Sakashita-juku

Sakashita-juku in the 1830s, as depicted by Hiroshige in the Hoeido edition of The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (1831-1834)

Sakashita-juku (坂下宿 Sakashita-juku) was the forty-eighth of the fifty-three stations (shukuba) of the Tōkaidō. It is located in former Ise Province in what is now part of the city of Kameyama, Mie Prefecture, Japan.

History

Sakashita flourished as a post town during the Edo period because of its location at the entrance to Suzuka Pass (鈴鹿峠 Suzuka Tōge) connecting Ise Province to former Omi Province.[1] However, the Suzuka Pass was also the reason for the post town's decline in the Meiji period; the pass was too steep for rail lines to be laid, so the rail went through Tsuge Station (present-day Iga), bypassing the formerly flourishing town.

Today, there are only a few private residences left at the site of the former post station, as well as very little historical architecture. The only thing that marks the former site is a stone marker built by the former town of Seki, now part of the city of Kameyama.

The classic ukiyoe print by Ando Hiroshige (Hoeido edition) from 1831-1834 does not depicts the post station at all, but instead shows an open teahouse, looking across a ravine to the blue heights of the Suzuka Mountains.

Neighboring post towns

Tōkaidō
Seki-juku - Sakashita-juku - Tsuchiyama-juku

References

  1. ↑ Sakashita-juku & Suzuka Pass Area. Kameyama City Tourism Association. Accessed January 13, 2007.

Further reading

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