Japan Heritage story
Hakone Hachiri: walking the Edo stone road over Hakone
旅人たちの足跡残る悠久の石畳道
Hakone Hachiri is the stretch of the old Tokaido road that crosses the Hakone mountains, about 32 km from Odawara to Mishima. The shogunate paved it with the largest stone road in Japan at the time, and teahouses, a checkpoint, cedar and pine avenues and distance mounds still line the way.
Key facts
- Theme
- Castles, Forests and timber, Food and sake, Mines and minerals
- Era
- Edo
- Region
- Kanto, Chubu, Kyushu & Okinawa
- Official name in Japanese
- 旅人たちの足跡残る悠久の石畳道
- Official subtitle in Japanese
- 箱根八里で辿る遥かな江戸の旅路
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 静岡県（三島市, 函南町）・神奈川県（小田原市, 箱根町）
The story
Hakone Hachiri, "the eight ri of Hakone", is the Tokaido's four ri (about 16 km) from Odawara to Hakone-juku plus four more down to Mishima-juku. In the early Edo period the pass was so muddy that travellers sank to their shins, so the shogunate paved it with stone, on a scale unmatched in Japan at the time. Western lords on their way to Edo, the heads of the Dutch trading post and Korean envoys all walked it, and it appears in ukiyo-e prints, waka and haiku.
The east side climbs through deep, wooded valleys from Odawara past Hatajuku, a village of yosegi marquetry, to Lake Ashi and the Hakone checkpoint. Over the 845 m Hakone Pass, the west side opens up to views of Mt Fuji and runs down past Yamanaka Castle to the shrine town of Mishima.
What to see
- Hatajuku: a rest village famous for yosegi marquetry, still made in its workshops.Google Maps 畑宿 箱根町 (opens in a new tab)
- Amazake-chaya: a thatched teahouse where you can sit by the hearth and drink amazake, as travellers have since the Edo period.Google Maps 甘酒茶屋 箱根 (opens in a new tab)
- Old Tokaido cedar avenue: about 400 huge cedars along Lake Ashi, the only cedar avenue on the Tokaido.Google Maps 箱根旧街道杉並木 (opens in a new tab)
- Hakone checkpoint: the Edo-era checkpoint, where women leaving Edo were checked most strictly.Google Maps 箱根関所 (opens in a new tab)
- Yamanaka Castle ruins: castle ruins with unusual waffle-shaped moats.Google Maps 山中城跡 (opens in a new tab)
- Mishima Taisha: the great shrine at the end of the walk, in a post town known for grilled eel.Google Maps 三嶋大社 (opens in a new tab)
Plan your walk with the Kanagawa prefecture guide and the Shizuoka prefecture guide, and see more castles.
Good to know
- The east slope is steep and mossy, so wear shoes with good grip on the stone paving.
- On a clear day the west slope gives famous views of Mt Fuji, including the rare 'left Fuji'.
- Finish in Mishima with grilled eel, the post town's speciality.
Questions travellers ask
What does Hakone Hachiri mean?
The 'eight ri' of the Tokaido across Hakone: four ri from Odawara to Hakone-juku and four ri from Hakone-juku to Mishima-juku.
What was the Hakone checkpoint for?
It watched travellers on the Tokaido and was especially strict with women leaving Edo for the west.
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
- Hitoyoshi-Kuma: 700 years under one clan
- Hizen: the birthplace of Japanese porcelain
- Iki, Tsushima and Goto: Japan's border islands
- Kamakura: the samurai capital as a mosaic of history
- Oyama Mairi: the Edo people's pilgrimage and day out
- Sakura, Narita, Sawara and Choshi: the Edo closest to the airport
- The Murakami Kaizoku: sea lords of the Geiyo Islands
- The Six Ancient Kilns: pottery born and raised in Japan
- The stone islands of the Seto Inland Sea
- The Sugar Road: sweets along the Nagasaki Kaido
- Yaji and Kita's Tokaido: Japan's first travel boom in Shizuoka
- Yatsushiro's stonemasons: the bridge builders of Japan
Local foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.