Kashiwabara-juku today was the sixtieth 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 6 ...

highway connecting Edo with

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 ci ...

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 characteriz ...

Japan. It was located in the present-day city of Maibara,

Shiga Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,412,916 (1 October 2015) and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to the nort ...

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 ...

History

Kashiwabara-juku was located on the ancient

Tōsandō is a Japanese geographical term. It means both an ancient division of the country and the main road running through it. It is part of the ''Gokishichidō'' system. It was situated along the central mountains of northern Honshu, specifically th ...

highway connecting the capital of

Heian-kyō Heian-kyō was one of several former names for the city now known as Kyoto. It was the official capital of Japan for over one thousand years, from 794 to 1868 with an interruption in 1180. Emperor Kanmu established it as the capital in 794, mov ...

with the provinces of eastern Japan, and near the border of

Ōmi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Shiga Prefecture. It was one of the provinces that made up the Tōsandō circuit. Its nickname is . Under the ''Engishiki'' classification system, Ōmi was ranked as one of the 13 "great countrie ...

with

Mino Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today southern Gifu Prefecture. Mino was bordered by Ōmi to the west, Echizen and Hida to the north, and Shinano to the east, and Ise, Mikawa, and Owari to the south. Its abbreviat ...

. A post station was first established in the Kashiwabara-juku area in 646.Kashiwabara-juku Rekishi
Maibara-shi Kashiwabara-juku Rekishikan. Accessed July 18, 2007. It is mentioned in then medieval chronicle ''

Taiheiki The (Chronicle of Great Peace) is a Japanese historical epic (see ''gunki monogatari'') written in the late 14th century and covers the period from 1319 to 1367. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Taiheiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', pp. 923� ...

'' In the early

, the system of post stations on the Nakasendō was formalized by 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 ...

in 1602, and it was a stopping place for traveling merchants () who originated from Ōmi Province. It was also on 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 ...

'' route used by various western ''

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

'' to-and-from the Shogun's court in Edo. The area was known for its production of

mugwort Mugwort is a common name for several species of aromatic flowering plants in the genus ''Artemisia.'' In Europe, mugwort most often refers to the species '' Artemisia vulgaris'', or common mugwort. In East Asia the species '' Artemisia argyi'' i ...

, which was used both as an ingredient in various dishes, but was also in great demand for medicinal purposes, particularly

moxibustion Moxibustion () is a traditional Chinese medicine therapy which consists of burning dried mugwort ('' wikt:moxa'') on particular points on the body. It plays an important role in the traditional medical systems of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, ...

. At one point, there were over ten shops that specialized in mugwort products, and this continues to be a local speciality into the modern period. Per the 1843 guidebook issued by the , the town had a population of 1468 people in 344 houses, including one ''

honjin The ''honjin'' at Inaba Kaidō's Ōhara-shuku.">Ōhara-shuku.html" ;"title="Inaba Kaidō's Ōhara-shuku">Inaba Kaidō's Ōhara-shuku. is the Japanese word for an inn for government officials, generally located in post stations (''shukuba'') dur ...

'', one ''waki-honjin,'' and 22 ''

hatago were Edo period lodgings for travelers at '' shukuba'' (post stations) along the national highways, including the Edo Five Routes The , sometimes translated as "Five Highways", were the five centrally administered routes, or ''kaidō'', that ...

''. It also extended for approximately along the highway, making it one of the larger post stations along the Nakasendō.Kashiwabara-juku: Shukueki Sansaku
. Ōmi Historical Promotion Society. Accessed November 13, 2007. Kashiwabara-juku is 450 kilometers from Edo.

Modern Kashiwabara-juku

In 1996, a study was conducted which showed that over one-fifth of the structures in the Kashiwabara-juku area were built in the either the Edo or Meiji periods. Some have been renovated, but many are in poor condition. The Kameya shop shown in the Hiroshige print still exists, but under the name of "Ibuki-do", which refers to the nearby

Mount Ibuki is a mountain, on the border of Maibara, Shiga Prefecture, and Ibigawa, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. It is one of the 100 Famous Japanese Mountains, and is also included on the lists of the 100 Kinki Mountains and the 50 Shiga Mountains. Mount ...

