Old Routes of Japan: Tracking down Japan off the beaten path from the eyes of a Japanese native

The picture is 松代(Matsushiro inn town) in Nagano city,  taken by me in September 2023.  The name “Hokkoku Kaido”(北国街道) refers to several routes which includes: 1) Eastern Nagano-western Niigata prefecture route. 2) Eastern Shiga - Fukui route. 3) Eastern Shiga - Fukui - Toyama - Niigata - Akita route. 4) Shiojiri - Nagano route.  According to my research, there is a significant overlap between  Hokkoku Kaido route 1) and Zenkoji Kaido route, which leads travelers to Zenkoji temple in downtown Nagano city.  Here in my blog, I am taking the route 1), therefore I named this series as “Hokkoku Kaido/Zenkoji Kaido series” in order to avoid confusion with other routes with “Hokkoku Kaido” name.  Starting point of the east:  Oiwake  (追分) - today’s Karuizawa town. Komoro (小諸) - Komoro city Tanaka (田中) and Unno (海野) - today’s Tomi city. These two inn towns were considered as one big inn town. Unno is certified as a Preservation District for Groups of Tradi...

Some international cyclists might already know 長崎街道(Nagasaki Kaido highway) as the “Sugar Road”.  Nagasaki Kaido highway was a major route that connected northeast Kyushu with western parts of Kyushu island. It was considered as a Wakikaido, a sub-ranked highway. This just means that Tokugawa government did not directly involve in development and maintenance. This was true in very early stage of Edo period. Edo shogunate eventually took over management of major wakikaido routes. Nagasaki Kaido, along with San’yodo/Saigoku Kaido, were examples.  Historically, Nagasaki Kaido was one of the most important highways in Japan, because merchants used this route for international businesses in Nagasaki. In Edo period, especially during “Sakoku” national policy of isolation(1639-1854), Nagasaki was the only open port of international businesses and diplomacy with Dutch empire and Chinese dynasties.(Note that Nagasaki was not the only port of international businesses) Sugars were import...

(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...

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...