前回記事で触れた佐渡汽船は、小生が五年前の2019年4月に佐渡島に旅した際に利用したものであるが、佐渡汽船のフェリーが出る新潟港までは小樽から新日本海フェリーを利用した。4月9日に乗船したのは「あざれあ」という名の船舶で、六年前にも同名の船に乗ったが、この折に座乗したのは2017年に新造されたもので、結構豪華な内装であった。翌日早朝、新潟港に到着後、新日本海フェリーのターミナルから佐渡汽船の乗場まで一キロ以上歩いたが、丁度桜の季節で、花見をしながらだったので、苦にはならなかった。前回記事で触れた佐渡汽船のときわ丸で佐渡島に渡った4月10日午後は生憎の雨だったが、歩いて北一輝(1883-1937)の墓に参拝。『日本改造法案大綱』の著者で知られ、当時の皇道派青年将校の行動理論に影響を与えた一輝は、二・二六事件の際に青年将校の決起を煽動したとされて訴追、断罪され昭和12（1937）年に死刑となる。しかし戦後、大赦令によって、事実上冤罪であったことが認められている。（Trip to Sado Is. in 2019 [1] Voyage from Otaru to Sado Is. via Niigata, and Pilgrimage to Tomb of Pre-War Ideologue Kita Ikki: As featured in the previous post, I travelled to Sado Island in the Sea of Japan back in April 2019 on board a ferry of Sado Steam Ship Co. Prior to that, I boarded a ship of Shin Nihonkai Ferry at the port of Otaru, Hokkaido, to reach Niigata Port, where the terminal of Sado Steam Ship is located. The name of the ship I boarded on April 9 in Otaru was Azalea. Actually, I traveled on a ship of the same name in 2013, but the one I got on board in 2019 was the one built in 2017. As shown on attached images, it has gorgeous interiors. Upon arriving at Niigata port early in the morning of the following day, I walked more than one kilometer to reach the terminal of Sado Steam Ship Co. Traversing the distance of over one kilometer on foot was not tough since I could see cherry flowers blooming while walking. Unfortunately, when I reached the port of Ryoutsu on Sado Island on board the Tokiwa-maru--as featured in the previous post--in the afternoon, it was raining. Nevertheless, I walked to a tomb of Kita Ikki--a famous ideologue who was active before World War II in Japan. Kita, 1883-1937, wrote several monographs including NIHON KAIZOU HOUAN TAIKOU [lit., "outline of plan for reforming Japan's polity"] and influenced activities of young officers of the Imperial Japanese Army who were aspiring to reform Japan's political and social systems through radical measures. These officers privately mobilized troops to assassinate some political leaders on February 26, 1936, but the army authorities ultimately quashed this rebellion. Courtmartial which the army convened to try those officers also tried Kita for engineering and instigation of the revolt, and convicted and sentenced him to death. The army carried the sentence in the following year. After World War II, the Japanese government virtually admitted to the fallacy of this conviction by a decree of posthumous exoneration.）
前回の佐渡汽船を取り上げた記事は以下に(The following is the link to my previous post featuring Sado Steam Ship Co.)：
新日本海フェリーの過去記事は以下に(Visit the following post for my past article on Shin Nihonkai Ferry):
