The is a historic Japanese distance marker akin to a

milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway, railway line, canal or border, boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks like Mileage sign, mileage signs; or they c ...

, comprising a pair of earthen mounds located in what is now

Itabashi, Tokyo is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. In English, it is called Itabashi City. Itabashi has sister-city relations with Burlington, Ontario, in Canada; Shijingshan District of Beijing in the People's ...

in 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 ...

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 ...

. It was designated a National Historic Site of Japan in 1922, with the designation expanded in 1935.

Overview

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 ...

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 ...

established ''ichirizuka'' on major roads, enabling calculation both of distance travelled and of the charge for transportation by ''

kago A is a type of litter used as a means of human transportation by the non-samurai class in feudal Japan and into the Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era ...

'' or

palanquin The litter is a class of wheelless vehicles, a type of human-powered transport, for the transport of people. Smaller litters may take the form of open chairs or beds carried by two or more carriers, some being enclosed for protection from the el ...

. These mounds, denoted the distance in '' ri'' () to

Nihonbashi is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan, which sprung up around the bridge of the same name that has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603. The curre ...

, the "Bridge of Japan", erected 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 1603. Since the

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

, most of the ''ichirizuka'' have disappeared, having been destroyed by then elements, modern highway construction and urban encroachment. In 1876, the "Ichirizuka Abolition" decree was issued by the

Meiji government The was the government that was formed by politicians of the Satsuma Domain and Chōshū Domain in the 1860s. The Meiji government was the early government of the Empire of Japan. Politicians of the Meiji government were known as the Meiji ...

and many were demolished at that time. Currently, 17 surviving ''ichirizuka'' are designated as national historic sites. The Shimura ''ishirizuka'' were the third 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'' ...

highway. They are located just outside of Itabashi-juku, the first post station on that route, and were constructed by order of

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 ...

in 1604. The mounds each occupy an area of three by three meters, with a height of one meter, and are planted with ''enoki'' trees. The mounds are located on what is now

Japan National Route 17 is a highway on the island of Honshu in Japan. It originates at Nihonbashi in Chūō, Tokyo, and terminates in the city of Niigata (the capital of Niigata Prefecture), where it meets National Routes 7, 8, 49, 113 and 116). National Ro ...

. and when the road was widened in 1933, the mounds were preserved by their location, which was slightly wider apart than was the norm. The site is a short walk from Shimura-sakaue Station on the

Toei Mita Line The is a rapid transit, subway line of the municipal Toei Subway network in Tokyo, Japan. The line runs between Nishi-Takashimadaira Station, Nishi-Takashimadaira in Itabashi, Tokyo, Itabashi and Meguro Station, Meguro in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Shi ...

References

External links

Itabashi Ward official site

{{in lang, ja Edo period Itabashi Historic Sites of Japan History of Tokyo Ichirizuka

Overview

See also

References

External links