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]
Ishidatami or ‘paving stones’ were laid down on rough patches of road, particularly over the mountain passes which were steep at the top and prone to erosion in the rainy season. Stones were laid carefully so that porters and carriers would have sure footing when they most needed it. Other than this, no attempt was… [Read more]
Dosojin are guardian deities who are closely associated with roads, travelers and local boundaries. They were assigned the task of keeping evil away from the Nakasendo and its travelers. Dosojin come in many forms, but are generally small, carved stones in a human shape. Often, they come in pairs of figures, but sometimes they are… [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]
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