Mt. Fuji towers over the Tokaido Road, near Edo.

There were five major highways in Japan during the Tokugawa Era, and the Tokaido (Eastern Sea Road) was the busiest and most important. Partly due to Sankin Kotai, which forced the country's daimyo lords to journey to Edo every other year, the roads bustled with elaborate daimyo processions, samurai warriors, masterless samurai (ronin), monks and various other travelers. Along the roadside, merchants and tradesmen set up shops and inns to cater to their needs.

On the Tokaido Road >>

IMAGE CREDITS
Top and left: Scenes from the Tokaido Road/Bato-Machi Hiroshige Museum
Right: Samurai women/Takashi Collection, Keio University

Ando Hiroshige, a famous landscape artist, sketched the "Fifty-Three Stages on the Tokaido," which captures the route's 53 government posts.