, a source of mugwort. A very short distance from Kashiwabara-juku is the temple of

Tokugen-in is a Buddhist temple in the Kiyotaki neighborhood of the city of Maibara, Shiga Prefecture Japan. It belongs to the Tendai school of Japanese Buddhism and its main image is a '' hibutsu'' statue of Sho-Kannon Bosatsu. The temple is noted a ...

, which is the ''

bodaiji A in Japanese Buddhism is a temple which, generation after generation, takes care of a family's dead, giving them burial and performing ceremonies in their soul's favor.Iwanami kojien The name is derived from the term , which originally meant jus ...

'' of the

Kyōgoku clan The were a Japanese ''daimyō'' clan which rose to prominence during the Sengoku period, Sengoku and Edo period, Edo periods. The clan descend from the Emperor Uda, Uda Minamoto clan, Genji through the Sasaki clan.Papinot, Jacques. (2003)''Nobi ...

who ruled much of Ōmi Province in the

Sengoku period The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615. The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...

. The clan's cemetery is a National Historic Site in 1936. The grave of late

Kamakura period The is a period of Japanese history that marks the governance by the Kamakura shogunate, officially established in 1192 in Kamakura by the first ''shōgun'' Minamoto no Yoritomo after the conclusion of the Genpei War, which saw the struggle bet ...

imperial loyalist Kitabatake Tomoyuki is likewise a National Historic Site and is on the mountain to the south of the temple. The Kashiwabara-juku History Museum is located in the middle of the post station and occupies the house of the Matsuura family, who made a fortune related to dyes.

Kashiwabara-juku in ''The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō''

Utagawa Hiroshige Utagawa Hiroshige (, also ; ja, 歌川広重 ), born Andō Tokutarō (; 1797 – 12 October 1858), was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist, considered the last great master of that tradition. Hiroshige is best known for his horizontal-format l ...

's ''

ukiyo-e Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surfac ...

'' print of Kashiwabara-juku dates from 1835 -1838. The print depicts the post station at dusk. Two

kago A is a type of litter used as a means of human transportation by the non-samurai class in feudal Japan and into the Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was ...

(palanquin) with their bearers are in front of an open-fronted shop called "Kameya", which was famous for its medicinal herbs and mugwort products, however, signs indicate that it also served

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

, rice cakes and other refreshments. A pair of travelers is depicted inside the shop itself, seated on the edge of the raised floor, while a shopkeeper introduces packets of herbal medicines. To the right, another traveler approaches the seated shop owner, who is seated next to a figure with an absurdly oversized head. This is a large paper-mâché statue of Fukusuke, a folk hero who brings good fortune to merchants. Similarly, on then left of the composition is a statue of

Kintarō is a folk hero from Japanese folklore. A child of superhuman strength, he was raised by a yama-uba ("mountain witch") on Mount Ashigara. He became friendly with the animals of the mountain, and later, after catching Shuten-dōji, the terror of ...

, another figure from

Japanese folklore Japanese folklore encompasses the informally learned folk traditions of Japan and the Japanese people as expressed in its oral traditions, customs, and material culture. In Japanese, the term is used to describe folklore. The academic study ...

, who is somewhat pugnaciously overlooking two seated travelers in front of a

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

Gallery

File:Kasiwabara zyuku honzin.JPG, Site of the Honjin File:Kasiwara zyuku matinami.jpg, Panorama of the town File:Kasiwabara zyuku matinami2.JPG, Panorama of the town File:柏原宿歴史館.jpg, Kashiwabara-juku History Museum

Neighboring Post Towns

;Nakasendō :

Imasu-juku 260px, site of Imasu-juku was the fifty-ninth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It is located in former Mino Province in what is now part of the town of Sekigahara, Fuwa District, Gi ...

- Kashiwabara-juku -

Samegai-juku Samegai-juku in Maibara from Ōmi-meisyo-zue (1814) was the sixty-first of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It was located in the present-day city of Maibara, Shiga Prefecture, Ja ...

References

* * * *

External links

Hiroshige Kiso-Kaido seriesTakamiya-juku on Kiso Kaido RoadShiga-Biwako Visitors GuideKashiwabara-juku History Museum

Notes

{{Nakasendō Stations of the Nakasendō Stations of the Nakasendō in Shiga Prefecture Ōmi Province Maibara, Shiga