was the eighth 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 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 ...

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 ...

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 characteriz ...

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

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefecture ...

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

Kumagai-shuku began as a temple-town outside the Buddhist temple of , which dated from the

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kanmu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means "peace" in Japanese. ...

. The

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

which make up the temple name can also be read as ''Kumagaya'' or ''Kumagai''. Kumagaya Naozane was a noted

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 ...

samurai who served under

Minamoto no Yoritomo was the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, ruling from 1192 until 1199.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Minamoto no Yoriie" in . He was the husband of Hōjō Masako who acted as regent (''shikken'') after his ...

. Kumagai-shuku became formalized as a post station on the Nakasendō under 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 1603. Per an 1843 guidebook issued by the , the town has 1715 buildings, with a population of 3263, and boasted two ''

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 42 ''

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 ...

''Kumaga-shuku
. National Nakasendō Association. Accessed August 15, 2007. 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 ...

, the area around Kumagai-shuku flourished as a producer of

barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...

and

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...

."Living in This Town: Story of Kumagai-shuku"
''The Yomiuri Shinbun''. Accessed August 15, 2007. Kumagai was 16.4 kilometers from

Kōnosu-shuku was the seventh of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto during the Edo period. It was located in the present-day city of Kōnosu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. History The original Kōnosu-shuku was located ...

and due to the distance an ''

ai no shuku {{nihongo, Ai no Shuku, 間の宿, mid-station were unofficial post stations along historical routes in Japan. These post stations formed organically along routes (such as the Tōkaidō and the Nakasendō) when the distance between two places w ...

'',

Fukiage-shuku was a mid-station along the Nakasendō in Edo period Japan. It was in between the post stations of Kōnosu-juku and Kumagai-juku. It is located in the present-day town of Kōnosu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. In addition to being a rest stop alon ...

was located in-between the two stations. However, many travelers preferred to travel on to

Fukaya-shuku was the ninth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto during the Edo periodMeshimori onna or , literally "meal-serving woman," is the Japanese term for the women who were hired by ''hatago'' inns at the '' shukuba'' (post stations) along ''kaidō'' routes in Japan during the Edo era. They were originally maidservants hired by the inn ...

'' and numerous '' chaya'', whereas the previous station, Kumagai-shuku had neither. Most of what remained of Kumagai-shuku was destroyed by in the

Bombing of Kumagaya in World War II The on 14 August 1945, was part of the strategic bombing campaign waged by the United States of America against military and civilian targets and population centers during the Japan home islands campaign in the closing stages of World War II. B ...

. The site of one of the ''honjin'' is commemorated by a stone monument.

Kumagai-shuku in ''The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō''

Keisai Eisen Keisai Eisen (渓斎英泉, 1790–1848) was a Japanese ''ukiyo-e'' artist who specialised in ''bijin-ga'' (pictures of beautiful women). His best works, including his ''ōkubi-e'' ("large head pictures"), are considered to be masterpieces of th ...

'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 Kumagai-shuku dates from . This complicated composition is set at a fork in the highway, with a sign pointing in the direction of

Oshi Castle file:Oshi Castle 20100723-02.jpg, 270px, Surviving gate of Oshi Castle is a Japanese castle located in Gyōda, Saitama, Gyōda, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. During the Edo period, Oshi Castle was the center of the 100,000 ''koku'' Oshi Domain, but t ...

in one direction and Fukaya-shuku in the other. A way-side tea-house is located in the fork of the road, advertising ''

udon Udon ( or ) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. It is a comfort food for many Japanese people. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a hot soup as with a mild broth called ...

'' noodles and ''

ankoro Ankoro is a town in Tanganyika province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It lies on the west bank of the Lualaba River opposite the point where it is joined by the Luvua River. Civil war Towards the end of the Second Congo War (1998-2003) the co ...

'' (a sweet bean paste). A wealthy travelers in a

palanquin The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of people. Smaller litters may take the form of open chairs or beds carried by two or more carriers, some being enclosed for protection from the el ...

is arriving together with his servant, and a guest at the tea house is being serviced by a waitress. A pack-horse man, naked to the waist, is waiting with his horse. The horse has a blanket with the word ''Take'', advertising "Takenouchi" the owner of "Hoeidoh", the publishers of the series of prints. In the far right is a stone statue of Jizō Bosatsu, protector of travelers.

Neighboring post towns

;Nakasendō :

- (

) - Kumagai-shuku -

Fukaya-shuku was the ninth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto during the Edo periodHiroshige Kiso-Kaido serieson Kiso Kaido Road

Notes

{{coord, 36, 08, 40, N, 139, 23, 04, E, display=title, type:landmark_region:JP Stations of the Nakasendō Stations of the Nakasendō in Saitama Prefecture Musashi Province