Bloody & Misaligned Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Size: 
(regular)
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Placed during Halloween 2012, this cache is located near the Misaligned Guard Station (Kuichigai Mitsuke). The container is a 1.7 liter tupperware.
このキャッシュは喰違見付の近くに隠しました。コンテナは1.7Lのタッパーです。ハロウィーン、肝試しにはオススメです。
Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904), that strange British chronicler of strange things Japanese, wrote, over a century ago, these opening lines to his story about a man frightened (to death? we wonder) by men and women whose faces were smooth and featureless as eggs (known in Japanese as nopperabo):
On the Akasaka Road, in Tokyo, there is a slope called Kii-no-kuni-zaka,--which means the Slope of the Province of Kii. I do not know why it is called the Slope of the Province of Kii. On one side of this slope you see an ancient moat, deep and very wide, with high green banks rising up to some place of gardens;--and on the other side of the road extend the long and lofty walls of an imperial palace. Before the era of street-lamps and jinrikishas, this neighbourhood was very lonesome after dark; and belated pedestrians would go miles out of their way rather than mount the Kii-no-kuni-zaka, alone, after sunset.
All because of a Mujina that used to walk there.
["Mujina" in Hearn's Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (complete text)]
This slope still exists today, as do the mote, the banks, and the palace walls described in macabre detail. Now, however, Kinokunizaka, the slope's name in modern spelling, is next to an elevated highway, and the walls are mounted with surveillance cameras because behind them is the Geihinkan, or the Asakasa Palace, which is a National Treasure and the designated facility for providing accommodations to visiting foreign dignitaries. 
And across the bank is the New Otani hotel and Sophia University. It hardly seems like a place of ghostly encounters.
But at top of the slope is the Kuichigai Mitsuke, or the Misaligned Guard Station. In the Tokugawa period (1600-1868), this area was so desolate that it was known to be an ideal spot to commit suicide by hanging oneself. It remains, to this day, a no-man zone, filled with the echoes of the dead and the dread of those who dared to climb the hill. One can almost see these mujina, the changelings that scared the wits out of people by their blank, featureless faces.
This Misaligned Guard Station was really a simple gate -- one of 36 major gates allowing entrance to the Edo castle. The castle, which was greatly expanded by the warlord Tokugawa in the early 17th century, was surrounded by a system of motes and walls that served to protect it from invading enemies. Guard stations (mitsuke, in Japanese) were built next to these gates. This gateway was called Misaligned because the walls, rather than lined up, were built misaligned, there by forcing the road to take short turns around them. 
This crooked road was a medieval defence measure, as seen in the picture on the right.
While these gates were no longer needed as military defence in the modern era, this area continued to bring misfortune to those who passed through the area. In 1874, an assassination attempt was made on Iwakura Tomomi, a statesmen who was key in the establishment of Japan's imperial regime but was attacked for his opposition to the invasion of the Korean peninsula. Although he survived, the next victim was not so lucky. Four years later, in May 14, 1878, Okubo Toshimichi, another statesman and a founding father of the Japanese state, was successfully assassinated at the age of 49. Down the Kioizaka slope is the Shimuzudani Park with a stone memorial dedicated to Okubo -- along with a geocache (GC2G9JT)
Such are the bloody history of the misaligned guard station and the ghastly tales of Kinokunizaka! Come find the cache, if you dare!
A FEW NOTES
- The cache is NOT on the highway! Please don't try to stop a car on it or walk onto it from Kinokuni Slope.
- The GPS signal is very weak because of the large structures, trees, and the topography of the cache location. Please consult Google Maps and use the hint.
- You do not need to use any special equipment. There is NO climbing involved.
- There is a very good chance that your clothes and footwear will get dirty, especially in the rain. I would advise against finding this cache with your business suit on.
- Yotsuya Station, accessible on the Chuo Line (JR), Marunouchi Line (Subway) and Nanboku Line (Subway), and the Akasaka Mitsuke Station, which is on the Marunouchi Line, Ginza Line, Hanzomon Line, Yurakucho Line, and Nanboku Line (all Subway), are the two closest stations.
- Landing by boat is an option (although I have never used this method of access).
--------- JAPANESE --------------
ラフカディオ・ハーン（小泉八雲、1850-1904）は、『怪談』の一話である「むじな」に、このようなことを書いています。
東京の、赤坂への道に紀国坂という坂道がある――これは紀伊の国の坂という意である。何故それが紀伊の国の坂と呼ばれているのか、それは私の知らない事である。この坂の一方の側には昔からの深い極わめて広い濠があって、それに添って高い緑の堤が高く立ち、その上が庭地になっている、――道の他の側には皇居の長い宏大な塀が長くつづいている。街灯、人力車の時代以前にあっては、その辺は夜暗くなると非常に寂しかった。ためにおそく通る徒歩者は、日没後に、ひとりでこの紀国坂を登るよりは、むしろ幾哩も廻り道をしたものである。
これは皆、その辺をよく歩いた貉のためである。
[ 小泉八雲『怪談』（全文）]
これはだれでも知っている「ノッペラボウ」のお話で、舞台はこの食違い見附の近くにある紀国坂です。この坂はまだ残っていますが、現在は首都高が横に走っていて、迎賓館側の塀には監視カメラが設置されています。そして、ホテルニューオオタニと上智大学も近くにあり、不気味な雰囲気は感じられないかもしれません。
ただし、この辺りの過去は血に染まっています。紀国坂の上には「喰違見附」があり、江戸城の見附の中で最も標高が高く、現在の道路（迎賓館から垂直にホテルニューオオタニと紀尾井ホールの交差点まで）はかつて1639年（寛永16年）に完成した土橋でした。ここはとても淋しいところだったらしく、江戸時代には「首くくりの名所」と知られて、落語では「心中の本場は向島、身投げをするのが吾妻橋、犬に食いつかれるのが谷中の天王寺、首くくりが赤坂の食い違い」と言われています。
明治時代に入ると、悲劇な事件が続きます。明治7年の1月14日夜、岩倉具視が馬車で帰宅途中、この食違見付で数人の刺客に襲われました（喰違の変）。岩倉は負傷だけで済みましたが、明治11年5月14日朝に襲われた大久保利通は運が悪く、暗殺されました（紀尾井坂の変）。この事件の記念碑「贈右大臣大久保公哀悼碑」が近くの紀尾井町清水谷公園にあります（この公園にGC2G9JTも隠されています）。
このように血に染まった都市空間なので、のっぺらぼうが出るのも不思議ではありません。ぜひキャッシュを探しにきて下さい！
注意事項
- キャッシュは高速道路には置いていません！高速道路上で自動車を止める、また歩くことは大変危険です。
- 首都高、ビル、木、そして地形のため、GPSの電波は届き難い場所です。Googlemaps、そしてヒントをご活用下さい。
- 特別な道具は不要で、登る必要もありません。
- このキャッシュを探すのに、服を汚すかもしれません。とくに雨の時は滑りやすくなります。スーツなど汚したくない服は避けることをお勧めします。
- 最寄駅は四谷駅（中央線、丸ノ内線、南北線）と赤坂見附駅（丸ノ内線、南北線、半蔵門線、有楽町線、銀座線）です。
- ボートで上陸も可能かもしれません（したことがないですが）。
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
sbhe bar sbhe rvtug - guerr