was the twenty-ninth 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'' ...

, as well as being the ending location of the

Kōshū Kaidō The was one of the five routes or major highways of the Edo period. It was built to connect Edo (modern-day Tokyo) with Kai Province in modern-day Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. The route continues from there to connect with the Nakasendō's Shi ...

. It is located in the present-day town of

Shimosuwa is a town located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 20,055 in 8864 households, and a population density of 300 persons per km2. The total area of the town is . Geography Shimosuwa is located in central Nagan ...

, Suwa District,

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

First built around 1601, Shimosawa-shuku flourished as a post town because it was located between two difficult mountain passes, Wada Pass and Shiojiri Pass. The town's

onsen In Japan, are hot springs and the bathing facilities and Ryokan (inn), traditional inns around them. There are approximately 25,000 hot spring sources throughout Japan, and approximately 3,000 ''onsen'' establishments use naturally hot water ...

s made it a heavily used rest area.Shimosuwa-shuku Aruki-net
. Shimosuwa Chamber of Commerce. Accessed July 16, 2007. It also served as the entrance to the

Suwa Taisha , historically also known as Suwa Shrine (諏訪神社 ''Suwa-jinja'') or , is a group of Shinto shrines in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. The shrine complex is the ''ichinomiya'' of former Shinano Province and is considered to be one of the oldest sh ...

. Records show that in 1843, Shimosuwa-juku had 1,345 residents and 315 buildings. Among the building, there was 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 sub-''honjin'', and 40 ''

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. ...

''.

Neighboring post towns

;Nakasendō :

Wada-shuku 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 highway connecting Edo with Kyoto during the Edo ...

- Shimosuwa-shuku - Shiojiri-shuku ;Kōshū Kaidō :Kamisuwa-shuku - Shimosuwa-shuku ''(ending location)''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimosuwa-Shuku Stations of the Nakasendō Stations of the Nakasendo in Nagano Prefecture