Continuing on exploring Fuchu inn town.
As mentioned on part 1, Fuchu was a big city and is a big city today as well. Today, parts of Sunpu castle structures have been restored, with history museum inside castle area. The castle itself was destroyed many times by earthquakes as Shizuoka has been known for severe earthquakes. Even up today, people are talking about “when”, not “if”, a big earthquake occurs.
Alright, I had to divide overviews into two sections: city center and Abe river area.
The route goes all the way to Abe river. For more details about Fuchu, please check out my reference section including guide maps.
Tokaido route is going through 呉服町(Gofuku-cho). Gofuku means clothing, so there used to be a lot of clothing shops. Even today, there are boutiques and department stores.
After the 90-degree curve at Fudanotsuji, you will see a monument of recreated Kosatsuba information board. Fuda means signpost, and the Kosatsuba wised to be around here.
Going a little off from Tokaido route. There is a sign that shows the birth house of Sadakazu Shigeta, aka Jippensha Ikku. He was an Edo-period comical book and novel writer, most famously known for Shank’s Mare, the comical journey of Yaji and Kita on Tokaido and Ise Kaido.
Here there is a monument to explain about 七間町(Shichiken-cho). Downtown Shizuoka has a lot of signs to explain about names of each old town. 1 Ken is about 1.82m, and 7 Ken is about 12.74m. This was the width of this street.
Here we are heading to southeastward.
Here is a mystery of Ichiruzuka distance marker location. This is off from the original Tokaido route. I know that Fuchu was a big city. But does that mean that Tokaido was originally going through here? I need a consult from local historians.
Again, a bit off from the route, there is a part that was formerly a Christian church during late 16-17th centuries. According to some of local historians’ blogs, there are many things in Fuchu to indicate a good number of Christian’s presence.
By the way, Kyoto-side guard gate of Fuchu inn town was located around here on Tokaido route.
But starting with Hideyoshi Toyotomi, persecutions against Christians became more intense. The third Tokugawa shogunate Iemitsu became very fierce about eradicating Christians. So there is a monument to honor martyred Christians.
Going toward Abe river. There are a bunch of monuments nearby including Shosetsu Yui’s tomb, Meiji emperor’s resting place on his journey.(Meiji emperor stopped by so many places to rest fyi) Shosetsu Yui was a military scholar during early17th century, eventually attempted coup d’etat ahai at Tokugawa shogunate, arrested and ordered to kill himself.
Anyhow, lots of things to be covered. The next stop is Mariko inn town.
References:
Jippensha Ikku.Wikipedia.com. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jippensha_Ikku (Accessed in 6/4/2025)
Light and shadow of Christians in Sunpu. 400-Year Anniversary of Ieyasu Tokugawa. Learning about lord Ieyasu. Shizuoka city.(The original title:駿府キリシタンの光と影 大御所四百年祭記念 家康公を学ぶ 静岡市 : in Japanese only) https://www.visit-shizuoka.com/t/oogosho400/study/06.htm (Accessed in 6/4/2025. In Japanese)
Shosetsu Yui. Wikipedia.com. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yui_Sh%C5%8Dsetsu (Accessed in 6/4/2025)
Stroll map(of Tokaido). AMZ Environmental Design Research Office Ltd. http://shizuoka-tokaido.biz/en/map/index.html (Accessed in 6/1/2025. Check out Fuchu map)
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