was the eighteenth of the sixty-nine stations of the

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 69 ...

. It is located in the northern portion of the present-day town of Karuizawa, in the

Kitasaku District is a district located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. As of December 1, 2005, the district has an estimated population of 40,041. The district has three towns * Karuizawa *Miyota * Tateshina District Timeline *On April 1, 2004, the village of ...

of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. Karuisawa-shuku is from the preceding post station,

Sakamoto-shuku was the seventeenth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the present-day city of Annaka, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. History Sakamoto-shuku is located at the eastern entrance to the Usui Pass. During the Edo period, ther ...

, and from the following one,

Kutsukake-shuku was the nineteenth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the present-day town of Karuizawa, in the Kitasaku District of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. History This post town's name, which roughly translates to "stuck shoes, ...

.Yama to Keikoku Publishing (2006). Nakasendō o Aruku (Revised ed.). Osaka: Yama to Keikoku Publishing. .

History

The place that was originally called Karuisawa is, in actuality, approximately two to three kilometers from the post town, which is located at the western entrance to the

Usui Pass The is a mountain pass that lies between Nagano and Gunma prefecture in Japan. It has served as one of the major transportation routes in central Japan since at least the eighth century. Road The pass on the ancient Tōsandō highway was d ...

. Karuisawa-shuku flourished more than any other post town along the Nakasendō, with five '' honjin'' and sub-''honjin'', in addition to over 100 other structures for travelers. 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 characte ...

, the post town also employed hundreds of '' meshimori onna'' (飯盛女), women who were employed by the

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 Kamak ...

to serve food to travelers. To the east of the post town, a bridge crossed over the Yakazaki River, where travelers reluctantly parted with the ''meshimori onna''. From the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

onwards, Karuisawa became a popular place with Western missionaries. It was at this point that the area's name changed from "Karuisawa" to the modern "Karuizawa," which is easier for foreigners to pronounce. Because there was a large number of foreigners in the area, many western-styled structures were also built up, which has resulted in few structures from the past remaining today.

Neighboring Post Towns

;Nakasendō :

- Karuisawa-shuku -

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karuisawa-Shuku Stations of the Nakasendō Stations of the Nakasendo in Nagano Prefecture