Starting the Kaido 101: Tokaido/Nakasendo-Nihonbashi(日本橋)

 I wonder how many of my readers thought how long this guy’s lecture will continue. 

As a visual learner, I would prefer to get the basic quickly, then as I practice, I want to go in depth. 

One of the most popular trails of Kaidos is probably Tokaido. Some might say Nakasendo is arguably the best. But historically Tokaido has been a top traffic route, probably “the busiest” one. It is hard to figure out data of Edo period. One research shows that 40,000-260,000 people used parts of Tokaido, while  most parts of Nakasendo hardly reached more than 50,000 travelers. (Resource: “Main routes traffic amount n Edo period” by Ryoichi Tsuchida. 1982. 土田良一著「江戸時代における街道交通量」歴史地理学通号117  歴史地理学会編　1982年6月発行  http://hist-geo.jp/img/archive/117_028.pdf)

Today, “Tokaido” Shinkansen is often referred to as “The Aorta of Japan. 

The Tokaido route consists of 53 stations(inn towns), from Edo(Tokyo) to Kyoto. Some would add 4 more stations(inn towns between Kyoto and Osaka, to make it to  57 stations of Tokaido. 

(Source: The Woodblock prints of Utagawa Hiroshige.  https://www.hiroshige.org.uk/Tokaido_Versions/Tokaido_Versions.htm accessed on 1/28/2025)

The beginning point of Tokaido and Nakasendo is Nihonbashi in Tokyo. Today, Nihonbashi area has a lot of tall buildings, and at the starting point of Tokaido, there is Nihonbashi bridge. The current Nihonbashi stone bridge was completed in 1911. 

 Nihonbashi was a part of Edo castle town. Today, you’re not gonna see anything such as Edo-time houses virtually. Check out this Google street view.(accessed in 1/28/2025)

There is the Kilometer Zero post sign, which means that Japanese road mileage(kilometer) counts start here. 

Decades ago, when I was a college student, I visited Nihonbashi. The river underneath the bridge smelled nasty. I visited again years later, and it didn’t smell bad at all. 

Let’s see what else we will find. 

Apparently, once upon a time,  there was a fish market at the northeast edge of the bridge.(see the Google map view. Accessed in 1/28/2025) Otherwise, I see shopping businesses like department stores, office buildings etc. You will still see small streets that kinda give us clues of what the city of Edo used to be, from the map and structures of roads. There are old houses in downtown Tokyo. However, often these houses are standing between big tall buildings. If you want to feel and experience good local culture and atmosphere, consider checking out places like Shibamata, Yanaka, Hongo, Sakura-Shinmachi, Ekoda etc. I 

Nihonbashi can be considered as “off the beaten path”. There aren’t many tourists here usually. The bridge itself survived 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake and WWII. Part of the bridge still has burns from fire right after the earthquake and incendiary bombs by air raids during WWII. 

So, if you are a Japanese history geek, you won’t get bored of visiting Nihonbashi. It’s good to know that Nihonbashi is the beginning of Tokaido route. However, to me, this is where I would swing by for 5-10 minutes then keep moving on to another place. 

We are moving on to Shinagawa, the second town of Tokaido route. 

Access to Nihonbashi: subway Tokyo Metro Nihonbashi and Mitsukoshimae stations then walk. There are other way to get there. Or you can take a walk from JR Tokyo station. 

Note that Google maps and street views I posted can change as time goes on. Please leave comments for any updates. 

Addendum: Tokaido is written as 東海道 which literally means Eastern Sea Route. However, this Tokaido obviously doesn’t mean a sea route. The name derives from ancient ancient province system, 五畿七道(Goki-Shichido), which means, Five Provinces and Seven Circuits. Tokaido belonged to one of Seven Circuits. 

Here I am not digging this topic deeper, so refer to Wikipedia links. 

Goki-Shichido(Five Provinces and Seven Circuits) on Wikipedia. Accessed on 1/28/2025 https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gokishichid%C5%8D

References: 

Nihonbashi. Mitsui Fudosan, 2025. Accessed in 1/28/2025 https://www.nihonbashi-tokyo.jp/en/history/

東海道について　国土交通省関東地方整備局横浜国道事務所(About Tokaido. Yokohama Kokudo office, Kanto Regional Development Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism. Accessed in 1/28/2025) https://www.ktr.mlit.go.jp/yokohama/tokaido/02_tokaido/04_qa/index1/a0101.htm