History of my Tokaido Walk

Here is a summary of the Tokaido routes I have walked so far.
I am sorry I am a little behind on updating the BLOG, but I will catch up soon!

Please follow the links to see what I have seen during my walk.

"Tokaido 53 Tsugi" - The 53 Stations of Tokaido:
Beginning (04/25/2013)
# 0 Edo onwards (5/12/2013)
# 1 Shinagawa onwards (5/12/2013)
# 2 Kawasaki onwards (5/12/2013, 6/2/2013)
# 3 Kanagawa onwards (6/2/2013)
# 4 Hodogaya onwards (6/9/2013)
# 5 Totsuka onwards (4/28/2013, 6/9/2013))
# 6 Fujisawa onwards (4/28/2013)
# 7 Hiratsuka onwards (4/29/2013)
# 8 Oiso-shuku onwards (6/17/2013)
# 9 Odawara-shuku onwards (TBD)
#10 Hakone-shuku onwards (TBD)
#11 Mishima onwards (4/30/2013)
#12 Numazu onwards (4/30/2013)
#13 Hara onwards (5/1/2013)
#14 Yoshiwara onwards (5/1/2013)
       Yoshiwara onwards 2 (5/2/2013)
#15 Kambara onwards (5/2/2013)
#16 Yui onwards (5/3/2013)
#17 Okitsu-shuku onwards (5/3/2013, 5/4/2013)
#18 Ejiri-shuku onwards (5/4/2013)
#19 Fuchu-shuku onwards (5/4/2013, 5/18/2013)
#20 Mariko-shuku onwards (5/18/2013)
#21 Okabe-shuku onwards (5/18/2013, 5/19/2013)
#22 Fujieda-shuku onwards (
#23 Shimada-shuku onwards (6/29/2013)
#24 Kanaya-shuku onwards (6/29/2013, 6/30/2013)
#25 Nissaka-shuku onwards (6/30/2013)
#26 Kakegawa-shuku onwards (6/30/2013, 7/1/2013)
#27 Fukuroi-shuku onwards (7/1/2013)
#28 Mitsuke-shuku onwards (7/1/2013, 7/2/2013)
-- Summer pause.  Too hot to walk --
25 more stations to go.

Shimada: the 23rd Station of Tokaido

It is June 29, 2013 - 1st day of my summer vacation.

I had worked really hard at the end of the quarter, so I decided to reward myself with a little time off.

This time, my trip starts from Shimada, the place I left off when I walked the Tokaido during Goldenweek.

Shimada-shuku does not have very many signs, so I just found the Enterance to the west.  Today, this is where I leave the Shimada-shuku.

I walked down the Tokaido until is parted from the modern day main road - towards the left, heading for Ooikawagoe  site.

Ooi River is a very large and dangerous river, and long ago there were no bridges.  So people crossed the river either carried on the sholder or by the carriage carried by "Kawagoe Ninsoku."

The government at that time had created a government ruled system that allowed towns by the river to charge for the service to cross the river.

Here, they have preserved many houses where people who worked in the system lived and worked.

I am in modern age, so I used this.

Scary, isn't it?  It is a long long bridge that people usually cycle across.  

I have no choice but to walk, so I enjoyed the view crossing the river.

These are rapid waters - I can see why people needed to be skilled in order to walk across the river.

Then, I walked through a local village to get to the next station, Kanaya-shuku.

Memo: Hotels I Liked

I am pretty picky about hotels, and being picky does not go well when you are walking the rual areas of Japan.

Some things I am careful of when I stay at Western type Hotels:
1. Stay above a certain lower limit on room charge (without meals)
    - Urban Areas: 9,000 yen
    - Rural Cities: 7,000 yen
2. Try to stay in a newer hotel built in the 21st centry
    - old hotels have bad sewage systems
3. Try to stay in a room larger than 19m² when possible
    - air conditioning system isn't all that great in Japan

Here are hotels I liked.

Numazu
- Cocochee Hotel: English Home Page
    Room I chose: Relax Double (16m² room with Wide Bed of 140cm）

Hamamatsu Area
- Daiwa Roynet Hotel Hamamatsu: English Home Page (Group HP)
    Room I chose: Lady's Room (20m² room with Wide Bed of 140cm)

Yui: the 16th Station of Tokaido

I reached the entrance to Yui - the same zigzag road entrance - well preserved.

