The Bitter End

Art of the Edo Period

The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido

52. Kusatsu-juku (Kusatsu) (also part of the Nakasendo)

Kusatsu-juku

Kusatsu-juku was the fifty-second of the fifty-three stations of the Tokaido as well as the sixty-eighth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendo. It is located in the downtown area of the present-day city of Kusatsu, Shiga Prefecture, Japan.

History

Coming from Moriyama-juku, the borders of Kusatsu-juku started at the banks of the Kusatsu River to the present-day Miya-cho in Kusatsu. The famed ukiyo-e artist Hiroshige traveled through the post station using both the Tokaido and the Nakasendo in order to create woodblock prints.

In 1843, the post station had 2,351 residents and 586 buildings. Among the buildings, there were two honjin, two sub-honjin, and 72 hatago. Of the two honjin, one was constructed in 1635 and stood until 1870. That honjin was later repaired and opened as a museum in 1996.