山﨑宿(Yamazaki inn town): At the bottom of the first whisky distillery of Japan

Yamazaki is famous for two things: 1582 battle of Yamazaki, and the first whisky distillery of Japan. Lord Hideyoshi Hashiba whose surname was changed in 1586 as Toyotomi, turned his troops back from Bitchu-Takamatsu, today’s western Okayama city, all the way to Yamazaki, to engage the battle with lord Mitsuhide Akechi, who attacked lord Nobunaga Oda and caused his death. Hideyoshi’s troops moved nearly 200 km in a week or so, which was surprisingly quick. Scholars analyze that Hideyoshi might have already known Akechi’s attack against Oda in advance, so he might have prepared all logistics and food for return trip. 

Before entering Yamazaki inn town, this area has a lot to see. As mentioned earlier, near Hankyu railways Nishiyama-Tennozan station, I see a spring water sign that Hideyoshi had during the battle of Yamazaki. Further south west, along the highway, around Highway E1 Oyamazaki interchange, there are spots of the actual battle. 




The actual site of Saigoku Kaido Yamazaki inn town is just south of JR Kyoto/Tokaido line Yamazaki station, where I circled yellow. 












I am drawing the route with yellow arrow as well. 

I looked at the local guide map to find out where the Kyoto and Osaka sides of guards that we see in every inn town of Tokaido. I could not find any resources to indicate these. I’m sure that local guides can pinpoint where these are. 
By the way, in Saigoku Kaido route, gate guards of an inn towns were called Higashi-mitsuke(east-side guard) and Nishi-mitsuke(west-side guard). 
At the center of the inn town, there is Rikyu-Hachimangu shrine, which was established in 859 by the order of the emperor Seiwa to a Buddhist monk Gyokyo. And, apparently there was a port by the Yodo River just south of the inn town back in Edo period. But other than what I see on Google map and a local guide map, nothing notable to track down what Yamazaki inn town used to be. There are old houses scattered around, which is nice. Right before this shrine, there is Oyamazaki history museum. When I stop by Yamazaki some day, I will be excited to discover more about this inn town at this museum. 
This part of Saigoku Kaido route is easy to track down by Google map, because the map clearly shows the route. Note that as you might see in other routes, Saigoku Kaido has the old route and the new route. I am not sure about the time frame of the old route and the new route, but most likely the new route was made in 1800s-1900s. I will have to investigate. 
Also, just like today’s roads, parts of the route overlaps with other routes. For example, I noticed that after passing Rikyu-Hachimangu shrine, the route name has been changed as “Mozume Kaido”. And soon the route gets another name, “Tamba Kaido” along with Mozume Kaido. This overlapping part is still a part of Saigoku Kaido. Yamazaki inn town happens to be the starting point of Tamba Kaido route for today’s northwestern Kyoto prefecture and northeastern Hyogo prefecture. Mozume Kaido is another historical route that connects between Osaka and Nara. 
Just northwest of JR Yamazaki station, there is famous Suntoy Yamazaki distillery, founded in 1923. 

In summary, as far as I see on Google map, there are old houses scattering around along Saigoku Kaido route. Nakasendo route is so popular today because of nature, old town scenes and culture. Now I am enjoying Saigoku kaido more than Tokaido at least. Just taking a step off from the route, old battle field, notable samurai sites, spring water are accessible in this area. And that is the reason why the founder of Suntory built the distillery here. 
Saigoku Kaido is not to be underestimated.:-)

JR Yamazaki station is the easiest access to the inn town. However, I am tempted to walk from Kyoto Toji temple all the way down here some day. 

For more details, go on references. 

Reference: 

Kyoto to the West: Saigoku Kaido. Rekishi Kaido Promotional Council. (Japanese only) https://www.rekishikaido.gr.jp/aruku/saigoku/ (Accessed in 4/6/2025)
Oyamazaki town sightseeing page. Town of Oyamazaki. https://oyamazaki.info/english (Accessed in 4/6/2025)
Yamazaki inn town.Wikipedia.(the original title: 山﨑宿. Japanese only) https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B1%B1%E5%B4%8E%E5%AE%BF (Accessed in 4/6/2025)


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