Yui also recreated the Honjin (lodging for high ranking people), and made it into a park.

In the park is the "Miyuki Tei" where the Emperor of the Meiji Era rested when he passed through this village.

Isn't the garden beautiful?  Japan has very distinct 4 seasons, so we have a custom to enjoy the seasons.  Japanese garden is created as a mineature of the nature that exists outside of the garden, so that you can enjoy the view without leaving the garden.  The view, the sound of birds, sound of water...you can enjoy the garden with all 5 senses if you sit quietly in the garden.


Now, I must show you what I had for dinner - the Sakura shrimp fry which you can get only twice a year:

The next day was my big day - to climb the mountainous path "Satta toge."  First, I gradually climbed the hill to the entrance of the Satta toge.  Before the mountainous path, there was an "aino-shuku" (interim resting town) where there were several beautiful old Japanese houses.  Here's one:

Then came the steep hill.  I had to take small steps to keep myself from falling down because the road was so steep.  Some people climbed the hill on their car - but I prefer the old fashioned way - the more difficult the path, more joy you will feel when you have finally climed the hill to the top!



Now, see this

This is THE scenery I wanted to see.  The mountain top you see above the clouds is Mt. Fuji.  The road you see below is the freeway.  The mix of old and new is what makes this scenery so beautiful.  I was very lucky that the clouds cleared up and I could see Mt. Fuji from here.

The road for the car ends here, so everyone who wishes to go down the other side of the hill must do this on foot.  In some places, the path looks a little wild - but that is part of the fun.  ADVENTURE...(by the way, I didn't really know what "adventure" meant until I wandered into real wilderness near Okabe later)

Then, I enter the farm land.  I lost my way, so I asked a farmer how I can get to the Kozu station.  He said "that way, or that way" and pointed in 2 opposite directions.  Oh well, I guess you don't really need precise direction around here.  All you need to know is to "go down the hill" and you will eventually hit the ocean.  Lessons learned.

As I enter Kozu, I am again hit by the heat of concrete.  We really need to do something with the roads.  They really heat up the air...

Kozu - the 17th Station of Tokaido

The first thing you see when you enter Kozu are a group of stone signs that tell you where the roads used to part, and also where the old lantern was.

All of them are really old, so even if you were able to read Japanese, you wouldn't be able to see what each symbol means.  But they were probably important signs long ago.

The town of Kozu has completely been modernized, so the only thing there to see are the sign that tell you where the honjin (lodging for high ranking people) were.  The next sign is the sign of Toiyaba (Horse stable), then the Honjin.  (2 Honjins and 2 Waki-honjin).

I

And it was HOT!  Hot from the heated roads.  No trees to shade you. 

 Being hungry and tired, I was looking for a famous restaurant to have lunch, but it seems to have gone out of business, so I was left alone in the middle of NOTHING...and I mean nothing.  People do not seem to dine out much here.  But I did find Japanese sweets called "Miyasama Manju" which was delivered to the emperor's family long ago.  Sweet, has a hint of "sake," and good.

I decided to all it a day here, and went back to my hotel to rest.

The next day, I started from Seigenji Temple.  This is the temple where Tokugawa Ieyasu (the Shogun that created Edo = Tokyo and the Tokaido) lived when he was held hostage by the Imagawa family.

There were English signs in the temple, so it would be a fun place for English speakers to visit.  You can actually see where Tokugawa Ieyasu studied.

As I walk down the road, I began to realize that there were old houses well reserved in this area.  For example, this house is architected in the old way, but the wooden doors at the front (you need a lot of strength to open one of these) were modernized and the wood plated aluminum doors were installed for ease of use - while preserving the look of the old house.

I saw several more of these houses as I come closer to the next station of Ejiri. 

Here (Hosoi no Matsubara), they have preserved one pine tree to remind people there used to be close to 1,000 pine trees lining the Tokaido.  Unfortunately, the resin from the pine was used to make ships, so they were cut down during the war.

The Tokaido runs on the right side of this pine trees, and several hundred kilometers down the road is Ejiri.

INDEX: The paths I have walked so far as of 2013/07/07

Here is a summary of the Tokaido routes I have walked so far.
I am sorry I am a little behind on updating the BLOG, but I will catch up soon!

