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金谷宿(Kanaya inn town): the other side of Oi River, where vintage steam engines still run

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Kanaya inn town, on the west riverside of Oi River, has the same role in Tokaido as Shimada inn town. But for most people, vintage steam engine ride of Oigawa Railways sounds more familiar.  I haven’t talked much about names of old countries of Japan, which is somewhat similar to prefecture system. But prior to 1868, these countries had more power, and Tokugawa central government was even more powerful.  And Kanaya was the country of 遠江(Totomi), and Shimada was the country of 駿河(Suruga).  Comparing to Shimada inn town Oigawa crossing ruins, Kanaya part does not appear to have much to see. Let’s find out.  West shore of port used to be around here. The sign shows there used to have the same facilities as east side of the river. For more details, check out my previous page.  On the left, according to Google reviews, there is a cafe of 110-year-old house. 110 years old means it was built in around 1915…might not have anything to do with old Tokaido time.  Akih...
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玖波宿(Kuba inn town): the last inn town before entering Yamaguchi prefecture

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Kuba inn town is located in Otake city, and the last inn town of San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido highway in Hiroshima prefecture section(technically).  This time, Otake city historical society(大竹市歴史研究会) has a great website including an old map of Kuba inn town. I am posting this link on the reference section.  Before entering Kuba inn town, there is a stone-paved road in Narukawa area. It was paved in early 1630s. This is one of places you can still see what old San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido used to look like. Note that according to Otake city, the trail after this paved road over the hill is closed.  Entering Kuba inn town.  Today JR San’yo line goes through the tunnel. The San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido route used to go over the tunnel.  Looking at the tunnel, which was built during Meiji era(late 1800s).  Before the tunnel was built, this section was very steep, and it was named as 馬ためし坂(Umatameshizaka: the slope of testing horses). As the name tells us, horses seem to have had...
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地御前(Jigozen) - 宮島(Miyajima): parallel world

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As mentioned in previous article, We are stepping a bit away from San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido highway. Since this is still relevant to San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido highway, I will touch this area but I‘m not deep diving. Instead, I am posting links so you guys can deep dive later.  So, from Hatsukaichi inn town, there seems to have had two ways at least in southward: San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido, and Jigozen Sando(地御前参道: Sando means an approach to a sacred places). There was another highway called 津和野街道(Tsuwano Kaido highway) but I am not going to touch this in this article.  When we talk about Jigozen, Jigozen cannot be separated from Itsukushima island. Itsukushima is a Workd Heritage site, where flocks of travelers visit in order to see its floating shrine, Itsukushima shrine. The entire island is also called Miyajima, which means the island of shrine. Today, Miyajima town belongs to Hatsukaichi city. We will tackle why these two shrines are related later.  I saw this sign that points ...
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