The Tōkaidō (東海道 East Sea Road) was the most important of the Five Routes of the Edo period, connecting Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto in Japan. Unlike the inland and less heavily travelled Nakasendō, the Tōkaidō travelled along the sea coast of eastern Honshū, hence the route's name.
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The standard method of travel was by foot, as wheeled carts were almost non-existent and heavy cargo was usually sent by boat. Members of the higher class, however, traveled by kago. Women were forbidden to travel alone and had to be accompanied by men. Other restrictions were also put in place for travelers, but, while severe penalties existed for various travel regulations, most seemed not to be enforced.
There were government-sanctioned post stations along the Tōkaidō for travelers to rest in. These stations consisted of porter stations and horse stables, as well as lodging, food and other places a traveler may visit. The original Tōkaidō was made up of 53 stations between the termination points of Edo and Kyoto. The 53 stations were taken from the 53 Buddhist saints that Buddhist acolyte Sudhana visited to receive teachings in his quest for enlightenment.[1] At a few points along the route, there were checkpoints where travelers had to present traveling permits to pass.
Travel, particularly along the Tōkaidō, was a very popular topic in art and literature at the time. The famous artist Hiroshige depicted each of the 53 post stations (shukuba) of the Tōkaidō in his work The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō, and the haiku poet Matsuo Bashō traveled along the road.
A great many guidebooks of famous places were published and distributed at this time, and a culture of virtual tourism through books and pictures thrived. Jippensha Ikku's Tōkaidōchū Hizakurige, translated as "The Shank's Mare", is one of the more famous novels about a journey along the Tōkaidō.
In the early 1980s, inspired by Hiroshige, American artist Bill Zacha traveled the Tokaido stations. He created a series of 55 serigraphs, each depicting one stop along the Tokaido way, and printed 100 copies of each design. These were collected in the 1985 book Tokaido Journey, along with Bill's recollections (in both English and Japanese) of traveling the road and the people he encountered.[2]
In 1619, the Ōsaka Kaidō (大阪街道) was established, adding four more stations after Ōtsu-juku. These additions extended the route to Kōraibashi in Osaka. This extension was also called the Kyōkaidō (京街道), or was described as being a part of the 57 stations of the Tōkaidō.
Today, the Tōkaidō corridor is the most heavily travelled transportation corridor in Japan, connecting Greater Tokyo (including the capital Tokyo as well as Japan's second largest city Yokohama) to Nagoya (fourth largest), and then to Osaka (third largest) via Kyoto. The Tokyo-Nagoya-Kyoto-Osaka route is followed by the JR Tōkaidō Main Line and Tōkaidō Shinkansen, as well as the Tōmei and Meishin expressways. A few portions of the original road can still be found, however, and in modern times at least one man has managed to follow and walk much of it.[3]
