Old Tokaido Road

Co nstruction of the old Tokaido Road was completed in the Edo Period (1603-1868). It connected Tokyo’s Nihon-bashi Bridge and Kyoto’s Sanjo district, making it one of five great roads of old. The Tokaido has also been made famous through a series of 53 woodblock prints by Utagawa Hiroshige. Otsu is home to Otsu-shuku, the last post town on the Tokaido Road before Kyoto, and the entire surrounding neighborhood was an extremely bustling place.
During the Edo Period, Otsu developed into an economic center, in which goods accumulated from across the country. It was also during this time that the Otsu Festival began. The town then was known as Otsu Hyaku-machi, and it was a busy place lined with inns along the highway area.
The photograph is of the current crossroads marker. On the Old Tokaido Road, if you came here from the east you would turn right, and proceed onwards to Kyoto. This crossroads is also the point where the Hokkoku-kaido Road to the north begins. To see what this crossroads looked like in the olden days, please take a look at the model in the Otsu City Museum of History.