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, 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 centrally administered Edo Five Routes, five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected the ''de facto'' ...

highway connecting Edo with Kyoto during the Edo period. It was located in the present-day town of Nagawa, in the Chiisagata District of

Nagano Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Nagano Prefecture has a population of 2,007,682 () and has a geographic area of . Nagano Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

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. 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 Company before attachi ...

from the starting point of the

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

honjin image:Ohara-juku01s3200.jpg, The ''honjin'' at Inaba Kaidō's Ōhara-shuku. is the Japanese word for an inn for government officials, generally located in post stations (''shukuba'') during the later part of the Edo period. Evolution of ''Honjin ...

'', 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 and the subroutes. In addition to a place to rest, ''hatago'' also offered meals and other foods to the travelers. ...

'', 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. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...

, which have been exploited since the

Jōmon period In Japanese history, the is the time between , during which Japan was inhabited by the Jōmon people, a diverse hunter-gatherer and early agriculturalist population united by a common culture, which reached a considerable degree of sedentism an ...

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

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

Hiroshige or , 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 landscape series '' The Fifty-three Stations ...

ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock printing, woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga, paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes ...

print of Wada-shuku dates from 1835–1838. The print depicts an exaggerated view of Wada Pass in wintertime, with Mount Ontake appearing in the upper right corner.

Neighboring Post Towns

;Nakasendō : Nagakubo-shuku - Wada-shuku - Shimosuwa-shuku

References

External links

Hiroshige Kiso-Kaido serieson Kiso Kaido Road
: {{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