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

Even horses can cross eight ri(=31 km/19.5miles) of Hakone, but the Oi River is hard to get over in any way. (Translation from Wikipedia. I added the conversion to mileage)  This part of Shimada is probably considered as an extension of Shimada inn town. However, there is no accommodation. When the water level of Oi river increases to the impassable point, people had to stay in this area, along with Shimada inn town.  As we explore, I will explain the reason why it was so hard to cross this river.  This is Tsukamoto family residence. The residence was built by Omura domain of Kyushu, today’s central Nagasaki prefecture during Edo period. Tsukamoto family provided meals, took over paperwork and arranged logistics to cross the river for Omura domain.  Up until 1870, there were no bridges or boat services over Oi River.  On the right there used to be the 9th station for 川越人足(Kawagoshi ninsoku: special porters for crossing rivers). There used to 10 Kawagoe ninsoku, ...

I am going to divide Shimada inn town part into two: the inn town, and the river Oi crossing.  Today you can still see old structures of narrow houses, but in overall, it is not easy to find traits of what old Shimada inn town used to be. Let’s look at the overview map. There is a sign where Shimada inn town east gate used to be.  Shimada had three honjin VIP inns, which means that the inn town was large, primarily because it is located in the east bank of river Oi. River Oi used to flood when heavy rain came. During early 1600s, Edo shogunate set a big construction project to strengthen dykes on the east bank.  Still, especially on spring season, the snow on the southern Japanese alps melt, water filled up the river for days and weeks that it was impossible to cross the river. So travelers from the east had to stay in Shimada until the river water level is low enough to be able to cross. We will go on more details on the next blog.  At a glance, Shimada inn town doe...

Fujieda is the 22nd inn town from Edo/Tokyo-Nihonbashi. To be honest, Fujieda inn town looked boring at a glance from the street view. But am I right? Here is the overview.  For more details, see the trail map on the reference section.  According to Sasuga Shizuoka Tokaido map, Edo-side gate existed around this intersection.  Here is the info board about Fujieda. This is in front to a shrine of Yebisu Daijin Daikokuten, one of Seven Lucky Gods.   Yearly in the 19th and 20th of November, the shrine holds a festival.  Across the street, there used to be a toiya cargo terminal.  This part of Today’s Fujieda inn town is an arcade street called Sawayaka(refreshing) street.  The information sign standing here is explains why this area is called Shirako-cho.  In 1582, when lord Nobunaga Oda was assassinated by his vassal, Mitsuhide Akechi, lord Ieyasu Tokugawa was traveling in the south of Kyoto. When he heard this news, he fled to Shiroko(Not Shirako), ...

After going over the strenuous Utsunoya pass, you will get to Okabe inn town soon.  Okabe is fairly a long inn town. Let’s check it out! For more details, check out the reference section.  So there is a mystery about Edo-side guard gate. Google map and a road sign on the picture show this location. On the strip map provided by AMZ Environmental Design Research Office, the sign for Edo-side guard gate is located right after crossing Okabe bridge. The. I found an old map and compared. See the link below. The old map is  https://stroly.com/viewer/1631168167  (古地図で見る駿州の旅【岡部宿編】Posted by Sunshu Travel Japan Heritage Promotion Council Secretariat. Stroly.com)  The old map is 東海道分間絵図(Tokaido Bunken Ezu). And this map agrees with the road sign and Google map. There used to be Masugata square here.  There is a small toro light.  This is where AMZ’s map pointed out as Edo-side guard gate. It does make sense to have a gate right by the river though. But right begi...