原川(Haragawa unofficial inn town): there’s nothing but a temple and pine trees

I’ve never heard about 原川(Haragawa) unofficial inn town until I’ve done this research. 

After my research, I have to say that, there are only three things that remind us of old-day Haragawa; pine tree street, temple and a little park by a river. 


The most iconic part of Haragawa is Tokaido pine tree street. However, throughout the entire Tokaido trail, we’ve already encountered pine tree trails, and we will be encountering more later. 
The most prosperous time of Haragawa unofficial inn town had 46 establishments including sake brewery. 
Konsaiji temple has been the center of community. 
However, there are very few things to see here. 
There are very few few information boards and signs about Haragawa unofficial inn town. 
Most likely, this is the end. 
Across Harakawa River, there was a 立場(Tateba). Tate a is a food or tea stand. A little further west of thus point, there is another pine tree street. 

To get to Haragawa, it’s about 25 minutes’ walk from JR Tokaido line Aino station. 

The next stop is 袋井宿(Fukuroi inn town. 



References: 

Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido “Kakegawa”. Kakegawa city. https://www.city.kakegawa.shizuoka.jp/kanko/translate/en/docs/13039.html (AI translated. Accessed in 4/22/2026)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

山陽道/西国街道(San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido overview)

Image
While we are still working on Tokaido chapter, I decided to start working on San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido chapter.  What routes were 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...
Read more

東海道(Tokaido) overview

Image
(The picture above: Futagawa Tokaido inn town, Toyohashi city. Captured by me in March 2025.) Here is the overview of my Tokaido highway series. (I will update episodes as I publish each time)  Tokyo-Nihonbashi:  https://off-the-beaten-paths-japan.blogspot.com/2025/01/starting-kaido-101-tokaidonakasendo.html?m=1 Tokyo-Shinagawa:  https://off-the-beaten-paths-japan.blogspot.com/2025/02/tokaido-shinagawa-inn-town.html?m=1 Kawasaki:  https://off-the-beaten-paths-japan.blogspot.com/2025/02/getting-out-of-tokyo-kawasaki.html?m=1 Yokohama-Kanagawa:  https://off-the-beaten-paths-japan.blogspot.com/2025/02/urashima-taro-hokusais-high-waves.html?m=1 Yokohama-Hodogaya:  https://off-the-beaten-paths-japan.blogspot.com/2025/02/hodogaya-hatagoold-inn-still-exists.html?m=1 Yokohama-Totsuka:  https://off-the-beaten-paths-japan.blogspot.com/2025/02/first-ham-made-in-japan-musashisagami.html?m=1 Fujisawa:  https://off-the-beaten-paths-japan.blogspot.com/2025/03/fu...
Read more

蒲原宿(Kanbara inn town): lots of old houses to indicate what an inn town used to be

Image
I passed by Kanbara multiple times by JR Tokaido line local and express, but I have never stopped by.  My Google map street view research shows that Kanbara(and Yui inn town as well) preserves the best of what an old inn town used to look like, more than any inn towns on Tokaido between Shizuoka and Tokyo.  Edo-side Mitsuke(guard gate) is located here. Note that there are two train stations that have “Kanbara” on: Kanbara and Shin-Kanbara. Edo-side Mitsuke is very close to Shin-Kanbara station.  On the left, there is Kiya Edo museum. Apparently this three-story warehouse is a museum that displays old documents about this area and businesses. As a three story warehouse, this is the fifth oldest in Japan.  I circled two things here, but according to the website of Shizuoka prefecture, both appears the same.  If you compare old towns like Takayama or Tsumago, Kanbara might not be as attractive as these two. However, up until Kanbara, all inn towns on Tokaido routes...
Read more