壬生のはなの湯：2023年6月10日（土）
京都市の油小路通高辻に住み始めて約８年になる。松原通に沿って西に堀川通と大宮通を渡って行くと，京都産業大学付属高校がある。その近くに壬生（みぶ）の「はなの湯」という温泉施設がある。源泉はないが，滋賀県守山市から温泉の湯を運び入れているという。いつも多くの利用客でいっぱいである。
この「はなの湯」を少し上がった仏光寺通と綾小路通の間に，壬生狂言と新選組ゆかりの壬生寺がある。壬生狂言は今から約700年前の鎌倉時代に円覚上人が念佛会として始めたもので，今では春（年中行事）の法要，秋と節分の公開が行われて
いる。また，壬生寺は幕末に新選組の訓練場として使われ，新選組隊士の墓があり，毎年７月16日に新選組隊士等慰霊供養祭が行われている。江戸幕府（徳川幕府）を守ろうとした隊士等の気持ちを想像しながら，時々，はなの湯に浸かっている。
Hanano Yu in Mibu：June 10th(Saturday)
It has been about eight years since I started living on Aburanokojidori-Takatsuji, Kyoto City. If you go west along Matsubara-dori and cross Horikawa-dori and Omiya-dori, you will come across Kyoto Sangyo University Affiliated High School. Near that, there is a hot spring facility called "Hanano Yu" in Mibu. Although it doesn't have its own hot spring source, they transport hot spring water from Shiga Prefecture. It is always crowded with many customers.
Between Bukkoji-dori and Ayanokoji-dori, a little uphill from Hanano Yu, there is Mibu Temple, which is associated with Mibu Kyogen and the Shinsengumi. Mibu Kyogen was started about 700 years ago in the Kamakura period by Engaku Shonin as a Nembutsu gathering, and now it holds ceremonies during spring (annual events), autumn, and Setsubun. Moreover, Mibu Temple was used as a training ground for the Shinsengumi during the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and there are graves of Shinsengumi members. Every year on July 16th, a memorial service for the Shinsengumi members and others is held. While imagining the feelings of the members who tried to protect the Edo Shogunate (Tokugawa Shogunate), I occasionally soak in Hanano Yu.