In the last blog he and his party had arrived at Arai and now the Tokaido Road travellers head in a westerly direction, following the coast as it approaches Shiomizaka,. Along with the preceding post stations of Yoshida and Goyu, the one at Akasaka was well known for its meshimori onna. However, in the Tokugawa shogunate laid down a law which stated that the number of meshimori onna working at each inn would be limited to two and this was seen as tacit permission to employ a limited number of prostitutes.
To the left we see travellers partaking of an evening meal. On the right, we see prostitutes putting on make-up and preparing for the evening entertainment. At its peak, Fujikawa was once a large stop over town with buildings.
Its total population was approximately 1, people. Okazaki was a part of the thriving castle town which encircled Okazaki Castle, the headquarters for Okazaki Domain. The thirty-ninth print of the series depicts the Yahagibashi bridge. This magnificent structure was one of the few bridges that people were permitted to use on the Tokaido Road by the Tokugawa shogunate.
It was one of the longest bridges built in Japan during the early Edo period. On the opposite bank of the river we can see Okazaki Castle. Reaching this point meant the travellers had trekked for three hundred and thirty kilometres and would have probably taken, on average, two weeks. The town was famed for its horse market which took place in late April and early May. Tall pine trees can be seen and the shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu, ordered that the post station plant pine trees along through route of the highway before and after the town.
These all survived until the Isewan Typhoon of which destroyed most of them. The woodblock print depicts travellers passing by open-fronted shops selling tie-died cloth. Clothing such as the yukata kimono, the unlined kimono for summer use, which was a local speciality of the region. The shrine in question is the famous Atsuta Shrine, one of the most famous in Japan and a popular pilgrimage destination in the Edo period.
