While we are still working on Tokaido chapter, I decided to start working on San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido chapter. What were routes covering west of Tokaido prior to modern-day Japan? Which was the popular route in west Japan that people used in order to go east? Today JR Tokaido line officially goes down to JR Kobe station in Kobe city, and Tokaido Shinkansen goes down to Shin-Osaka station. Beyond these stations, you will notice that these train line names are changed: JR San’yo line from Kobe station, and San’yo Shinkansen from Shin-Osaka station. Old San’yodo(旧山陽道) starts at Kyoto, and goes through north shore of the river Yodo, bypassing modern-day downtown Osaka, then through Kobe, Himeji, Okayama, Hiroshima, and to Shimonoseki, with the 577km length in total. This route is actually longer than old Tokaido or old Nakasendo. Until the administrative capital was moved from Kyoto to Edo(modern-day Tokyo), San’yodo was regarded as more prestigious than Tokaido and Nakasend...
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...
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...
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