Kawasaki-juku (川崎宿, Kawasaki-shuku) was the second of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is located in Kawasaki-ku in the present-day city of Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

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

History

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Kawasaki-juku was established as a post station in 1623, by the local magistrate Hasegawa Nagatsuna.[1] It was the last post station to be built along the Tōkaidō. It was located near Heiken-ji, a famous Buddhist temple, so it was often used by travelers coming to pray.

The classic ukiyo-e print by Andō Hiroshige (Hōeidō edition) from 1831–1834 depicts travelers in a ferry-boat crossing the Tama River, and passengers waiting on the further bank. Mount Fuji is depicted in the far distance.

Neighboring post towns

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Tōkaidō
Shinagawa-juku - Kawasaki-juku - Kanagawa-juku

References

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  • Carey, Patrick. Rediscovering the Old Tokaido:In the Footsteps of Hiroshige. Global Books UK (2000). ISBN 1-901903-10-9
  • Chiba, Reiko. Hiroshige's Tokaido in Prints and Poetry. Tuttle. (1982) ISBN 0-8048-0246-7
  • Taganau, Jilly. The Tokaido Road: Travelling and Representation in Edo and Meiji Japan. RoutledgeCurzon (2004). ISBN 0-415-31091-1
  1. ^ Tōkaidō Kawasaki-juku Meguri Archived 2008-02-22 at the Wayback Machine. Kawasaki City Hall. Accessed December 10, 2007.