Images: The Tōkaidō: Japan’s Most Famous Road

The fish market at Nihonbashi, the eastern terminus of the Tōkaidō, in a woodblock print by Utagawa Hiroshige. (Courtesy National Diet Library Digital Collection)

The titular bridge at Nihonbashi was originally made of wood and was rebuilt multiple times due to fire and age. In 1911, it was replaced by a stone bridge, which was obscured when an expressway was built above it in 1963. (© Amano Hisaki)

The 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō

A daimyō procession crosses the broad Ōi River. Bridges and ferries were banned on the waterway as part of the shogunate’s defense policy. (Courtesy Tokyo Metropolitan Library digital archive)

Now a museum, the Futagawa Shuku Honjin (left) in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, was an inn for daimyō and other nobles that operated from 1807 to 1870; the nearby Seimeiya (right) provided accommodation for ordinary travelers. (© Pixta)

A group of pilgrims perform the Ise Odori at Ishibe, the fifty-first stop on the highway, depicted in Utagawa Hiroshige’s The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō. (Courtesy New York Public Library)

A sugoroku board game based on Jippensha Ikku’s Shank’s Mare, with illustrations by Utagawa Shigenobu (later Utagawa Hiroshige II). (Courtesy National Diet Library)

A hikyaku messenger dashes through the post station of Hiratsuka in a print from Utagawa Hiroshige’s The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō. (Courtesy New York Public Library)

A hit product in the Edo period, Odawara’s famous lanterns were said to protect against evil spirits and could be folded up when not in use and carried inside a kimono. (© Pixta)

A drawing of the elephant that traveled the Tōkaidō highway. (Courtesy National Diet Library)

The post station of Shinagawa in Utagawa Hiroshige’s The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō. (Courtesy New York Public Library)