was an ancient highway in

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 ...

that stretched from Takasaki-juku (present day

Gunma Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, 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 . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...

) on 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'' ...

to Teradomari-juku (present day

Niigata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,131,009 (1 July 2023) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...

) 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 separated the

Kantō region The is a geography, geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures of Japan, prefectures: Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefe ...

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 , 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 ...

, 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 era, Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and no ...

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

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 ...

. In 1902, the

Shin'etsu Main Line The 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 . Since the opening and later extension of ...

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 expressways of Japan, 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 consist ...

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 Jōetsu or the ...

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 was the thirteenth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the present-day city of Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. History Takasaki-shuku was located at the intersection of the Nakasendō and the Mikuni Kaidō. Many bu ...

(高崎宿) (

Takasaki is a Cities of Japan, 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 th ...

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

References