was the sixth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is located in the present-day city of Fujisawa,

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

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

Fujisawa-shuku was established as a post station on the Tōkaidō in 1601, but did not become the sixth post station until Totsuka-juku was later established. Before the establishment of the Tōkaidō, Fujisawa flourished as a for

Shōjōkō-ji is a Buddhist temple located in the city of Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. It is the headquarters of the Ji-shu branch of Pure Land Buddhism, founded in the Kamakura period by Ippen. The formal name of the temple is Tōtaku-san Muryōkō ...

, also known as " Yugyō-ji" (), the head temple of the Ji-sect of

Japanese Buddhism Buddhism was first established in Japan in the 6th century CE. Most of the Japanese Buddhists belong to new schools of Buddhism which were established in the Kamakura period (1185－1333). During the Edo period (1603–1868), Buddhism was cont ...

. It was also located on a fork along the Odawara Kaidō, which connected

Odawara Castle is a reconstructed Japanese castle in the city of Odawara in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The current donjon (keep) was constructed out of reinforced concrete in 1960 on a stone foundation of the former donjon, torn down from 1870–1872 ...

and its two supporting castles,

Edo Castle is a flatland castle that was built in 1457 by Ōta Dōkan in Edo, Toshima District, Musashi Province. In modern times it is part of the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is therefore also known as . Tokugawa Ieyasu established th ...

and

Hachiōji Castle was a Sengoku period Japanese castle, located in what is now the city of Hachiōji, Tokyo, in the Kantō region of Japan. Its ruins have been protected as a National Historic Site since 1951, with the area under protection extended in 2005 ...

during the period of the

Late Hōjō clan Late or LATE may refer to: Everyday usage * Tardy, or late, not being on time * Late (or the late) may refer to a person who is dead Music * ''Late'' (The 77s album), 2000 * Late (Alvin Batiste album), 1993 * Late!, a pseudonym used by Dave Groh ...

. The toward

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 ...

was to the east of Yugyō-ji, and the gate towards

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 ...

was on the western side of the modern

Odakyū Enoshima Line The is a branch line operated by the Japanese private railway operator Odakyū Electric Railway in eastern Kanagawa Prefecture. The Enoshima Line branches from the Odakyū Odawara Line, Odawara Line at Sagami-Ōno Station, Sagami-Ōno, extendi ...

; these boundaries mark the general limits of Fujisawa-juku. It was said that there were over 1,000 buildings in the post town, including ''

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 ...

'', ''

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. ...

'', etc.Fujisawa-shuku Bangumi Shōkai
. Fujisawa City Hall. Accessed December 10, 2007. Up until 1745, the ''honjin'' for Fujisawa-shuku was the Horiuchi Honjin, but after that, the Maita Honjin was used. At the temple of , there are a number of graves of the ''

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 inns ...

'' who worked at the local ''

''. The was built at Fujisawa-shuku in the early days of the

Tokugawa Shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

. The first three Shōgun (

Tokugawa Ieyasu Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...

Tokugawa Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was born to Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Lady Saigō on May ...

and

Tokugawa Iemitsu was the third ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa dynasty. He was the eldest son of Tokugawa Hidetada with Oeyo, and the grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Lady Kasuga was his wet nurse, who acted as his political adviser and was at the ...

stayed at this palace on a total of some 30 occasions. Records indicate that it was a large structure, measuring 106 x 32 bays, and was surrounded by a wide moat. It was located next to the Fujisawa

daikansho A was the office of a ''daikan'' (magistrate) during the Edo period (18th & 19th century) of Japanese history. External links Edo period Legal history of Japan {{japan-gov-stub ...

, which is now between the present-day Fujisawa Municipal Hall and the Fujisawa Municipal Hospital. It was dismantled and moved to Edo after the

Great Fire of Meireki The , also known as the Great Furisode Fire, destroyed 60–70% of Edo (now Tokyo), then ''de facto'' capital city of Japan, on 2 March 1657, the third year of the Meireki Era. The fire lasted for three days and, in combination with a severe b ...

in 1657 and its materials were used to rebuild part of the Shōgunal palace at

. The classic

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 by

Andō 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 ...

(Hōeidō edition) from 1831–1834 depicts a village with a bridge. In the background is the temple of Yugyō-ji on a hill, and in the foreground is a ''

torii A is a traditional culture of Japan, Japanese gate most commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the mundane to the sacred, and a spot where kami are welcomed and thought to ...

'' with a path leading to

Enoshima is a small offshore island, about in circumference, at the mouth of the Katase River which flows into the Sagami Bay of Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Administratively, Enoshima is part of the mainland city of Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Fujisawa, and is ...

. The bridge is crowded with pilgrims, and four blind men, apparently on their way to the Enoshima Benten Shrine are following each other alongside a stream.

Neighboring post towns

;Tōkaidō : Totsuka-juku - Fujisawa-shuku -

Hiratsuka-juku was the seventh of the fifty-three stations (''shukuba'') of the Tōkaidō. It is located in the present-day city of Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. History Hiratsuka-juku was first established in 1601, at the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu. ...

History

Neighboring post towns

References

Further reading