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

On your way to Shinagawa from Nihonbashi, you will pass by Takanawa Great Wooden Gate ruins. This was described in Hiroshige’s ukiyoe picture.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takanawa_Great_Wooden_Gate  (Takanawa Great Wooden Gate. Wikipedia. Accessed in 1/29/2025) This gate was literally the gateway to the city of Edo for those coming from outside Edo, and vice versa. It is not a mere coincidence that the nearest JR train station is called Takanawa Gateway.  Now we are entering Shinagawa inn town, the “first” inn town of Tokaido highway on Edo side. (Picture below: Shinagawa station, taken by this writer) The beginning of Shinagawa inn town is actually on the southeastern edge of JR Shinagawa station, near the railway crossing of Keikyu line. Moreover, JR and Keikyu Shinagawa stations are not in Shinagawa ward of metropolitan Tokyo. It’s actually in Minato-ward.😆 Red-white stripe lines show the city boarder of Shinagawa and Minato. Then the heart mark is where Shinagawa ...

 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...