The Bitter End

Art of the Edo Period

The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido

8. Oiso-juku (Oiso, Naka District)

Oiso-juku

Oiso-juku was the eighth of the fifty-three stations (shukuba) of the Tokaido. It is located in the present-day town of Oiso, located in Naka District, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

History

Oiso-juku was established in 1601, along with the other original post stations along the Tokaido, by Tokugawa Ieyasu. In 1604, Ieyasu planted a 3.9 km (2.4 mi) colonnade of pine and hackberry trees, to provide shade for the travelers.

The classic ukiyoe print by Ando Hiroshige (Hoeido edition) from 1831-1834 depicts travelers in straw raincoats entering a village by the ocean during pouring rain. One is mounted, and the other is on foot. The road is lined with pine trees. By contrast, the Kyoka edition of the late 1830s depicts a prosperous village overlooking a wide expanse of Sagami Bay with the mountains of the Izu Peninsula on the far shore.