Introducing old road network:KAIDO

Before traveling to Japan, it’s always good to do research about destination. Good research is the foundation of your enriched travel. However, for those who have never been to Japan, there is always the question of “Where do we start?”. 

This is one of the tools I am giving you.

One of things I often look for is the signs of 街道(Kaidō).  Kaidō is old highways and routes that have been used for centuries. Kaidō used to be all over, from Edo(modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto(Tokaido and Nakasendo), to Shomosuwa(Kōshū Kaidō), to Nikko(Nikko Kaidō), to Shirakawa(modern-day Shirakawa city of Fukushima prefecture: Oshu Kaidō), and so on. These first five routes I mentioned are called Edo Five Routes, aka 五街道(Gokaido). These were officially maintained by Edo shogunate during Edo Period(1603-1868). 

Here is an example of Kaido route. These bypass following link shows the route of Tokaido highway. 

https://www.hiroshige.org.uk/Tokaido_Versions/Tokaido_Versions.htm (Quoted from THE WOODBLOCK PRINTS OF UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE. Seen on 1/22/2024)

However, there were other Kaidōs that were maintained by each local domain. These were called 脇街道(Waki Kaido). Some of notable examples are 北国街道(Hokkoku Kaido) aka 北陸道(Hokurikudo), 西国街道(Saigoku Kaido) aka 山陽道(San’yodo), 長崎街道(Nagasaki Kaido), 因幡街道(Inaba Kaido) etc. 

These Kaidos have another subcategory. There are routes that acted as a bypass or connector to Edo Five Routes and major routes mentioned above. These bypasses and connectors are called 往還(Ohkan), but also was called as Kaido as well. Some of examples of Ohkan are 名古屋往還(Nagoya Ohkan: connecting between Nakasendo and Nagoya) aka 木曽街道(Kiso Kaido), 川越街道(Kawagoe Kaido) etc. 

Note that historically, one Kaido can have more than two names or nicknames. Kiso valley part of Nakasendo was called 木曽路(Kisoji) for example. 

All of these Kaidos had 宿場町(Shukubamachi) aka 宿(Shuku), known as post towns, stations, or inn towns, and these towns had inns, restaurants/cafes, cargo terminals, post offices, merchants and sometimes checkpoints. These stations are the origin of what is called 駅(Eki) as a train station today. Note that there are official inn towns and unofficial ones(間宿:Ainoshuku). 

Please remember these Chinese characters and Japanese terminology. You will end up using these for your research. 

Once you know these basics, your next job is to find out where these inn towns are and how to keep track of them. 

To be continued…

Resources: 

Edo Five Routes on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_Five_Routes

Waki Ohkan on Wikipedia:  https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%84%87%E5%BE%80%E9%82%84#cite_note-fujimino2230-2