The Bustling Travel Hub of the Edo Period – Kusatsu-juku

Where Two Great Roads Met in Old Japan

Kusatsu-juku

In the Edo period, Japan’s roads were lined with special stops called shukuba (post towns). These towns had two main jobs — to provide a “traveler’s resting place” and to serve as a “distribution hub for goods.” Some famous examples are the Tōkaidō Gojūsan-tsugi (53 stations of the Tōkaidō) and the Nakasendō Rokujūkyū-tsugi (69 stations of the Nakasendō).

Kusatsu-juku was one of the most important post towns because it was where the two great highways — the Tōkaidō and the Nakasendō — met and split apart. According to an 1843 record, Kusatsu-juku had 2 honjin (official inns for high-ranking guests), 2 secondary honjin, and 72 regular inns for travelers. It also had tea houses, barbers, shops selling straw sandals (waraji), warehouses for goods, and weighing stations for cargo. It must have been a lively, busy town full of people and goods moving in every direction.

One important landmark from that time is the Oiwake Dōhyō (branching point marker) near the Kusatsu-juku honjin. “It was donated by courier workers in 1816 and is inscribed with ‘Right – Tōkaidō Ise Road / Left – Nakasendō Mino Road.’” The lantern on top is now made of wood, but an old record from 1821 says it was originally made of copper and was very impressive.

Kusatsu-juku Honjin, a feudal inn for samurais and their landlords

The honjin were special inns that “could only be used by lords, court nobles, and officials of the shogunate.” In most post towns, there was one or a few of them. In Kusatsu-juku, there were two — the Tanaka Shichizaemon honjin (still standing today) and the Tanaka Kyuuzou honjin. The surviving one was given the honjin duty in 1635, and the family ran it until 1870 when honjin were abolished. It was also known as the “Lumber Shop Honjin” because the family started selling timber in the Edo period.

After the honjin system ended, the building was used as a county office and community center. In 1949, it was designated a national historic site for preserving its Edo-period style. It is one of the largest surviving honjin in Japan today.

The word “honjin” originally meant the main camp of a general in wartime. The use of the word for travel lodgings began when “the second shogun of the Muromachi shogunate, Ashikaga Yoshiakira, called his lodging a ‘honjin’ and displayed a sign when he traveled to Kyoto.” By the Edo period, it referred to the rest stops for important travelers like lords and nobles.

Kusatsu-juku wasn’t just a place to sleep — it was a vital hub that connected two of Japan’s most important highways. Learning about its history helps us see how travel, trade, and communication worked in the past. I think preserving sites like the Kusatsu-juku honjin is important, because it allows us to experience a real piece of history instead of just reading about it.

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