was the sixth 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 ...

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 Okegawa,

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

The name "Okegawa" appears as the name of a locality in

Musashi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama. Musashi bordered on Kai, Kōzuke, Sagami, S ...

in late

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 ...

documents. The area was noted for

safflower Safflower (''Carthamus tinctorius'') is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual plant in the family Asteraceae. It is commercially cultivated for vegetable oil extracted from the seeds and was used by the early Spanish colonies along ...

products and textiles, as well as agricultural products. Okegawa-shuku was 10 ''ri'', 14 ''chō'' (approximately 40.8 kilometers) from the starting point of the

at Nihonbashi, and was at about the limit a traveler could walk in one day, so was a popular station for the first night out of Edo. Per an 1843 guidebook issued by the , the town stretched for about 1.0 kilometers along the highway, with a population of 1444 in 347 houses, and boasted 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 ...

'', two ''waki-honjin,'' and 36 ''

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 ...

''. Okegawa-shuku was also famous for its large number of ''

meshimori 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 had upwards of 20 brothels. The station was also famous for its Inari Shrine, and also hot springs which were claimed to be effective against a number of ailments. Some of the structures have survived to the present day.Okegawa: Nakasendō Okegawa-shuku no Rekishiato Sanpo
. Kanto Sanpo. Accessed August 24, 2007. Additionally, the Takemura

Ryokan A is a type of traditional Japanese inn that typically features ''tatami''-matted rooms, communal baths, and other public areas where visitors may wear yukata and talk with the owner. Ryokan have existed since the eighth century A.D. du ...

, which operated during the Edo period, is still open for business, keeping the same atmosphere as in its past. On November 13, 1861, Princess Kazunomiya stayed there on her way to Edo. The city of Okegawa now runs the Nakasendō Shukuba-kan, which provides information on the old post town, as well as walking maps.Okegawa-eki Shūhen Eria no Kankō Jōhō
Okegawa Tourist Association. Accessed November 13, 2007. Including in the walking courses are its ''honjin'' and one of its ''hatago''.

Okegawa-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 ...

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 Ogekawa-shuku dates from 1835–1838. Eisen chose to depict a rural scene in autumn, with a traveler approaching a house where a peasant woman is threshing grain, while her husband smokes his pipe in the house. Tobacco leaves are drying from the eaves. A man is seated sideways on a pack horse headed in the opposite direction.

Neighboring post towns

;Nakasendō :

Ageo-shuku was the fifth 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 Ageo, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. History The name "Ageo" appears as the name of a loca ...

- Okegawa-shuku -

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 ...

References

External links

Hiroshige Kiso-Kaido serieson Kiso Kaido Road

Notes

{{coord, 36, 00, 07, N, 139, 33, 52, E, display=title, type:landmark_region:JP Stations of the Nakasendō Stations of the Nakasendō in Saitama Prefecture Musashi Province