was an old ''

kaidō were roads in Japan dating from the Edo period. They played important roles in transportation like the Appian Way of ancient Roman roads. Major examples include the Edo Five Routes, all of which started at Edo (modern-day Tokyo). Minor exam ...

'', or road, in

ancient Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new invent ...

and was used to transport salt from the ocean to the inland central

Honshū , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separa ...

. In the Middle Ages, salt was brought both from the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

and the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

Shinano Province or is an old province of Japan that is now Nagano Prefecture. Shinano bordered on Echigo, Etchū, Hida, Kai, Kōzuke, Mikawa, Mino, Musashi, Suruga, and Tōtōmi Provinces. The ancient capital was located near modern-day Matsumoto, whi ...

for processing. The road leading from the Sea of Japan to Shinano Province was called the ''Chikuni Kaidō'' (千国街道), whereas the road leading from the Pacific Ocean was called the ''Sanshū Kaidō'' (三州街道).Shio no Michi wo Tabi Suru
. Salt Road Museum. Accessed December 20, 2007.

Stations of the Chikuni Kaidō

On the

Echigo Province was an old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen, Iwashiro, Kōzuke, Shinano, and Etchū Provinces. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Echigo''" in . It corresponds today to Niigata ...

side of the route, it was called the ''Itoigawa Kaidō'', but on the Shinano Province side, it was called ''Chikuni Kaidō''. The Sawado-juku and Sano-juku pair and the Ida-juku and Imori-juku pair each essentially functioned as one post station.

Niigata Prefecture

:1. Itoigawa-juku (糸魚川宿) (

Itoigawa is a city located in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 41,333, and a population density of 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Itoigawa is located in the far southwestern corner of ...

) :2. Yamaguchi-juku (山口宿) (Itoigawa)

Nagano Prefecture

:3. Ōami-juku (大網宿) ( Otari) :4. Kuruma-juku (来馬宿) (Otari) :5. Chikuni-juku (千国宿) (Otari) :6. Shiojima Shinden-juku (塩島新田宿) (

Hakuba is a village located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the village had an estimated population of 9,007 in 4267 households, and a population density of 48 persons per km2. The total area of the village is . Hakuba is an internationally renowned ...

) :7. Iida-juku (飯田宿) and Iimori-juku (飯森宿) (Hakuba) :8. Sawado-juku (沢度宿) and Sano-juku (佐野宿) (Hakuba) :9. Uminokuchi-juku (海ノ口宿) ( Ōmachi) :10. Ōmachi-juku (大町宿) (Ōmachi) :11. Ikeda-juku (池田宿) (

Ikeda Ikeda may refer to: * Ikeda (surname), a Japanese surname * Ikeda (comics), a character in ''Usagi Yojimbo'' * Ikeda clan, a Japanese clan * Ikeda map, chaotic attractor * Ikeda (annelid), ''Ikeda'' (annelid) a genus of the family Ikedidae Places< ...

) :12. Hotaka-juku (保高宿) (

Azumino is a city located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 97,761 in 39744 households. and a population density of 290 persons per km2. Its total area is . Etymology of Azumino Azumino is a combination of two wo ...

) :13. Nariai Shinden-juku (成相新田宿) (Azumino) :14. Matsumoto-juku (松本宿) (

Matsumoto Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the c ...

)

Stations of the Sanshū Kaidō

The salt was initially carried from

Mikawa Bay Mikawa Bay (Landsat photo) Mikawa Bay (三河湾 ''Mikawa-wan'') is a bay to the south of Aichi Prefecture, Japan, surrounded by Chita Peninsula to the west and Atsumi Peninsula to the east and south. Its area is approximately 604 km2. Pollu ...

by boats traveling up the

Yahagi River , a historical Japanese occupation equivalent to "fletcher", may refer to: * Yahagi, a former village now part of Rikuzentakata, Iwate, Japan * Yahagi Domain, Shimōsa Province, now in Chiba Prefecture, Japan * , several ships * Rikuzen-Yahagi S ...

and its tributary, the Tomoe River. From

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

, it was carried by horse, marking the start of the Sanshū Kaidō.

Aichi Prefecture

:1.

Okazaki-shuku was the thirty-eighth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is located in the present-day city of Okazaki, in Aichi Prefecture, Japan. History Okazaki-shuku was a part of the flourishing castle town surrounding Okazaki Castle, t ...

(岡崎宿) ( Okazaki) (also part of the Tōkaidō) :2. Kugyūdaira-juku (九久平宿) (

) :3. Asuke-juku (足助宿) (Toyota) :4. Busetsu-juku (武節宿) (Toyota)

Nagano Prefecture

:5. Neba-juku (根羽宿) ( Neba) :6. Hiraya-juku (平谷宿) ( Hiraya) :7. Namiai-juku (浪合宿) ( Namiai) :8. Komaba-juku (駒場宿) ( Achi) :9. Iida-juku (飯田宿) ( Iida) :10. Ichida-juku (市田宿) ( Takamori) :11. Ōjima-juku (大島宿) ( Matsukawa) :12. Katabora-juku (片桐宿) (Matsukawa) :13. Iijima-juku (飯島宿) ( Iijima) :14. Akazu Uwabu-juku (赤須上穂宿) ( Komagane) :15. Miyada-juku (宮田宿) ( Miyada) :16. Inabe-juku (伊那部宿) ( Ina) :17. Matsujima-juku (松島宿) ( Minowa) :18. Miyagi-juku (宮木宿) ( Tatsuno) :19. Ono-juku (小野宿) ( Shiojiri) :20.

Shiojiri-shuku was the thirtieth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the central part of the present-day city of Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. History This area was originally built by Ōkubo Nagayasu in the Keichō era of the ...

(塩尻宿) (Shiojiri) (also part 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 ...

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shio No Michi Road transport in Japan Edo period

Stations of the Chikuni Kaidō

Niigata Prefecture

Nagano Prefecture

Stations of the Sanshū Kaidō

Aichi Prefecture

Nagano Prefecture

See also

References