was the second 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 Warabi,

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

Warabi was originally built up as a

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, ...

during the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

for the Shibukawa clan. Under the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

of the

, Warabi-shuku became a

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...

on the Nakasendō from 1612. Per an 1843 guidebook issued by the , the town stretched for about 1.1 kilometers along the highway, with a population of 2223 (1138 men, 1085 women) in 430 houses, and boasted 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 ...

'', one ''waki-honjin,'' one '' tonya'' and 23 ''

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 ...

''.Nakasendō Warabi-shuku
Warabi Shiseki Tanbohkai. Accessed July 17, 2007. Until the late Edo period, Warabi-shuku was infamous for its aggressive ''

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 numerous '' chaya''. Warabi-shuku was approximately 4 ''ri'', 28- ''chō'' (18.8 kilometers) from the starting point of the

at Nihonbashi, which was the approximate distance the average traveler could walk in half a day. However, the station was separated from neighboring

Itabashi-shuku was the first of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō.Itabashi-shuku
. Rekishi no Ashiato. Accessed Jul ...

by the

Arakawa River or Ara River may refer to: * Arakawa River (Kanto) or Ara River may refer to: * Arakawa River (Kanto), which flows from Saitama Prefecture and through Tokyo to Tokyo Bay * Arakawa River (Uetsu), which flows from Yamagata Prefecture and throu ...

. The river formed an outer line of defense for Edo, and therefore the Tokugawa shogunate forbid the erection of any bridges as a defensive measure. The modern city of Warabi has preserved the gate and part of one of the ''honjin'' as a museum.

Warabi-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 Warabi-shuku dates from 1835–1838, and depicts the ferry crossing the Arakawa River at dusk. On the small boat are a pair of itinerant blind women musicians with ''

shamisen The , also known as the or (all meaning "three strings"), is a three-stringed traditional Japanese musical instrument derived from the Chinese instrument . It is played with a plectrum called a bachi. The Japanese pronunciation is usual ...

'', a man and his horse, and a porter sitting smoking in the bow. The boatman propels the boat with a rear oar, while on the far bank more travelled await the arrival of the ferry.

Neighboring post towns

;Nakasendō :

Itabashi-shuku was the first of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō.Itabashi-shuku
. Rekishi no Ashiato. Accessed Jul ...

- Warabi-shuku -

Urawa-shuku was the third of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in Urawa-ku in the present-day city of Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Its stone ruins can be found 300 meters from Tsuki Shrine (調神社 ''Tsuki Jinja'').

References

External links

Hiroshige Kiso-Kaido serieson Kiso Kaido Road

Notes

{{coord, 35, 49, 30.25, N, 139, 40, 45.17, E, display=title, type:landmark_region:JP Stations of the Nakasendō Stations of the Nakasendō in Saitama Prefecture Musashi Province