was an ancient highway in Japan that stretched from Takasaki-juku (present day

Gunma Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 6,362 km2 (2,456 sq mi). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushim ...

) 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 69 ...

to Teradomari-juku (present day

Niigata Prefecture is a prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,227,496 (1 July 2019) and is the fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area at . Niigata Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture and N ...

) on the

Hokurikudō is a Japanese geographical term. It means both an ancient division of the country and the main road running through the old Japanese geographical region.Nussbaum, "''Hokurikudō''" in Both were situated along the northwestern edge of Honshū. ...

History

The Mikuni Pass separated the Kantō region from

Echigo Province was an old provinces of Japan, old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan. It bordered on Uzen Province, Uzen, Iwashiro Province, Iwashiro, Kōzuke Province, Kōzuke, Shinano Province, Shinano, and Etchū Province, ...

in ancient Japan. As such, it has long been used as a major transportation hub for travelers going between those two areas. 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 character ...

, the Mikuni Kaidō was established with the purpose of helping

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

who were participating in '' sankin kōtai'', which required daimyō to spend a portion of their time in

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

. In 1902, the

Shin'etsu Main Line The Shinetsu Main Line ( ja, 信越本線, ) is a railway line, consisting of three geographically separated sections, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Japan. It was originally one continuous line connecting and via . ...

was built, the first train line through the area. As a result, the economies of many of the post towns began to falter. However, the area between Nagaoka and Yuzawa was able to continue to flourish because the flat land allowed them to pursue agriculture. The area across the Mikuni Pass, however, received very little traffic. In 1953, as cars became more common, so did long-distance transport, which led to a great rise in traffic in the area. However, for cars traveling between the Kantō and Echigo regions, it was very inconvenient to take the same detour as the train line, so the prefecture began major repair and construction work along the Mikuni Kaidō.

Modern Route

The Mikuni Kaidō's path can be followed today by a large portion of National Route 17, or by the portions of the

Kan-Etsu Expressway The is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and managed by East Nippon Expressway Company. Naming is the ''kanji'' acronym of and the old comprising modern-day Niigata Prefecture. Officially, the Kan-Etsu consists of two routes. Both ...

Gunma Prefecture HomePage
. Gunma Prefecture. Accessed August 31, 2007. or the

Jōetsu Shinkansen The is a high-speed shinkansen railway line connecting Tokyo and Niigata, Japan, via the Tōhoku Shinkansen, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Despite its name, the line does not pass through the city of Joetsu or the hist ...

that stretch from the Kantō region to Niigata.

Stations on the Mikuni Kaidō

There are 35 post stations along the Mikuni Kaidō.

Gunma Prefecture

:1. Takasaki-shuku (高崎宿) (

Takasaki is a city located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 372,369 in 167,345 households, and a population density of 810 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Takasaki is famous as the hometown of t ...

) (starting location) :2. Kaneko-shuku (金古宿) (Takasaki) :3. Shibukawa-shuku (渋川宿) ( Shibukawa) :4. Kanai-shuku (金井宿) (Shibukawa) :5. Kitamoku-shuku (北牧宿) (Shibukawa) :6. Yokobori-shuku (横堀宿) (Shibukawa) :7. Nakayama-shuku (中山宿) ( Takayama,

Agatsuma District is a rural district located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. As of January 2015, the district had an estimated population of 56,994 and an area of 1,278.55 km2, with a population density of 44.6 people per square kilometer. Towns and villages ...

) :8. Tsukahara-shuku (塚原宿) ( Minakami,

Tone District is a rural district located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. As of January 2015, the district had an estimated population of 34,946 and an area of 1,322.23 km2, with a population density of 26.4 people per square kilometer. Towns and villages * ...

) :9. Shimoshinda-shuku (下新田宿) (Minakami, Tone District) :10. Fuse-shuku (布施宿) (Minakami, Tone District) :11. Ima-shuku (今宿) (Minakami, Tone District) :12. Sukawa-shuku (須川宿) (Minakami, Tone District) :13. Aimata-shuku (相俣宿) (Minakami, Tone District) :14. Sarugakyō-shuku (猿ヶ京宿) (Minakami, Tone District) :15. Fukuro-shuku (吹路宿) (Minakami, Tone District) :16. Nagai-shuku (永井宿) (Minakami, Tone District)

Niigata Prefecture

:17. Asagai-shuku (浅貝宿) ( Yuzawa, Minamiuonuma District) :18. Futai-shuku (二居宿) (Yuzawa, Minamiuonuma District) :19. Mitsumata-shuku (三俣宿) (Yuzawa, Minamiuonuma District) :20. Yuzaka-shuku (湯沢宿) (Yuzawa, Minamiuonuma District) :21. Seki-shuku (関宿) ( Minamiuonuma) :22. Shiozawa-shuku (塩沢宿) (Minamiuonuma) :23. Muikamachi-shuku (六日町宿) (Minamiuonuma) :24. Itsukamachi-shuku (五日町宿) (Minamiuonuma) :25. Urasa-shuku (浦佐宿) (Minamiuonuma) :26. Horinouchi-shuku (堀之内宿) ( Uonuma) :27. Kawaguichi-shuku (川口宿) ( Nagaoka) :28. Myōken-shuku (妙見宿) (Nagaoka) :29. Muikaichi-shuku (六日市宿) (Nagaoka) :30. Nagaoka-shuku (長岡宿) (Nagaoka) :31. Yoita-shuku (与板宿) (Nagaoka) :32. Jizōdō-shuku (地蔵堂宿) ( Tsubame) :33. Sekinakashima-shuku (関中島宿) (Tsubame) :34. Watabe-shuku (渡部宿) (Tsubame) :35. Teradomari-shuku (寺泊宿) (Nagaoka) (ending location)

69 Stations of the Nakasendō The are the rest areas along the Nakasendō, which ran from Nihonbashi in Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Sanjō Ōhashi in Kyoto.Yama to Keikoku Publishing (2006). Nakasendō o Aruku (Revised ed.). Osaka: Yama to Keikoku Publishing. .Kōshū Kaidō The was one of the five routes of the Edo period. It was built to connect Edo (modern-day Tokyo) with Kai Province in modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. The route continues from there to connect with the Nakasendō's Shimosuwa-shuku in Na ...

Ōshū Kaidō The was one of the five routes of the Edo period. It was built to connect Edo (modern-day Tokyo) with Mutsu Province and the present-day city of Shirakawa, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. It was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu for government off ...

Nikkō Kaidō The was one of the five routes of the Edo period and it was built to connect Edo (modern-day Tokyo) with the temple-shrine complex of the Mangan-ji and Tōshōsha (now called the Rinnō-ji and Tōshōgū), which are located in the present-day ...

*Other Routes **

Hokkoku Kaidō The was a highway in Japan during the Edo period. It was a secondary route, ranked below the Edo Five Routes in importance. Because it was developed for travelers going to Zenkō-ji, it was also called ''Zenkō-ji Kaidō'' (善光寺街道). It s ...

Kisoji The was an old trade route in the Kiso Valley that stretched from Niekawa-juku in Nagano Prefecture to Magome-juku in Gifu Prefecture. There were eleven resting spots along the route, all of which became part of the Nakasendō when it was establi ...

References