500px, Ōuchi Pass '' ichirizuka'' The was a pre-modern

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-acces ...

constructed in

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

Japan. It was built to connect Imaichi,

Shimotsuke Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today Tochigi Prefecture. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''SHimotsuke''" in . Shimotsuke was bordered by Kōzuke, Hitachi, Mutsu and Shimōsa Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was ...

(in modern-day

Tochigi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,943,886 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,408 km2 (2,474 sq mi). Tochigi Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the ...

) with

Aizuwakamatsu Castle , also known as Tsuruga Castle (鶴ヶ城 ''Tsuru-ga-jō'') is a concrete replica of a traditional Japanese castle in northern Japan, at the center of the city of Aizuwakamatsu, in Fukushima Prefecture. Background Aizu Wakamatsu Castle is loca ...

in modern-day Fukushima Prefecture. It is roughly traced by

Japan National Route 121 is a national highway connecting the city of Yonezawa, Yamagata and the town of Mashiko, Tochigi in Japan. See also * * References External links * 121 121 may refer to: *121 (number), a natural number *AD 121, a year in the 2nd centur ...

and Fukushima Prefectural Route 131.

History and background

With the establishment of Aizu Domain, the ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominal ...

'' Hoshina Masayuki (1611-1673) called for the construction of a road to connect his castle with the

Ōshū Kaidō The was one of the five routes of the Edo period. It was built to connect Edo (modern-day Tokyo) with Mutsu Province and the present-day city of Shirakawa, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. It was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu for government offic ...

, which was the main route north-south from the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

's capital of Edo. Part of the reason for this road was economic, as the Aizu area was geographically isolated by mountains. It was also political, as the ''daimyō'' of Aizu were required to travel back-and-forth to Edo on alternative years with a large retinue under the ''

sankin-kōtai ''Sankin-kōtai'' ( ja, 参覲交代/参覲交替, now commonly written as ja, 参勤交代/参勤交替, lit=alternate attendance, label=none) was a policy of the Tokugawa shogunate during most of the Edo period of Japanese history.Jansen, M ...

'' system and needed a well-maintained road with suitable post stations for rest and resupply along the route. The road Hoshina Masayuki created was marked with '' ichirizuka'' distance markers to facilitate travel. The road was named the or sometimes the . In addition to Aizu Domain, the route also proved popular with the ''sankin-kōtai'' retinues of

Shibata Domain was a '' tozama'' feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan. It is located in Echigo Province, Honshū. The domain was centered at Shibata Castle, located in what is now the city of Shibata in Niigata Prefecture. It ...

Murakami Domain was a feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Echigo Province (modern-day Niigata Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Murakami Castle in what is now the city of Murakami, Niigata.Shōnai Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Yamagata Prefecture), Japan. It was centered on Tsuruoka Castle in what is now the city of Tsuruoka in Yamagata Prefecture, and was thus also known as the . It was ...

and

Yonezawa Domain was a feudal domain in Edo period Japan, located in Dewa Province (modern-day Yamagata Prefecture), Japan. It was centered at Yonezawa castle in what is now the city of Yamagata, and its territory extended over the Okitama District of Dewa Pro ...

. The route was closed from 1683 to 1723, when a landslide blocked the

Kinugawa River , is a river on the main island of Honshu in Japan. It flows from the north to the south on the Kantō plain, merging with . At 176.7 km in length, it is the longest tributary of Tone-gawa. From ancient times, it has been known to cause flood ...

creating a natural dam. When the dam burst in 1723 during torrential rains, 1200 people were killed by the flood in downstream Utsunomiya. The road was used by the forces of the

Satchō Alliance The , or was a powerful military alliance between the feudal domains of Satsuma and Chōshū formed in 1866 to combine their efforts to restore Imperial rule and overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. History The name ''Satchō'' () is ...

en route to destroy Aizu Domain during the Battle of Aizu in the Boshin War. In 2002, a well-preserved ten kilometer section of the route centered on

Ōuchi-juku was a small post station in Japan's Edo period and part of the Aizu Nishi Kaidō.Visit Mi ...

between

Aizumisato is a town located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 20,092 in 7306 households and a population density of 73 persons per km2. The total area of the town was . Geography Aizumisato is located in the easte ...

and Shimogō, including Hidama Pass and Ōuchi Pass was designated a National Historic Site of Japan.

Stations of the Aizu Nishi Kaidō

The 16 post stations of the Aizu Nishi Kaidō, with their present-day municipalities listed beside them.

Tochigi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Tochigi Prefecture has a population of 1,943,886 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,408 km2 (2,474 sq mi). Tochigi Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the ...

:Starting location: Imaichi-shuku (今市宿) (

Nikkō is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 80,239 in 36,531 households, and a population density of 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is a popular destination for Japanese and ...

) (also part of the

Nikkō Kaidō The was one of the five routes of the Edo period and it was built to connect Edo (modern-day Tokyo) with the temple-shrine complex of the Mangan-ji and Tōshōsha (now called the Rinnō-ji and Tōshōgū), which are located in the present-day ...

) :1. Ōkuwa-shuku (大桑宿) (Nikkō) :2. Takatoku-shuku (高徳宿) (Nikkō) :3. Ōhara-shuku (大原宿) (Nikkō) :4. Fujihara-shuku (藤原宿) (Nikkō) :5. Takaharashinden-shuku (高原新田宿) (Nikkō) :6. Gōjūri-shuku (五十里宿) (Nikkō) :7. Miyori-shuku (三依宿) (Nikkō) :8. Yokokawa-shuku (横川宿) (Nikkō)

Fukushima Prefecture

:9. Itozawa-juku (糸沢宿) (

Minamiaizu is a town located in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 15,158 in 6,575 households, and a population density of 17 persons per km². The total area of the town was . Geography Minamiaizu is located in the ...

) :10. Kawashima-juku (川島宿) (Minamiaizu) :11. Tajima-juku (田島宿) (Minamiaizu) :12. Narahara-juku (楢原宿) ( Shimogō) :13. Kuratani-juku (倉谷宿) (Shimogō) :14.

Ōuchi-juku was a small post station in Japan's Edo period and part of the Aizu Nishi Kaidō.Visit Mi ...

(大内宿) (Shimogō) :15. Sekiyama-juku (関山宿) (

) :16. Fukunaga-juku (福永宿) (Aizumisato) :Ending Location:

(若松城) (

Aizuwakamatsu is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 118,159 in 50,365 households, and a population density of 310 persons per km2. The total area of the city was . Geography Aizuwakamatsu is located in the west ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aizu Nishi Kaido Road transport in Japan 17th-century establishments in Japan History of Fukushima Prefecture Mutsu Province Shimogō, Fukushima Historic Sites of Japan