In the feudal era the Nanbu clans had control of eastern Aomori Prefecture and most of Iwate Prefecture. The Nanbu were breeders of warhorses, and they constructed a series of fortified ranches where they could raise and protect their valuable animals. These fortified places are known collectively as the Nine Numbered Stockades, and each one was named sequentially according to the formula "number + nohe". Each "nohe" except for the fourth one has given its name to a modern town or city.
Why is there no Shinohe today? At first you might think there never was a Shinohe because Japanese culture is somewhat shy of the number four, which sounds the same as the word for death. But plenty of people have Shinohe as a family name, so that can't be it.
Within the boundaries of Hachinohe, which has grown into a large city, there's an outlying district called Yawata which has a shrine named Kushihiki Hachiman-gu. The shrine is associated with a local folk-art tradition: carved wooden horses called Yawata Uma. These wooden horses suggest that the area around Yawata might have been the missing Numbered Stockade Number Four. Source. Source.
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