沼津宿(Numazu inn town): back on the coastline

Numazu is the 13th station, or inn town of Tokaido. It is a well-known fisherman’s port. 

Yellow arrow is the route on this picture below. 


On the previous picture, northeastern section from the 90 degree turn of the Tokaido route used to be a medieval castle called Sanmaibashi castle. It was originally built by Katsuyori Takeda in 1579. Sanmaibashi castle was one of an important bases of Takeda clan.(They were based in today’s Yamanashi prefecture and southern Nagano) Later, Tokugawa shogunate reused the original structure to build Numazu castle. 
Today, part of stone base of the castle is seen here. But you can see very little of what Sanmaibashi and Numazu castles used to be. 
The picture on the right shows the monument of Numazu inn town. Numazu was not only an inn town, but also a castle town, just like Odawara. 
Another one I circled(bottom center) is where Nakamura wakihonjin inn used to be. 





We are passing by where Shimizu honjin inn used to be. There were 3 honjin inns in Numazu. It was fairly a big town. 

Today you don’t see anything to indicate old Numazu inn town. The great fire of 1926 and WWII air raids destroyed most part of Numazu city. 

This shrine is a rare shrine: two Shinto shrines are on the same spot. So the name is Maruko shrine - Sengen shrine, aka Maruko-Sengen shrine. According to their website,  and Wikipedia, Maruko shrine was burnt in 1831 and was relocated to Sengen shrine. 
Then, the circle on the left I marked is a grave of Bokusui Wakayama(1885-1928), a Japanese poet. 
Kyoto-side Mitsuke guard gate used to be around here. There is a monument with its explanation by the street. 
The circle I made on the picture(right) is a tomb of heads, or Kubizuka(首塚). Kubizuka itself is seen in many places along the old routes and particularly in old battlefields. This one seems to be the one due to medieval battle between Takeda and Hojo clans. 
Apart from the main Tokaido route, this coast, Senbonhama(the coast of a thousand pine trees) seems to have been another route, which is called Senbon Kaido, according to a YouTuber and several other sources. 

The closest train station is JR Numazu station. 

Resources: 

Numazu tourist guide portal. Numazu city. (These original title:沼津観光ポータル　沼津市産業部観光振興課) https://numazukanko.jp/ (Accessed in 4/23/2025)

#4 Travelling UKIYO-E Road, “The 53 Stations of the Tokaido” Tokyo to Kyoto. Suit Travel. https://youtu.be/0mWQOLqUkS8?si=RDlAhfjRIWHCsMhO (Accessed in 4/23/2025)

Visit Numazu. Numazu City. https://trip.numazukanko.jp/ (Accessed in 4/23/2025)




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