Ageo-shuku

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Keisai Eisen's print of Ageo-shuku, part of the Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaido series Kisokaido05 Ageo.jpg
Keisai Eisen's print of Ageo-shuku, part of the Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō series

Ageo-shuku(上尾宿,Ageo-shuku) was the fifth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto during the Edo period. It was located in the present-day city of Ageo, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.

69 Stations of the Nakasendō

The 69 Stations of the Nakasendō are the rest areas along the Nakasendō, which ran from Nihonbashi in Edo to Sanjō Ōhashi in Kyoto. The route stretched approximately 534 km (332 mi) and was an alternate trade route to the Tōkaidō.

Nakasendō

The Nakasendō, also called the Kisokaidō (木曾街道), was one of the five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected Edo to Kyoto in Japan. There were 69 stations (staging-posts) between Edo and Kyoto, crossing through Musashi, Kōzuke, Shinano, Mino and Ōmi provinces. In addition to Tokyo and Kyoto, the Nakasendō runs through the modern-day prefectures of Saitama, Gunma, Nagano, Gifu and Shiga, with a total distance of about 534 km (332 mi).

Edo Former city in Musashi, Japan

Edo, also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. It was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868. During this period, it grew to become one of the largest cities in the world and home to an urban culture centered on the notion of a "floating world".

Contents

History

The name "Ageo" appears as the name of a locality in Musashi Province in late Sengoku period documents, as a rest area was built by the Later Hōjō clan when they came into control of the area. Ageo-shuku became formalized as a post station on the Nakasendō under the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603. [1] Per an 1843 guidebook issued by the Inspector of Highways(道中奉行,Dōchu-būgyō), the town stretched for about 1.1 kilometers along the highway, with a population of 793 (372 men, 421 women), and boasted one honjin , three waki-honjin, one tonya and 41 hatago .

Musashi Province province of Japan

Musashi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called Bushū (武州). The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama. Musashi bordered on Kai, Kōzuke, Sagami, Shimōsa, and Shimotsuke Provinces.

Sengoku period Period in Imperial Japan

The Sengoku period is a period in Japanese history marked by social upheaval, political intrigue and near-constant military conflict. Japanese historians named it after the otherwise unrelated Warring States period in China. It was initiated by the Ōnin War, which collapsed the Japanese feudal system under the Ashikaga shogunate, and came to an end when the system was re-established under the Tokugawa shogunate by Tokugawa Ieyasu.

Later Hōjō clan Japanese clan, one of the most powerful daimyo of the Sengoku period

The Later Hōjō clan was one of the most powerful warrior clans in Japan in the Sengoku period and held domains primarily in the Kantō region.

Ageo-shuku was approximately 10 ri from the starting point of the Nakasendō at Nihonbashi, which was the approximate distance the average traveler could walk in one day. Ageo-shuku was also famous for its large number of meshimori onna and numerous chaya .

The li, also known as the Chinese mile, is a traditional Chinese unit of distance. The li has varied considerably over time but was usually about a third as long as the English mile and now has a standardized length of a half-kilometer. This is then divided into 1,500 chi or "Chinese feet".

Meshimori onna

Meshimori onna (飯盛女) or meshiuri onna (飯売女), literally "meal-serving woman," is the Japanese term for the women who were hired by hatago inns at the shukuba along kaidō routes in Japan during the Edo era. They were originally maidservants hired by the inns, although as traffic along the kaidō grew and competition between the inns increased, they were often engaged in prostitution.

Ochaya

In Japan, an ochaya is an establishment where patrons are entertained by geisha. Ochaya are located in geisha districts, and are today most numerous in Kyoto, though they can be found in geisha districts in other cities, such as Tokyo.

Though it was comparatively small in terms of its size as a post town on the Nakasendō, Ageo-shuku had the largest honjin after Shiojiri-shuku. The honjin and waki-honjin were centered on Hikawakuwa Shrine, which still exists. The main honjin was located in front of the shrine, with one of the secondary ones on each side. The third secondary honjin was located just south of the shrine. A Maruhiro Department Store is now located on the former site of the honjin. [1] Most of Aheo-shuku was destroyed by a fire in 1861.

Shiojiri-shuku

Shiojiri-shuku was the thirtieth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the central part of the present-day city of Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.

Ageo-shuku in The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō

Keisai Eisen's ukiyo-e print of Ageo-shuku dates from 1835–1838. The inscription to the upper left corner mentions the Kamo Shrine, which was noted for its autumn festival. Votive banners for the shrine are depicted in the rear of the tea house, and are advertising "Takenouchi" and "Hoeidoh", the publishers of the series of prints. In front of the tea house are two men and two women in peasant's clothes, threshing grain. Two samurai travelers are on the road, and one merchant is heading in the opposite direction.

Keisai Eisen Japanese ukiyo-e woodblock print artist

Keisai Eisen was a Japanese ukiyo-e artist who specialised in bijin-ga. His best works, including his ōkubi-e, are considered to be masterpieces of the "decadent" Bunsei Era (1818–1830). He was also known as Ikeda Eisen, and wrote under the name of Ippitsuan.

Ukiyo-e A genre of Japanese art which flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries

Ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art which 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; travel scenes and landscapes; flora and fauna; and erotica.

Samurai military nobility of pre-industrial Japan

Samurai (侍) were the military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan.

Neighboring post towns

Nakasendō
Ōmiya-shuku - Ageo-shuku - Okegawa-shuku

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<i>Honjin</i>

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Nagakubo-shuku

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Kumagai-shuku

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Karuisawa-shuku

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Fukaya-shuku

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Kōnosu-shuku

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Kuragano-shuku

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Takasaki-shuku

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Sakamoto-shuku

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<i>Shukuba</i> post stations of Japan in the Edo period

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<i>The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō</i>

The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō or Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Road, is a series of ukiyo-e works created by Utagawa Hiroshige and Keisai Eisen. There are 71 total prints in the series. The common name for the Kiso Kaidō is "Nakasendō," so this series is sometimes referred to as the Sixty-nine Stations of the Nakasendō. It is a follow up to Hiroshige's The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō and he produced 47 of the prints, with Eisen being responsible for the rest.

References

Izzard, Sebastian (2008). The Sixty-Nine Stations of the Kisokaido. George Braziller. ISBN   0807615935.

International Standard Book Number Unique numeric book identifier

The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier which is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency.

Notes

  1. 1 2 Ageo-shuku Sanpo 1 Archived 2011-09-27 at the Wayback Machine .. Hassy-Report. Accessed July 15, 2007.

Coordinates: 35°58′23″N139°35′24″E / 35.972964°N 139.589944°E / 35.972964; 139.589944

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