The , sometimes translated as "Five Highways", were the five centrally administered routes, or ''

kaidō were roads in Japan dating from the Edo period. They played important roles in transportation like the Appian Way of ancient Roman roads. Major examples include the Edo Five Routes, all of which started at Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Minor exa ...

'', that connected the ''de facto'' capital of

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

(now Tokyo) with the outer provinces during the

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 characterize ...

(1603–1868). The most important of the routes was the Tōkaidō, which linked Edo and

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the cit ...

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan, which ruled Japan from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was one of the three "Great Unifiers" of Japan, along with his former lord Oda Nobunaga and fellow ...

started the construction of these five routes to increase his control over the country in 1601, but it was

Tokugawa Ietsuna was the fourth ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan who was in office from 1651 to 1680. He is considered the eldest son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, which makes him the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. ...

, the 4th ''

shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...

'' of 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' ...

and Ieyasu's great-grandson, who declared them as major routes. Post stations were set up along the route for travelers to rest and buy supplies. The routes thrived due to the policy of ''

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 ...

'', that required 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 nominally to ...

'' (regional rulers) to travel in alternate years along the routes to

History

The various roads that make up the Five Routes existed in some form before becoming an official set of routes.

began work on the routes shortly after becoming ''

'' in 1600. The official creation of the Five Routes began with the

shogunate , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

taking government control of the post stations along the existing routes. Before this intervention, the post stations provided places for travelers to rest and ran a courier system. After the official takeover, the Shogunate required that these stations give preferential treatment to those on official business or be forced to cease activity. In the 1640s, ''shōgun''

Tokugawa Iemitsu Tokugawa Iemitsu (徳川家光, August 12, 1604 – June 8, 1651) was the third ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada with Oeyo, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lady Kasuga was his wet nurse, who ...

closed down all but the necessary stations, which would be the last major change during the

. Along with the Post Stations, the government created a system of Check Stations along the Five Routes. Unlike the Post Stations, which provided for travelers, the Check Stations served a regulatory purpose, controlling the movement of people and goods. Some of the uses of these stations were preventing the trafficking of

firearms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...

, ensuring that the various rules and policies surrounding the ''

'' were followed, and checking the passports of travelling commoners. Fifty-three Check Stations were created in the 17th century. (This is not to be confused with the

53 Stations of the Tōkaidō The are the rest areas along the Tōkaidō, which was a coastal route that ran from Nihonbashi in Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Sanjō Ōhashi in Kyoto.. There were originally 53 government post stations along the Tōkaidō, where travele ...

, which refers to the Post Stations on the Tōkaidō.) The shogunate also coordinated general improvements to the roads of the Five Routes. The roads were flattened and widened, with steeper sections paved with rough stone. Trees were planted alongside the road, and drainage ditches were dug in many places. Markers were put up to indicate distance at each ri, which was defined at the time as 3.93 km (2.44 mi) from the starting point at

Nihonbashi is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan which grew up around the bridge of the same name which has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The current ...

. While the Five Routes crossed many waterways, few bridges were built. Instead,

ferry boat A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

s were instituted.

Five Routes

All five routes started at

in Edo. From that point, each road linked the capital with other parts of the country. ; Tōkaidō :The Tōkaidō had 53 stations, connecting with

.Forbes, Andrew; Henley, David (2014). ''Utagawa Hiroshige's 53 Stations of the Tokaido''. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. B00LM4APAI Once it reached

Kusatsu-juku 260px, Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō'' series">The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō">Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō'' series was the fifty-second of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō as well as the sixty-eight ...

, it shared its route with the Nakasendō. ;

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto in Japan. There were ...

:The Nakasendō (also often called the Kisokaidō) had 69 stations and ran through the center of

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separat ...

, connecting with

. The Nakasendō's

Shimosuwa-shuku was the twenty-ninth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō, as well as being the ending location of the Kōshū Kaidō. It is located in the present-day town of Shimosuwa, Suwa District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. History First built aroun ...

served as the end point for the Kōshū Kaidō. Also, the Nakasendō merged with the Tōkaidō at Kusatsu-juku.WebJapan Atlas: Nakasendo
Accessed 2 August 2007. ;

Kōshū Kaidō The was one of the five routes of the Edo period. It was built to connect Edo (modern-day Tokyo) with Kai Province in modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. The route continues from there to connect with the Nakasendō's Shimosuwa-shuku in Na ...

:The Kōshū Kaidō had 44 stations, connecting with Kai Province (

Yamanashi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Yamanashi Prefecture has a population of 817,192 (1 January 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,465 km2 (1,724 sq mi). Yamanashi Prefecture borders Saitama Prefecture to the ...

), before ending at the Nakasendō's

.. Accessed 4 September 2007. ;

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 off ...

:The Ōshū Kaidō had 27 stations, connecting with

Mutsu Province was an old provinces of Japan, old province of Japan in the area of Fukushima Prefecture, Fukushima, Miyagi Prefecture, Miyagi, Iwate Prefecture, Iwate and Aomori Prefectures and the municipalities of Kazuno, Akita, Kazuno and Kosaka, Akita, Ko ...

(

Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima Prefecture (; ja, 福島県, Fukushima-ken, ) is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,810,286 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Pref ...

). There were subroutes that connected to other places of northern Japan, too.. Accessed 4 September 2007. ;

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 ...

:The Nikkō Kaidō had 21 stations, connecting with

Nikkō Tōshō-gū is a Tōshō-gū Shinto shrine located in Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. Together with Futarasan Shrine and Rinnō-ji, it forms the Shrines and Temples of Nikkō UNESCO World Heritage Site, with 42 structures of the shrine included in t ...

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 nort ...

. . Accessed 15 August 2007.

Other official routes

As part of the Five Routes network, eight minor routes were also created by the shogunate: * Aizu Nishi Kaidō * Honzaka Dōri * Mibudō *

Minoji The was a highway in Japan during the Edo period. It was a secondary route, ranked below the Edo Five Routes in importance, and connected Miya-juku on the Tōkaidō with Tarui-juku on the Nakasendō.

Mito Kaidō was an old road, ''kaidō,'' in Japan starting from the center of Edobashi (today’s Nihonbashi). It was built to connect Edo with Mito, Ibaraki, Mito in modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture. Travelers from Edo called it the Mito Kaidō, but travelers fr ...

Nikkō Onari Kaidō was established during the Edo period as a subroute to Nikkō Kaidō. It was built for the ''shōgun'' to use as he traveled to Nikkō Tōshō-gū. It is also referred to as the Nikkō Onarimichi and the Iwatsuki Kaidō. Stations of the Nikkō Ona ...

Nikkō Reiheishi Kaidō The was established during the Edo period as a subroute to Nikkō Kaidō. It connects the Nakasendō with the Nikkō Kaidō.Sayaji * Yamazaki Dōri

Unofficial routes

In addition to the five routes, there were minor routes that were unofficial branches of or alternates to the main routes, or infrequently used routes. Some of the routes were referred to as ''

hime kaidō was the name given to minor routes that created detours around the difficult crossings (or river crossings) of main routes during the Edo period in Japan. These routes could be found on many of the Edo Five Routes, as well as on other sub-routes ...

'', as they were alternate paths for main trade routes, but none were officially called that.

References

{{Reflist Road transport in Japan Edo period

History

Five Routes

Other official routes

Unofficial routes

See also

References