Pike_Tokugawa_project

Travles of the Daimyo The daimyo travles to Edo annuallly in order to pay tribute to the government. The time of the Tokugawa period was hard, not only that the travlers lost money by the curruption of the government by paying off their houses and families and got ripped off. The path of getting to Edo was harder than just staying there. There were people from many different social classes travling to Edo: samuris, merchants, tokes, etc. The people according to each of theses paintings had a bad run. ( Forgive my Shakespeariousness) The people travled to Edo by taking the trails of pain. Went up the hills of high tension. Took the the road of exhaustion. Walked through the valley of tears. ( In the 4th pic below they looked bummed and it's raining) Crossed the bridges of hope. Then finally they made it to the the city of peace. ( I say that so they could get some rest after such a long, long journey. They must be tired) As soon as they got to Edo the mingled with the towns folk. The people of Edo and the travlers got along by visiting the teahouses and getting together at their work stations. The people that took the travlers' money was a clan that was am pre-emulated politcal family.

Annaka

Annaka was a castle town of Itakura Iyonomori commanding a fief of 30,000 koku. This feudal lord was famous for having his retainers run marathon races up to the Usui Pass during the Ansei era. A little further on beyond the slope of this picture is a famous stretch of the Kisokaido flanked with magnificent rows of Japanese cedars, which are today a natural monument of the country.

Matsuida

The post town of Matsuida was at the foot of Mt. Myogi, one of the three famous mountains of Jomo province. Between here and Sakamoto was the "Usui-no-seki", which was among the four most important checking stations in Japan. For those who wanted to avoid this checkpoint, there was a byway called "Hime-kaido" (Female Road) leading to Oiwake over the mountains. Even today, the town retains the air of the old-time post town.

Mochizuki

In the post town of Mochizuki, our attention is drawn to the two-story houses lining the street with latticed facade and projecting upper-story part. To the northeast of the post town was Mimakigahara used as Imperial pastures during the Heian and Kamakura periods (9th through 14th centuries). The scene depicts the ascent of Uryu-zaka Hill Road between Yawata and Mochizuki.

[|Kutsukake] Kutsukake, called Naka-karuizawa today, prospered as one of the three Asama post towns on the Kisokaido Highway and also as the stage before heading for Kusatsu in the province of Joshu. The houses visible on the right may be the post town, and the river to the right may be part of the Yugawa River.

Honjo The Kisokaido Highway became gradually hilly from here on. The stone lantern in the foreground was installed with collection money. The contributors inscribed on the lantern included such big names as Issa the haiku poet and Raiden the sumo wrestler. The mountains in the background may be Mt. Akagi, Mt. Haruna and Mt. Myogi from right to left. Crossing the Kanna River, travellers entered Joshu province.

Akasaka Nihonbashi The Nihonbashi Bridge was the starting point of "ichiri-zuka" mileposts (ichiri = 2.44 miles) installed along highways around the country in 1604 (9th year of Keicho). Sunrise over Edo. View of the canal with the sun, cut by streaks of mist, rising behind the houses, crowds by the bridge, and coolies pushing a cart laden with bales over it. Banba A little over 3 km from Samekai is the post town of Banba. This is an honest rendering of the post town itself, a rare case among the Kiso Highway Series pictures. "Iseya" written on a signboard under the eaves is the business name of the print publisher, and "Utagawa" is advertising Utagawa Hiroshige himself.

These images relate to the daimyo people travling to Edo by how often they visted and what paths they used. These images also show how the people of Edo got along with the travlers.