Please follow the links to see what I have seen during my walk.

"Tokaido 53 Tsugi" - The 53 Stations of Tokaido:
Beginning (04/25/2013)
# 0 Edo onwards (5/12/2013)
# 1 Shinagawa onwards (5/12/2013)
# 2 Kawasaki onwards (5/12/2013, 6/2/2013)
# 3 Kanagawa onwards (6/2/2013)
# 4 Hodogaya onwards (6/9/2013)
# 5 Totsuka onwards (4/28/2013, 6/9/2013))
# 6 Fujisawa onwards (4/28/2013)
# 7 Hiratsuka onwards (4/29/2013)
# 8 Oiso-shuku onwards (6/17/2013)
# 9 Odawara-shuku onwards (TBD)
#10 Hakone-shuku onwards (TBD)
#11 Mishima onwards (4/30/2013)
#12 Numazu onwards (4/30/2013)
#13 Hara onwards (5/1/2013)
#14 Yoshiwara onwards (5/1/2013)
       Yoshiwara onwards 2 (5/2/2013)
#15 Kambara onwards (5/2/2013)
#16 Yui onwards (5/3/2013)
#17 Okitsu-shuku onwards (5/3/2013, 5/4/2013)
#18 Ejiri-shuku onwards (5/4/2013)
#19 Fuchu-shuku onwards (5/4/2013, 5/18/2013)
#20 Mariko-shuku onwards (5/18/2013)
#21 Okabe-shuku onwards (5/18/2013, 5/19/2013)
#22 Fujieda-shuku onwards (
#23 Shimada-shuku onwards (6/29/2013)
#24 Kanaya-shuku onwards (6/29/2013, 6/30/2013)
#25 Nissaka-shuku onwards (6/30/2013)
#26 Kakegawa-shuku onwards (6/30/2013, 7/1/2013)
#27 Fukuroi-shuku onwards (7/1/2013)
#28 Mitsuke-shuku onwards (7/1/2013, 7/2/2013)
-- Summer pause.  Too hot to walk --
25 more stations to go.

Kambara: the 15th Station od Tokaido

I was expecting another scarecely populated village then I saw this:

the zigzag road entry into the shuku -  still intact!

As I walk down the road, I realized that this village has marked and preserved the old  houses for tourists.  I cannot express in words how beautiful these Old Japanese houses are.

The design of the wood slats (on the sliding doors) are said to differ from region to region.  This one looks very simple.

The right hand entrance is where the tourist guide was.  You can enjoy a cup of coffee by the Irori (fire place).

A peaceful time, enjoying the fresh air, good old Japanese atmosphere, and coffee...?

I left the village and reached Kambara station.  I am hungry, it's 2:30PM...but I decided it's worth walking another few kilometers to Yui to enjoy a Sakura shrimp dinner.

So, off I go down the street though houses...to Yui...and to my Sakura shrimp dinner.

Yoshiwara - 14th Station of Tokaido (Part 2)

The next day was a beautiful day.  The day I head towards Kambara.  The first important mark was the "Joya-to" (lights that are lit throughout the night)  I have never seen them, so I have no clue what they look like - so I almost missed it!  The Joya-to has been there for centries, so they are worn down by time - you expect a lantern, but it is more like a "mass" that has several "masses" sitting on top of one another.  So, I missed it and went back and forth trying to find it!

This Joya-to is the marking where the modern road parts with the old road.  Then the road enters the residential area, and I see no marks - nothing...just had to trust my senses to travel down the right path.  The old road goes out of the residential area and merges with the modern road that takes me to the Fuji river.

The fuji river is a large river, so there were no bridges in the past, just boats.  Now there is a long bridge that crosses the river - much quicker and convenient!

The Fuji river is a beautiful river - I was attracted by the beautiful scenery and had not been paying much attention on where I was going.  So 2km after I left the foot of the bridge, I was walking by a shopping center - that doesn't exist on the map.  Darn!  Back I go, 2km, walking the length that I did not need to walk if I had paid attention.

