Hiroshige's_print_of_Wada-shuku,_part_of_the_series_''The_Sixty-nine_Stations_of_the_Kiso_Kaidō''.html" ;"title="The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō">Hiroshige's print of Wada-shuku, part of the series '' The_Sixty-nine_Stations_of_the_Kiso_Kaidō">Hiroshige's_print_of_Wada-shuku,_part_of_the_series_''The_Sixty-nine_Stations_of_the_Kiso_Kaidō'' _was_the_twenty-eighth_of_the_69_Stations_of_the_Nakasendō.html" ;"title="The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō''">The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō">Hiroshige's print of Wada-shuku, part of the series '' sixty-nine_stations_of_the_Nakasendō.html" ;"title="The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō'' was the twenty-eighth of the 69 Stations of the Nakasendō">sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō">The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō'' was the twenty-eighth of the 69 Stations of the Nakasendō">sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto during the Edo period. It was located in the present-day town of Nagawa, Nagano, Nagawa, in the Chiisagata District, Nagano, Chiisagata District of Nagano Prefecture, [

apan Apan is a city and one of the 84 municipalities of Hidalgo, in central-eastern Mexico. The municipality covers an area of 346.9 km². Overview As of 2005, the municipality had a total population of 39,247. It was an important site in the Wa ...

History

Located at an elevation of , at the entrance to the Wada Pass, which was considered one of the most difficult portions of the highway because of its steepness. Because Shimosuwa-juku, the next post station, was over away, Wada-shuku flourished with over 150 buildings to accommodate all of the travelers and their pack animals. Wada-shuku was approximately 49 ''ri'', 24

chō is a Japanese actor and narrator from Kōnosu, Saitama. His former stage name was . He is a graduate of the Nishogakusha University Department of Literature and received training at Bungakuza's research establishment and the Seinenza Theater ...

from the starting point 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 ...

at Nihonbashi, or about 195 kilometers. Per an 1843 guidebook issued by the , the town had 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 28 ''

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 ...

'', with a total resident population of 522 people. Most of the town was destroyed by a fire in 1861 and rebuilt. Presently, there are remains of both the ''

'' and original houses, which are being restored and preserved. The area is a tourist attraction for Nagawa town. The area has also long been known for its vast resources of

obsidian Obsidian () is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements s ...

, which have been exploited since the

Jōmon period The is the time in Japanese history, traditionally dated between 6,000–300 BCE, during which Japan was inhabited by a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united through a common Jōmon culture, which reached a c ...

.Nakasendō Wada-shuku Yorozuya
Yorozuya. Accessed July 31, 2007.

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

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 ...

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 Wada-shuku dates from 1835–1838. The print depicts an exaggerated view of Wada Pass in wintertime, with

Mount Ontake , also referred to as , is the 14th highest mountain and second highest volcano in Japan (after Mount Fuji) at . It is included in ''100 Famous Japanese Mountains''. Description Mt. Ontake is located around northeast of Nagoya, and around 200& ...

appearing in the upper right corner.

References

External links

Hiroshige Kiso-Kaido serieson Kiso Kaido Road

Neighboring Post Towns

;Nakasendō :

Nagakubo-shuku was the twenty-seventh of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto during the Edo period. It is located in the present-day town of Nagawa, in the Chiisagata District of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. History Loca ...

- Wada-shuku -

Shimosuwa-shuku was the twenty-ninth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō, as well as being the ending location of the Kōshū Kaidō. It is located in the present-day town of Shimosuwa, Suwa District, Nagano Prefecture, Japan. History First built arou ...

References

{{coord, 36, 12, 18, N, 138, 12, 38, E, type:landmark_scale:2500, display=title Stations of the Nakasendō Stations of the Nakasendo in Nagano Prefecture Shinano Province