古坊中の歴史
古坊中は12世紀後半から16世紀にかけて栄えました。16世紀後期、敵対関係にあった大友氏と島津氏が九州の支配権をめぐって争うと、ここでの修行僧や山伏の生活は妨げられました。16世紀後半には、彼らのほとんどが山を去りました。
1588年、戦国武将・豊臣秀吉は、島津氏討伐と九州平定の褒美として、加藤清正（1562-1611）に肥後国（現在の熊本県）の支配権を与えました。1599年、清正は秀吉から許可を得て、阿蘇の町の坊中を復興し、以前そこに住んでいた僧侶や修行僧を呼び戻しました。山頂にあった古坊中（「古い僧の集まり」の意）と区別するために、この新たな坊中は麓坊中（「山の麓にある僧の集まり」の意）と名付けられました。清正の子が将軍の不興を買い、1632年に流刑に処せられた後も、肥後国の領主となった細川家は麓坊中を庇護し続けました。
History of the Furubochu
The Furubochu flourished from the late twelfth century until the sixteenth century. As the rival Otomo and Shimazu clans battled for control of Kyushu in the late sixteenth century, the lives of the monks and mountain ascetics here were disrupted. By the late sixteenth century, they had all but abandoned the mountain.
In 1588, warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi awarded control of Higo Province (modern-day Kumamoto Prefecture) to Kato Kiyomasa (1562–1611) as a reward for helping him defeat the Shimazu clan and pacify Kyushu. In 1599, Kiyomasa secured Hideyoshi’s permission to resurrect the complex of buildings in the town of Aso and recall the monks and ascetics who had lived and worshipped there. This new bochu was given the name of Fumoto-bochu (“assemblage of monks at the foot of the mountain”) to distinguish it from the original, by then defunct Furubochu (“old assemblage of monks”) on the mountaintop. Even after Kiyomasa’s son fell out of favor with the shogun and was forced into exile in 1632, the Hosokawa family, which took over the control of Higo Province, continued to patronize and protect the Fumoto-bochu.
