Old Routes of Japan: Tracking down Japan off the beaten path from the eyes of a Japanese native

Even horses can cross eight ri(=31 km/19.5miles) of Hakone, but the Oi River is hard to get over in any way. (Translation from Wikipedia. I added the conversion to mileage)  This part of Shimada is probably considered as an extension of Shimada inn town. However, there is no accommodation. When the water level of Oi river increases to the impassable point, people had to stay in this area, along with Shimada inn town.  As we explore, I will explain the reason why it was so hard to cross this river.  This is Tsukamoto family residence. The residence was built by Omura domain of Kyushu, today’s central Nagasaki prefecture during Edo period. Tsukamoto family provided meals, took over paperwork and arranged logistics to cross the river for Omura domain.  Up until 1870, there were no bridges or boat services over Oi River.  On the right there used to be the 9th station for 川越人足(Kawagoshi ninsoku: special porters for crossing rivers). There used to 10 Kawagoe ninsoku, ...

I am going to divide Shimada inn town part into two: the inn town, and the river Oi crossing.  Today you can still see old structures of narrow houses, but in overall, it is not easy to find traits of what old Shimada inn town used to be. Let’s look at the overview map. There is a sign where Shimada inn town east gate used to be.  Shimada had three honjin VIP inns, which means that the inn town was large, primarily because it is located in the east bank of river Oi. River Oi used to flood when heavy rain came. During early 1600s, Edo shogunate set a big construction project to strengthen dykes on the east bank.  Still, especially on spring season, the snow on the southern Japanese alps melt, water filled up the river for days and weeks that it was impossible to cross the river. So travelers from the east had to stay in Shimada until the river water level is low enough to be able to cross. We will go on more details on the next blog.  At a glance, Shimada inn town doe...

JR Samegai station. Photo taken by me in November 2022. Samegai is a small Nakasendo inn town in Maibara city. On my blog, small towns and villages are being featured. It is tempting to let many people know your discoveries(and my discoveries too!).  But when you look at these small towns and villages, you will soon notice that accommodations are limited, the access is oftentimes limited, and there is limited information in other languages other than English.  You will be able to find all the basics of etiquettes online, and probably even Chat GPT can give you some clues.  From my experience, here are some things to know: 1. Never visit with large groups. This will easily overwhelm the capacity of small places. If you do visit with others, limit the number of your group, or at least divide the group into small groups, like 4-5 people, and arrange schedule so that multiple groups will not visit the same place at the same time, in same hours.  2. Information in other l...