Back on the right path, I was looking for the Ichirizuka (4km mark).  I found it, took a turn, once again moving forward looking for Joya-to (lighting).  This one bore the mark of Mt. Akiba.  I have no clue what that was, but the ladies walking by told me this was the Joya-to I was looking for, and also showed me the corner where I should turn to head towards Kambara.  They also told me it was the Sakura Shrimp season, and suggested I dine at Kurasawaya in the town of Yui.  Good information!

I left the two ladies, still talking about how surprised they were meeting a female walking down the Tokaido alone.  Well, I soon learned why they were surprised.  I moved on, and the path led into the wilderness, less and less houses, and then I saw noone...Yes!  I am perfectly ALONE!  

Having realized some of the paths were pretty dangerous, I hurried on...across the river, up the hill, walked side by side with the freeway, until I saw a man!   A man taking an afternoon walk alone, heading towards me.  Releaved I said "Hello" as I passed him.  He looked annoyed - me disrupting his happy solitude - but so what.  I was happy to see him.

I crossed the freeway on a very old and rusted bridge (also scarey!)  and walked into the next residential area.  The path went down...down the hill to the seaside.  But it was also getting very hot, and with my heavy load I had to stop at the middle of the hill to rest.  Concrete roads - they gather heat and throughs it back at you.  One day we need to find a way to make these roads more natural - or else, with the pace at which we are paving wider and wider roads, we will make whole of Japan a heat island.

Once I hit the bottom of the Hill, I was at Kambara, one of the most beautiful old towns I have run across during my Tokaido walk.

Yoshiwara - 14th Station of Tokaido

Now marching through Yoshiwara.  This place is now an industrial town, so the roads have been laid new and it is very difficult to find the Tokaido.

Carefully, carefully looking at my guide, my Google Map every time I come across an intersection.  When I see the "Tokaido sign," I know I am on the right path.  A moment of relief.

It is cloudy today, but pleasant.  A wonderful weather to walk in.  I follow the road where it merges with the new Tokaido road.  As I am used to seeing these roads from the car, it makes walking feel even more slow - slower than ever.

Soon, I see a town with many restaurants!  I have been hungry for the last 2 hours, so lunch at last!  But...hunger can be misleading.  As I walk down the road towards the restaurants, I had no clue I was going down the wrong street.

After lunch, I walked and walked and walked until I crossed the railroad.  The railroad??  There shouldn't be a railroad track here!  Devastated that I came down the wrong road, I went back 2km past the restaurants to the point where I made the wrong turn - dragging my leg.

Now, this winding road looks like an old road.  This is more like Tokaido.

The next place to visit was the Hidari-Fuji Shrine.  Hidari Fuji means Mt. Fuji on the left hand side.

 Mt. Fuji is located north of Tokaido, so when you walk from Tokyo to Kyoto (go west), Mt. Fuji is always on your right hand side.  However, in some places the roads turns, and in rare places you see Mt. Fuji on the left hand side.  This is one of the locations where you can see that.

Nope.  You can't see it today.  But I sat at this park resting my legs, imagining how Mt. Fuji would look from here.  And it started raining...

Tonight's hotel is near Fuji station, so I must hurry.  The Heike goe sign.  (Where the Heike army was stationed during the war in 1180)

I am now entering the New Yoshiwara shuku.  Sorry, I was in a hurry so I skipped most of the marks here.  On and on I go. 

By this time, it started to rain hard.  I was pretty fed up with the weather.  I walk and walk until I really got frustrated with the wind taking my umbrella, and decided to do exactly what I do back home when I am frustrated - eat!  I walked into Kentucky Fried Chicken, ordered chicken and soup, and just sat there eating, very angry at the weather.

And then the weather cleaned up.  Looked like it was telling me "See?  You can't beat nature."  Yes!  The very obvious.  I was confronting nature, I was trying to reach my objective by walking even if it rained or shined - nothing gets in my way!  I guess this is my mentality at work - and it is proving to be worthless when you are dealing with nature.  You don't confront nature.  You collaborate with it.

This was the turning point of my Tokaido walk.  I had been so obsessed with reaching the objective every day, that I had been missing the point.  I am here to ENJOY.  Look at houses around me.  Look at the mountains.  Imagine what it was like 400 years ago...communicate with the surroundings.  I don't need to be walking so far away from home if I don't enjoy the surroundings!

