefecture has some archaeological sites going back to the Jōmon period...

, Japan, that begins at (locality named after a bridge which no longer exists) from the Kanazawa Kaidō, crosses Yoko Ōji

Yoko Oji

is the name of a short street in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan which begins in front of Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū, the city's most important Shinto shrine and ends in front of Hōkai-ji. It is believed to be the street that passed in front of the so-called Ōkura Bakufu, seat of first shogun Minamoto no...

, passes in front of Hōkai-ji and Honkaku-ji, crosses the Ebisudōbashi Bridge (see photo), Ōmachi Ōji

Omachi Oji

is the name of a street in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan, which begins at Geba Yotsukado and ends at the Nagoshi Pass. It takes its name from the district of Ōmachi, which it crosses. At the time of the shogunate it was the most important road that went from east to west. The entertainment and...

 and Kuruma Ōji, reaches Moto Hachiman

Moto Hachiman

is a small but very old and historically important Shinto shrine in Kamakura, Kanagawa Pref., Japan.-History:Although officially called , this tiny shrine in Zaimokuza is universally known as Moto Hachiman , and in front of its torii stands a stele with the words...

 and Kōmyō-ji

Kōmyō-ji

Kōmyō-ji is the name of numerous Buddhist temples in Japan.Below is an incomplete list: in Ayabe, Kyoto Prefecture. in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture....

, and finally ends in Zaimokuza

Zaimokuza

is an area within the Kamakura, Kanagawa Pref., in Japan that runs along the sea from Cape Iijima near Kotsubo harbor to the estuary of the Namerigawa. The relation between the beach's name and that of its neighboring areas is complex...

 near Wakaejima.

It is believed this is what the Azuma Kagami

Azuma Kagami

The , or "mirror of the east", is a Japanese medieval text that chronicles events of the Kamakura Shogunate from Minamoto no Yoritomo's rebellion against the Taira clan in Izokuni of 1180 to Munetaka Shinnō and his return to Kyoto in 1266...

calls "Komachi Ōji" and other texts "Komachi Kōji". It used to be also called . The name seems to stem from the fact that the Ebisudōbashi Bridge has been for centuries the border between the two areas called Komachi

Komachi (Kanagawa)

is a locality in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, defined as the part of town north of the Ebisubashi bridge on the Namerigawa. The part of town south of the same bridge is called .- References :...

 and Ōmachi

Omachi (Kanagawa)

is a locality in Kamakura, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, defined as the part of town south of the Ebisubashi bridge on the Namerigawa. The part of town north of the same bridge is called .- References :...

, Komachi being the more important of the two. The Azuma Kagami says that along Komachi Ōji there were the houses of the powerful (the gokenin

Gokenin

A was initially a vassal of the shogunate of the Kamakura and the Muromachi periods. In exchange for protection and the right to become shugo or jitō , in times of peace a gokenin had the duty to protect the imperial court and Kamakura, in case of war had to fight with his forces under the...

) and, for almost the entire Kamakura period

Kamakura period

The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura Shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo....

, the seat of the government. The entrance of all buildings in Komachi not belonging to the Hōjō

Hojo clan

See the late Hōjō clan for the Hōjō clan of the Sengoku Period.The in the history of Japan was a family who controlled the hereditary title of shikken of the Kamakura Shogunate. In practice, the family had actual governmental power, many times dictatorial, rather than Kamakura shoguns, or the...

 (the ruling clan) or to the Bakufu (with the curious exception of houses of ill repute) had to face away from Wakamiya Ōji

Wakamiya Oji

is a 1.8 km street in Kamakura, a city in Kanagawa Prefecture in Japan, unusual because it is at the same time the city's main avenue and the approach of its largest Shinto shrine, Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū. Over the centuries Wakamiya Ōji has gone thorough an extreme change. A heavily...

(Honkaku-ji is a good example).