Post by washi on Apr 7, 2015 19:12:30 GMT
An Old Inn Town
Haibara is a district in Uda City, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It was the junction of important roads which are probably as old as the dawn of Japanese history. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries one of these roads, the Ise Sangū Hon Kaidō, was heavily trafficked by pilgrims from Nara, Osaka, (and most of western Japan) as they walked to Ise Grand Shrine. A small town called Hagihara Juku, which had 10 inns to serve these and other travelers, prospered at the junction of these roads.
I prepared this file as a supplement (a kind of footnote) to a larger file about the Ise Pilgrims road. I chose this area because it not only retained reminders of the pre-twentieth century time when most pilgrims walked to Ise, but also because it is easily accessed by rail. I wanted to get a clearer idea of what at least one of these overnight resting places might have looked like.
These old roads always have been and continue to be referred to by a variety of names. I have tried to use the same name for each road throughout the various files that comprise this presentation. Likewise, I have chosen to use modern place names like Haibara, rather than archaic ones like Hagihara, because they are better known.
The road paths as well as the placemarks have clickable content. When this file was originally posted, only one road in the Haibara district was visible in Google Street View. Now most of the streets (including those marked in this post by paths) may be seen there, rendering my photos somewhat superfluous.
Download FilePost last revised March 11, 2023.
