Fujisawa-shuku, Post station on Tōkaidō road in Fujisawa, Japan.
Fujisawa-shuku was a post station along the Tōkaidō road in Kanagawa Prefecture that connected Edo and Kyoto through a network of inns and checkpoints. The station held over a thousand buildings and served as a waypoint for people traveling this major route.
The station was established in 1601 and became an important center during the Edo period. It served as a residence for the first three Tokugawa Shoguns and remained a key waypoint for travel and trade for over two centuries.
The station grew around Shōjōkō-ji temple, known as Yugyō-ji, which remains an important Buddhist sanctuary in the region today. This temple shaped spiritual life here and shows how religion and commerce were closely connected in these trading stations.
Visitors can explore the preserved gates marking the eastern and western boundaries of the former post station, located near the Odakyū Enoshima railway line. The area is walkable and offers a sense of the original layout where travelers once stopped to rest and resupply.
The Eishō-ji temple holds graves of meshimori onna, women who worked in the inns during the station's active years. These graves honor the overlooked history of the women whose daily work kept the station running and travelers fed.
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