A journey to the heart of Japan
The idea of planting trees along the roadside to provide shade for travelers had occurred to the Chinese when they developed their highway system more than 2000 years ago. Almost certainly the idea was copied by the Japanese, along with all other features of Chinese highways, when they laid out their own highway system at… [Read more]
At the time of the Meiji Restoration, in 1868, some 250 castle towns (jokamachi) formed the core of a well developed urban network in Japan. Although constructed primarily as defended residences for provincial lords (daimyo) and their retainers, castle towns necessarily became local administrative headquarters through which political authority was channeled from the shogun’s citadel… [Read more]
Although only a small town, Ashita boasts the oldest surviving honjin on the Nakasendo. It has also been owned by the same family since its’ original construction in the late 16th century. Ashita honjin offers a unique opportunity to observe one story of the changing fortunes of the most important building in any post-town, from… [Read more]
Nihonbashi, which means ‘Bridge of Japan’, is less impressive than one would imagine. As the point from which all highway distances are measured, it seems that it should stand out in the urban landscape. Instead, it has a dirty, stagnant canal under it and a rumbling elevated expressway above, adding dark shadow to a peculiar bouquet, especially in summer…. [Read more]
Nightlife today is varied and intense. Both large and small cities have areas of concentrated nightlife: rows of pubs, bars, cabarets, restaurants, coffee shops, discotheques, ‘love’ hotels, games parlors, pachinko joints or tall buildings with the rows of advertisements running vertically up the facades instead of horizontally. Areas of Tokyo like Kabukicho in Shinjuku are… [Read more]
Itabashi is typical of many gentrified post-towns: few of the old buildings of the post-town remain, but the route of the old highway is still easy to spot running as a narrow back street while the modern highway by-passes the town at a respectful distance. It is not uncommon for areas within urban districts which… [Read more]
Tateba or rest stops were located mid-way between post-towns. Typically, they were a small cluster of tea houses which were unofficially established by local people who took advantage of the needs of travelers who would stop for a rest and some refreshment before moving on to the next official post-town. Today, some tateba have disappeared… [Read more]
In the early 1870s, a French military observer, Leon Descharmes, noted that with the invention of the rickshaw it was possible to travel the eighty miles from Takasaki to Tokyo in a single day on the existing roads. He went on to say that: although the route may appear good at a dry season of… [Read more]
One of the most vivid descriptions of travel in 17th century Japan is provided by the Dutchman, Engelbert Kaempfer. He was a doctor attached to the Dutch East India Company, based at the island of Dejima in Nagasaki. He made the long journey to Edo twice, in 1691 and 1692, as part of the alternate… [Read more]
In the , the definition of a daimyo was a lord with an assessed tax income of 10,000 koku (1 koku equals about 5 US bushels) from rice land. Sometimes, the lesser daimyo were called shomyo, changing the character for big (dai) with the character for small (sho). They were, of course, military men who… [Read more]
In contrast to many larger castle towns such as Hikone or Takasaki relatively little survives in Annaka today to suggest that this place was also the castle town of a daimyo in the Edo period. In part this is due to the small size of Annaka. By the time of the Meiji Restoration in 1868… [Read more]
In the 17th century Kaempfer wrote, ‘There is hardly a public Inn upon the great Island Nipon, but what may be called a bawdy-house’. He describes as many as six or seven ‘wenches’ at each inn sitting near the door attracting the custom of travelers. Although officially called serving maids (meshi-mori onna), it is quite… [Read more]
Oiwake means, literally, a ‘parting of the way’ or road junction. Post-towns were often situated at these junctions and because of the larger volume of traffic through them, they tended to be larger than other towns. Examples are Oiwake (which together with some other villages takes its name from the junction), Shimo-suwa, Kusatsu (at the… [Read more]
Mt. Asama is situated at the junction of two volcanic fronts in Japan and is therefore one of the more active of the ‘active volcanoes’. Although puffing smoke constantly, the last major eruption was on August 5, 1783, but 50 other ventings have been recorded. It now stands 8,338 feet high, but like Mt. St…. [Read more]
Mt. Fuji or Fujisan (not Fujiyama which is a misreading of the final character that means mountain) has become a well-known symbol of Japan to foreigners and a point of natural beauty of great pride to the Japanese. Wood block-print artists like Hiroshige did much to popularize the mountain through their works and in the… [Read more]
