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!