So, from there on, I enjoyed myself.  I was looking for signs - wondering where they hid, looking at people, looking at the beautiful scenery.

This is where a tea shop was long time ago.

And finally I reached Fuji station.  Today was a breakthrough.  I finally learned how to enjoy the walk in Tokaido.  It is about enjoying the scenery, the people, and marks from the past.  Enjoy all the unexpected events that happen!

Hara - 13th station of Tokaido

The rain went away, and though it is cloudy, it looks like it will be a nice day.

Today, I start at Hara-shuku.  The Honjin (main lodging) is no longer there, neither are other markings of the old station town.  This town did not preserve the footsteps of the past.  So I decided to move on.

The Tokaido road is now passing by Mt. Fuji.  It is supposed to be a beautiful scenery.  Unfortunately, this is what Mt. Fuji looks like today - looks like it's not there.

So, I move on.  Walking and walking down the straight road.  On the left hand side is the railroad track.  I have noticed that the houses here bear a beautiful Japanese garden.  The pine trees are trimmed to perfection - kind of resembles the "Bonsai" doesn't it?

I cross the railroad, and soon I reach Fuji City.  And then the "Ichirizuka" (4km mark) comes up on the left hand side.  This Ichirizuka has beside it the statue of Heishiro Masuda, who has helped build a manmade river to avoid the flood that struck this part of town over and over again.  Local hero.

The road becomes very tricky from here.  The road splits to the right at the Joya-to (old street light) - which didn't exist!  I have also noticed that there are no convenience stores or McDonald's - no restrooms!!

Looking very carefully at the Google Map markings I placed, I luckily found my way and caught up with the folks I met yesterday and exchanged information.  The road parts to the right at what used to be a bank, crosses the railroad, and on the lefthand side is the modern Yoshiwara station.  (Restrooms in the station as well - I am saved!)

Mishima - the 11th station of Tokaido

Having bypassed the Hakone mountain by the modern means of travel, train, I am feeling a little guilty this morning.

However, nothing is more important than life.  Marching into dark paths alone is dangerous, so it is a judgement call I had to make.  Hakone is a path I will walk with a companion - some day.

Back on the Tokaido path.  I am now at Mishima.  I walk straight down the road from the station, turn right at the old tokaido, and the first sign I see on the right is the Seko Honjin (main lodging).  Again, no old lodging house, but just a sign.

There is another Honjin, Higuchi Honjin across the street from this mark, so this is the center of the Misima-shuku.

As I walk, it started to rain.  Not a lot, but enough to have to take out my umbrella.  So with the guidebook in one hand, the umbrella on the other, and iPhone Google Maps now in my pocket, it is becoming more difficult to find the path and marks of the highway 400 years old.

And I almost passed the Akiba shrine!  This shrine is nice, but what is important is the sign that stands at the foot of the gate.  It is Nishi Mitsuke (formal sign that marks the western end of the station town).

On and on I walk in the rain, and the next place I visited was the Tamai Temple Ichirizuka (4km mark).  This is one of the rare locations where the Ichirizuka still exists in pairs, as did all Ichirizuka 400 years ago.  The ichirizuka on the right hand side is also the Ichirizuka, preserved just the way it was 400 years ago.

A small hill with a tree at the top to give shading for the travellers.  NOW you can see, it was really created so that people can rest here.

Back on track, walking through the modern bed town, crossing the river, I reach Nagasawa Hachimangu Shrine, where the "Taimen Ishi" where two brothers of the Minamoto family met each other during the war, sat down face to face in joy of reunion.  (It is in the far left corner of the Temple)

Then comes the long long walk toward Numazu, a long and miserable walk in the rain.  By the time I reached this Jizo-son (marks the place where Hirasaku traded in his life for information on the person who killed an important person for him), I was only thinking about finding marks from 400 years ago, and nothing else.

 Then, I found Ichirizuka (4km sign) near Numazu.  Ichirizuka is becoming something I look forward to seeing, because I can tell how much progress I made.

Rain is getting harder.  It was a bad idea to press forward in the rain.  But I had made it a rule to at least walk 10km per day.  It is just like work - you set the objective, and you execute.  (Which proved to be the wrong mentality when you are trying to communicate with the past, but it took me 1 more day to realize this)

So I walk into Numazu-shuku, not yet the end of the journey for today.

