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

connecting

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

with

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

Japan. It is located in former

Mino Province was a province of Japan in the area of Japan that is today southern Gifu Prefecture. Mino was bordered by Ōmi to the west, Echizen and Hida to the north, Shinano to the east, and Ise, Mikawa, and Owari to the south. Its abbreviated fo ...

in what is now part of the city of Ena,

Gifu Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Gifu Prefecture has a population of 1,910,511 () and has a geographic area of . Gifu Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture to the north; Ishikawa 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 ...

. From Ōi-juku to the next post town,

Ōkute-juku was the forty-seventh of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It is located in former Mino Province in what is now part of the city of Mizunami, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Alternative ''kanji'' ...

, there are 13 hills to pass over. Travellers using the Shitakaidō (下街道) often used Ōi-juku, too, as they travelled on to Makiganetsui (槙ヶ根追) afterwards.Nakasendo Ōi-juku
Ibisoku Co., Ltd. Accessed July 11, 2007.

History

Ōi-juku is located in the southern foothills of the

Japanese Alps The is a series of mountain ranges in Japan which bisect the main island of Honshu. The peaks that tower over central Honshu have long been the object of veneration and pilgrimage. These mountains had long been exploited by local people for raw m ...

, near the banks of the

Agi River The is a river in Japan which flows through Gifu Prefecture. It is part of the Kiso River system. Geography The river originates from Mount Yaki on the border of Nakatsugawa, Gifu, Nakatsugawa and Ena, Gifu, Ena and flows west. It flows through ...

.Nakasendō Ōi-juku
Central Japan Railroad Company. Accessed November 1, 2010. It consisted of five sections (named Yoko-chō, Hon-machi, Tate-machi, Chaya-chō and Hashiba) which were laid out at right angles, forming a pattern similar to that of five ''Masugata''-style gates typically found on

Japanese castle are fortresses constructed primarily of wood and stone. They evolved from the wooden stockades of earlier centuries and came into their best-known form in the 16th century. Castles in Japan were built to guard important or strategic sites, such a ...

s. While this gave it a very ordered appearance, travelers entering each section of town left that section by a road at a right angle to the entrance, making it very inconvenient and difficult to navigate in a hurry. This was done on purpose to slow down any attacker, as the post station was also 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, ...

for

Iwamura Castle 270px, Edo period layout was located in the southeastern area of Mino Province in Japan. Its ruins can be found in the modern-day municipal subdivision of Iwamura, in Ena, Gifu Prefecture. Along with Takatori Castle in Nara and Bitchu-Matsuyam ...

, which dominates a hill overlooking the town. Per the 1843 guidebook issued by the , the town had a population of 466 people in 110 houses, including 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 ...

'', one ''waki-honjin,'' and 41 ''

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. ...

''. Ōi-juku is 345.0 kilometers from Edo. Parts of Ōi-juku are relatively well-preserved, and several old buildings from the post station have survived to the present day, including one of the ''hatago'' and several ''

machiya are traditional wooden townhouses found throughout Japan and typified in the historical capital of Kyoto. ('townhouses') and ('farm dwellings') constitute the two categories of Japanese vernacular architecture known as ('folk dwellings'). ...

''. However, the ''honjin'' was destroyed in 1946 and only the gate and the outside walls now remain. The road itself has preserved its original width and the six ''Masugata'' bends are still discernible. The town also has an art museum, the with displays of ''

ukiyoe is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock prints and paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes from history and folk tales; tra ...

'' depicting the Nakasendō.

Ōi-juku in ''The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō''

Utagawa 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 ...

's ''

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 Ōi-juku dates from 1835 -1838. The print depicts a frigid winter scene, as the area was noted for its heavy snows. Two travelers on horseback and two on foot struggle through the snow, with pine trees on either side denoting the edges of the road. In front are the snow-covered

Kiso Mountains are a mountain range in Nagano Prefecture, Nagano and Gifu Prefecture, Gifu prefectures in Japan. They are also called the and they combine with the Hida Mountains ("Northern Alps") and the Akaishi Mountains ("Southern Alps") to form a group col ...

and the post station itself is not shown.

Neighboring post towns

;Nakasendō :

Nakatsugawa-juku was the forty-fifth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It is located in former Mino Province in what is now part of the city of Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture, Japan.Ōkute-juku was the forty-seventh of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō connecting Edo with Kyoto in Edo period Japan. It is located in former Mino Province in what is now part of the city of Mizunami, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. Alternative ''kanji'' ...

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

Hiroshige Kiso-Kaido seriesOi-juku on Kiso Kaido RoadGifu Nakasendo Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oi-Juku Stations of the Nakasendō Post stations in Gifu Prefecture Ena, Gifu Mino Province Designated historic sites of Gifu Prefecture