4. The culture relating to Edo Five Routes

a. The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido and The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso-kaido

There are many cultures in Edo Five Routes. For example, let us look at Ukiyoe. Utagawa Hiroshige painted “The Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido” and “The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso-kaido” (Kiso-kaido is an epithet of Nakasendo). He is a famous Ukiyoe Painter in late Edo Period, and these works are one of the most famous Ukiyoe. Each of post stations are described own features. In the picture of Mariko, Tokaido, for instance, an eating space sold specialty, grated yam soup is described Incidentally, the shop called Chojiya still exists today.

b. Tokaidochu Hizakurige

Tokaidochu Hizakurige, which was written by Jippensha Ikku, is one of the most famous comical books (Kokkeibon) in Edo Period. The story is that main characters, Yajirobe and Kitahachi go from Edo to Ise Shrine, Kyoto, and Osaka, through Tokaido and Ise-Ji. The auther described dialects and cultures of each regions through roads. In fact, it was not only places of interest but also cultures of simple people at the time that this book was described.

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