The was a highway in

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 ...

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 a secondary route, ranked below the

Edo Five Routes The , sometimes translated as "Five Highways", were the five centrally administered routes, or ''kaidō'', that connected the ''de facto'' capital of Japan at Edo (now Tokyo) with the outer provinces during the Edo period (1603–1868). The mos ...

in importance, and connected

Miya-juku was the forty-first of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is located in former Owari Province in what is now part of the Atsuta-ku section of the city of Nagoya, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. It was six km from Narumi-juku, the ...

on the Tōkaidō with

Tarui-juku 260px, modern Tarui-juku was the fifty-seventh 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 Tarui, Fuwa District, Gifu Pref ...

on 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 ...

.Hiroshige - Kisokaido Road
. Hiroshige.org. Accessed December 8, 2007. The road received much use before and after the

Battle of Sekigahara The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was a decisive battle on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu prefecture, Japan, at the end of ...

in 1600.

Fukushima Masanori was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the late Sengoku period to early Edo period who served as lord of the Hiroshima Domain. A retainer of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he fought in the Battle of Shizugatake in 1583, and soon became known as one of Seven Spears ...

, the leader of the eastern armies, traveled the Minoji from Okoshi (modern-day

Ichinomiya is a Japanese historical term referring to the Shinto shrines with the highest rank in a province. Shrines of lower rank were designated , , , and so forth. ''Encyclopedia of Shinto'' ''Ichi no miya'' retrieved 2013-5-14. The term gave rise t ...

) to

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 ...

for the battle.

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 ...

, the victor of the battle, traveled the route afterwards to a hero's welcome. It was also referred to as the Kichirei Kaidō (吉例街道).

Major travelers

* Royal embassies to Tokugawa Japan from

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

traveled along the route ten times. Their general itinerary was they stayed the night in Ōgaki-juku, then rested at either Sunomata-juku or

Okoshi-juku was the sixth of nine shukuba, post stations along the Minoji. It is located in the present-day city of Ichinomiya, Aichi, Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Established on edge of the Kiso River, the post station was also on the border of Mino ...

, before spending the following night in

Nagoya-juku was the second of the nine post stations of the Minoji. It is located in the Naka-ku section of the city of Nagoya, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. History Nagoya-juku was established as a castle town for nearby Nagoya Castle by the Owari Domain in ...

. *Official travelers from the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

also traveled along the Minoji. Though initially just traveling along the Tōkaidō, they began traveling along the Mioji in 1714.

Stations of the Minoji

Including the starting and ending points, there were only nine post stations on the Minoji.Minoji: Kaidō
. Chubu Wide Area Tourism. Accessed December 8, 2007. The route was named after Mino Province, which makes up the southern portion of the modern-day

Gifu Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,991,390 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa Prefecture to the northwest, F ...

. As such, the route spans both

Aichi is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefectu ...

and Gifu prefectures. The stations are listed below, with their current municipality in parentheses.

Aichi Prefecture

:1.

(宮宿) ( Atsuta-ku,

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region, the fourth-most populous city and third most populous urban area in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020. Located on the Pacific coast in central Honshu, it is the capital and the most pop ...

) (also part of the Tōkaidō) :2.

(名古屋宿) ( Naka-ku, Nagoya) :3.

Kiyosu-juku was the third of nine post stations of the Minoji. It is located in the city of Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. History Kiyosu-juku was originally formed as a castle town for Kiyosu Castle; however, the original town was decimated when much of ...

(清須宿) (

Kiyosu is a city in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 69,687 in 29,477 households, and a population density of 4,017 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Kiyosu is located in far western Aichi P ...

) :4.

Inaba-juku was the fourth of the nine post stations of the Minoji. It is located in the city of Inazawa, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. History Originally, the post station was just a village named "Inaba" (稲葉村 ) but the neighboring village of Kozawa (� ...

(稲葉宿) (

Inazawa is a city located in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 135,580 in 54,999 households, and a population density of . The total area of the city was . Geography Inazawa is located in the flatlands of far western Aic ...

) :5. Hagiwara-juku (萩原宿) (

) :6.

(起宿) (Ichinomiya)

Gifu Prefecture

:7. Sunomata-juku (墨俣宿) (

Ōgaki Ōgaki Castle is a city located in Gifu, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 161,539, and a population density of 782 persons per km2 in 65,931 households. The total area of the city was . Ōgaki was the final destination for the h ...

) :8. Ōgaki-juku (大垣宿) (Ōgaki) :9.

(垂井宿) ( Tarui, Fuwa District) (also part of the Nakasendō)

Other uses

The

Tōkaidō Main Line The is a major Japanese railway line of the Japan Railways Group (JR Group) network, connecting and stations. It is long, not counting its many freight feeder lines around the major cities. The high-speed Tōkaidō Shinkansen largely parallel ...

, the

Tōkaidō Shinkansen The is a Japanese high-speed rail line that is part of the nationwide Shinkansen network. Along with the Sanyo Shinkansen, it forms a continuous high-speed railway through the Taiheiyō Belt, also known as the Tokaido corridor. Opened in 1964, ...

and the Tōmei and Meishin expressways all follow the historical Tōkaidō from

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

to Nagoya. From

Gifu is a city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. During the Sengoku ...

to Kusatsu, the routes all follow the historical Nakasendō. As such, the route between Nagoya and Gifu is also called "Minoji." Also, the modern Route 22 follows the path of the Minoji.

References