Niegawa Barrier Station is one of two seki which have been reconstructed along the Nakasendo in recent times, the other being at Kiso-Fukushima. Its origins go back to the Warring States period when local warrior lords erected many of these structures at regular intervals along the highways. Their purpose was to check on the movement… [Read more]
While many post-towns had bansho which were required to keep watch over the highway, there were barriers (seki or sekisho, barrier station) at intervals which had special duty to inspect each passing traveler and porter. The primary purpose of a seki was to prevent the movement of two dangerous commodities. One was the smuggling out… [Read more]
At nightfall, with no street lights along the way, traveling became difficult, if not hazardous. In order to assist travelers, stone lanterns were erected at each end of the post-towns to act as guiding beacons. They were lit at dusk and would remain burning until dawn – hence the name joyato or ‘all-night lights’. Similar… [Read more]
Bansho were the guard stations from which officials could keep an eye on the road and monitor traffic. They tend to be found in the larger post-towns, usually located near the masugata where all traffic was forced to slow. They housed samurai `policemen’ who insured that local regulations were enforced. They not only oversaw the… [Read more]
The toiya (alternatively pronounced tonya) was the officially designated person in charge of porters and the shipment of baggage and other goods. In a sense he was the ‘quartermaster-general’ assigned to each post-town. In terms of status he was second in importance to the honjin, and may have, on occasion, served as village headman. Very… [Read more]
In Chinese tradition, evil spirits can only travel in straight lines. The approaches to villages or even individual houses, therefore, often require visitors to make a 90 degree turn before entering, so that no evil spirits may be brought in. In Japanese post-towns (and castle towns) this feature has also been adopted, although the reason… [Read more]
The edicts and regulations from the shogunate authorities were announced to townspeople and villagers by posting them on an official notice board known as the kosatsuba. The regulations were first painted on a wooden board, which was then nailed to the kosatsuba. Such notice boards were located in every town and village, in a prominent… [Read more]
Waki-honjin (‘assistant principal inns’) were similar to honjin except that they formed the second tier of inns in post-towns in terms of quality, size, and prestige. Like the honjin, waki-honjin were open primarily to daimyo and other travelers of high status. If the principal inn was occupied, the waki-honjin took in the next highest ranking… [Read more]
The largest building in each post-town was the honjin. Usually located in the center of the town, the honjin was the designated inn for daimyo and other travelers of high rank to stop for a rest or to stay overnight. Set in a walled enclosure with entrance through an elaborate gateway, the honjin comprised gardens,… [Read more]
Records show that many of the 67 post-towns on the Nakasendo were established long before the highway was officially laid out in 1602. Some had even been designated as post-towns on earlier roads. For his new system of highways, however, Tokugawa Ieyasu demanded that designated post-towns be established at frequent, regular intervals, and that each… [Read more]
One of the aids for both travelers and the people who worked on the highways in the early Edo period were regular distance markers, similar to the notion of ‘mile posts’ seen on Western roads. Rather than a simple post or stone pillar, however, Japanese highways were typically marked by large earthen mounds known as… [Read more]
The Nakasendo was considered an easier route than the Tokaido because it had fewer crossings over large rivers. Rivers in Japan are serious barriers to land transport because they are wide, not navigable and prone to sudden flash floods. Many a travelers’ tale, then, turns on mishaps at river crossings. In the Warring States period,… [Read more]
Tateba or rest stops were located mid-way between post-towns. Typically, they were a small cluster of tea houses which were unofficially established by local people who took advantage of the needs of travelers who would stop for a rest and some refreshment before moving on to the next official post-town. Today, some tateba have disappeared… [Read more]
Although the centers of commercial activities were located in the towns and large cities which grew up in the Edo period, the old province of Omi, the area south and east of Lake Biwa, played a large role. The Omi merchants became famous throughout Japan, and very rich too, through their base in jute and other… [Read more]
Conditions which were extremely favorable to commerce began to appear, ironically, during the Warring States period. As sengoku daimyo unified and enlarged their domains, they found that although they perhaps wanted the independence which mercantilist policies promised, they could not remain aloof from a national economic system. In fact, many of the policies they pursued… [Read more]
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