280px, Map showing the routes between Kuwana-juku and Miya-juku 280px, Shichiri no watashi torii was the forty-second of the fifty-three stations (''

shukuba were post stations during the Edo period in Japan, generally located on one of the Edo Five Routes or one of its sub-routes. They were also called ''shuku-eki'' (宿駅). These post stations (or "post towns") were places where travelers could r ...

'') of the Tōkaidō 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 former

Ise Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today includes most of modern Mie Prefecture. Ise bordered on Iga, Kii, Mino, Ōmi, Owari, Shima, and Yamato Provinces. Its abbreviated form name was . History The name of Ise appears ...

in what is now part of the city of

Kuwana is a city located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 141,045 in 60,301 households and a population density of 1000 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kuwana is located in northern Mie Pr ...

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

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

Kuwana-juku was located in the

castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, ...

Kuwana Domain 250px, Reconstructed portion of Kuwana Castle was a Japanese feudal domain under the Tokugawa shogunate of Edo period Japan, located in Ise Province. It was centered on Kuwana Castle in what is now the city of Kuwana, Mie Prefecture. It was con ...

, which was a major security barrier on the Tōkaidō for the Tokugawa shogunate. The post station was located on the western shores of the

Ibi River The is a tributary of the Kiso River located in Gifu and Mie Prefectures in Japan. Along with the Nagara and Kiso rivers, the Ibi is the third of the Kiso Three Rivers of the Nōbi Plain. It is one of Japan's first-class rivers. The former Tō ...

. Between Kuwana and the next station to the west, Miya-juku, were the

Kiso Three Rivers The refers to the three major rivers that make up the alluvial plain area of the Nōbi Plain of Japan. The three rivers are the Kiso River, the Ibi River and the Nagara River. Given their location, they are sometimes referred to as the Nōbi ...

, which included the

Nagara River The has its source in the city of Gujō, Gifu Prefecture, and its mouth in the city of Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, Japan. Along with the Kiso River and Ibi River, the Nagara River is one of the Kiso Three Rivers of the Nōbi Plain. Previously, ...

and the Kiso River in addition to the Ibi River. As all three rivers were near their outlets to

Ise Bay is a bay located at the mouth of the Kiso Three Rivers between Mie and Aichi Prefectures in Japan. Ise Bay has an average depth of and a maximum depth of . The mouth of the bay is and is connected to the smaller Mikawa Bay by two channels: th ...

, their channels were wide, and the shogunate forbid the construction of any bridges, as this would facilitate the crossing of any army from the west across the rivers towards Edo. This posed a problem however for travelers. The preferred connection for many travelers between Kuwana-juku and Miya-juku was by the , a roughly 28-kilometer boat ride across Ise Bay. A large

torii A is a traditional Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred. The presence of a ''torii'' at the entrance is usually the simplest ...

gate on the Kuwana side of the crossing indicated that this was also on the route for pilgrims to the

Ise Grand Shrine The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and . The Inner ...

. For those leery of travel on the ocean, the alternative was the , which consisted of a shorter riverboat ride, the which connected Kuwana-juku with , a post station in Owari Province, and thence overland via the Saya Kaidō highway to Miya-juku, with three intermediate post stations en route. This route was roughly eight kilometers longer than the direct sea route, and was much more expensive in terms of tolls, but was also much quicker. This route was constructed by Owari Domain for the visit of

Shogun , 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 ...

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 ...

, and was the route used two centuries later by

Emperor Meiji , also called or , was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. Reigning from 13 February 1867 to his death, he was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan and presided over the Meiji era. He was the figur ...

when he first travelled from Kyoto to Tokyo. Per the 1843 guidebook issued by the , the town had a population of 8849 in 2544 houses, including 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 ...

'', four ''wakihonjin'', and 120 ''

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 ...

'', making it one of the largest of the post stations on the highway. The popular local specialities of Kuwana-juku was grilled ''hamaguri'' clams,

whitebait Whitebait is a collective term for the immature fry of fish, typically between long. Such young fish often travel together in schools along coasts, and move into estuaries and sometimes up rivers where they can be easily caught using fine- ...

and

banko ware is a type of Japanese pottery (Stoneware) traditionally from Yokkaichi, Mie. It is therefore also known as Yokkaichi-Banko ware. It is believed to have originated in the 18th century. Most products are teacups, teapots, flower vases, and ''sak ...

pottery. Kuwana-juku was 376.9 kilometers from Edo. During the Edo period, Kuwana was directly on the shores of the river, but after the Kansai Railroad built

Kuwana Station is an interchange passenger railway station located in the city of Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, Japan. It is jointly operated by the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Tōkai), and they private railway operator Kintetsu Railway and its subsidiary Yō ...

, the city center was shifted further to the west.

Kuwana-juku in ''The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō''

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 ...

'' ''Hōeidō'' edition print of Kuwana-juku dates from 1833 -1834. The print depicts the two large ships of the ''Shichiri no watashi'' ferries preparing to depart with travelers from in front of Kuwana Castle, with other ships sailing away in the background.

Neighboring post towns

;Tōkaidō : Miya-juku - Kuwana-juku - Yokkaichi-juku ;Saya Kaidō :Saya-juku - Kuwana-juku ''(ending location)''

References

External links

THE WOODBLOCK PRINTS OF UTAGAWA HIROSHIGE The Great TōkaidōOfficial home page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuwana-Juku Stations of the Tōkaidō Stations of the Tōkaidō in Mie Prefecture Ise Province Kuwana, Mie

History

Kuwana-juku in ''The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō''

Neighboring post towns

References

Further reading

External links