Hiratsuka-shuku - the 7th station of Tokaido

Good morning.

Sore back, sore legs, aching feet - I am feeling the consequence of very poorly planned trip.  Before I left the hotel, I decided to send back home 3kg of things I don't think I will be needing on the trip.

Now, my knapsack is 7kg - feeling much better.

The day started where Edo Mitsuke used to be.  Mitsuke is where the formal markings of the edge of the station town.  Edo Mitsuke means it is the end that is closer to Edo (Tokyo).

From here, you can see the whole Hiratsuka-shuku - which looks like this now

No resemblance, what so ever, of the past.  But the straight road shows that this used to be the lodging town.

I walked down the road, walked past the Honjin (main lodging), and Waki-honjin (secondary lodging), and then a Kousatsuba??

Kousatsuba was where the public bulletin board was.  It had news postings by the government, as well as tariffs to take transportation to the next station.  It is rare for Kousatsuba to be marked, so I was lucky to find it.

And then this building caught my eye - the fire union's office.  But this place also was Toiyaba (horse stables) 400 years ago, where the paperwork was done for the whole station town, and they also lent horses for important people to travel.  Isn't it great that the people of this town decided to leave something for the tourists to look at?

In about 100m, comes the end of the station town, and then the 3km walk to Oiso-shuku starts.  This path was difficult to find - I couldn't find important marks and missed many of them.  But I did find the Kewaizaka where women used to make up and dress up.

This place is now a bed town, but the residents managed to preserve the beautiful road that used to cross the town.

Then I walked...walked...walked...and reached Oiso.  However, I was too tired to look around, so I skipped Oiso, took a train to Kozu, walked to Odawara, by then dragging my feet as I knew I acquired more blisters on my poor toes.  Sorry - I will come back some day to walk the town of Oiso.

And finally reached Odawara-shuku, the 9th station on Tokaido.

The path past Odawara is a very dark and lonely path, also known as one of the toughest mountain path - Hakone.  Being  alone, I can't climb Hakone, so I decided to take the train to Numazu, and stay here overnight.

I must award myself - having walked 2 days and approx. 40km.
Here is the last shot from Numazu - a dinner at a good Sushi restaurant!

Sweet dreams!

Numazu - the 12th station of Tokaido

Numazu is famous for it's fresh seafood today.  In the past, this location hosted a very powerful leader, so there remains a park where the old castle was.  Unfortunately nothing else remains from 400 years ago, so I decided to press on - on towards Hara-shuku.  I am going to walk as far as I can today.

The road in the city is complex - the streets change as the town changes, so the old Tokaido jumps from one street to the other.  Also the large streets have overpasses for walkers so that they don't get run over.  However, this overpass is painful when you have sore feet, sore back, soaking wet with 7kg load on your sholder.

The street becomes very narrow as I move forward.  I get splashed every time a car or a truck passed by.  Bad idea to walk in the rain.  After a while, I felt I formed another set of blisters on my toe from all the humidity.  Wet, heavy, miserable, painful - and hungry.

The local people do not have the custom to "eat out," so it is very difficult to find restaurants once you are outside the city.  I had no choice but to go into the first restaurant I spotted.  It was a restaurant called "humming bird," and, to my surprise, there I had the best pot pie I had in years.  Look at this!  (This has nothing to do with the Tokaido 400 years ago)

A good meal gives you a lot of power, and it also give you power to think.  I decided to walk to the next station town and end the day.  This is not work.  This is supposed to be fun.  I had completely forgotten why I was doing this.

So off I go, happily tredding down the road.  I saw another couple who seems to be doing the same thing I was doing.

They are looking at something several hundred meters away.  There must be something.  And there it was on the right hand side of the road, the Ichirizuka (4km sign) - my beloved sign of accomplishment.

This town is very nice.  I reached the Hara station at about 15:00.  Good time to end the day and get some rest back in the hotel in Numazu.

It is funny how you run across old friends.  While I was walking today, an old friend of mine pinged me on Facebook, and told me he was living in Numazu.  So we decided to get together and enjoy good food, sake, and talk at the famous "Saemaru Sengyoten."

He was passionate about his work, about people around him, and he gave me a lot of power and courage.  Friends are life's treasure. 

Thank you, and good night!