Japan Heritage story
Yaji and Kita's Tokaido: Japan's first travel boom in Shizuoka
日本初「旅ブーム」を起こした弥次さん喜多さん、駿州の旅
About 200 years ago, a comic novel about two bumbling travellers, Yaji and Kita, and Hiroshige's prints of the Tokaido road sent ordinary people across Japan on holiday. The middle stretch of the road, in today's Shizuoka, has the best views of Mount Fuji and still serves the local dishes they wrote about.
Key facts
- Theme
- Castles, Forests and timber, Food and sake
- Era
- Edo
- Region
- Chubu
- Official name in Japanese
- 日本初「旅ブーム」を起こした弥次さん喜多さん、駿州の旅
- Official subtitle in Japanese
- ～滑稽本と浮世絵が描く東海道旅のガイドブック（道中記）～
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 静岡県（藤枝市、静岡市）
The story
In the Edo period, people could not travel freely, but pilgrimages and hot spring cures were allowed, so commoners set off on 'pilgrimages' that were really holidays. Their guides were Jippensha Ikku's Tokaido-chu Hizakurige, a comic novel about Yaji and Kita, two men from Shizuoka walking from Edo, and Utagawa Hiroshige's Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido, prints so vivid they felt like being there. Even Monet and Van Gogh dreamed of Japan after seeing them.
The heroes' adventures are pure slapstick. At Mariko they order the famous tororo-jiru (grated yam soup), but the owner and his wife start a fight, slip in the soup and the pair leave without eating. They cross Satta Pass, famous for its Fuji view, in pouring rain and see nothing. On the gloomy Utsunoya Pass, Yaji slips and falls just short of the tea house. The places they visited are still here, with the same views and the same dishes.
What to see
- Satta Pass: the Tokaido's most famous view of Mount Fuji, painted by Hiroshige.Google Maps 薩埵峠 (opens in a new tab)
- Yui Honjin Park: Japan's first museum named after Hiroshige, where you can try ukiyo-e printing.Google Maps 静岡市東海道広重美術館 (opens in a new tab)
- Mariko-juku: a thatched post town still serving tororo-jiru.Google Maps 丁子屋 丸子 (opens in a new tab)
- Okabe-juku Kashiwaya: a big old inn, now a museum where you can dress like Yaji and Kita.Google Maps 岡部宿大旅籠柏屋 (opens in a new tab)
Plan your trip with the Shizuoka prefecture guide and see more history.
Good to know
- Eat the tororo-jiru at Mariko that Yaji and Kita never got to taste.
- Walk the Tsuta no Hosomichi trail over Utsunoya Pass, where four tunnels from four eras sit side by side.
- Try somemeshi, the dyed rice of Seto near Fujieda, which Yaji and Kita ate in the novel.
Questions travellers ask
Who are Yaji and Kita?
Yajirobei and Kitahachi, the comic heroes of Jippensha Ikku's Tokaido-chu Hizakurige, which inspired Japan's first travel boom.
Where is the best Mount Fuji view on the Tokaido?
Satta Pass, between Yui and Okitsu, was already famous in the Edo period, and you can still see the same view.
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
Local foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.