Nakasendo Way

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Home / Post-towns / Joyato

Joyato

At nightfall, with no street lights along the way, traveling became difficult, if not hazardous. In order to assist travelers, stone lanterns were erected at each end of the post-towns to act as guiding beacons. They were lit at dusk and would remain burning until dawn – hence the name joyato or ‘all-night lights’. Similar lanterns were also found outside shrines. Many survive today, demarcating the limits of the original post-towns. Good examples are at Oi and Narai.

Narai

Narai

Category: Post-towns

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From the glossary

  • Tokugawa Ieyasu

    Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) was the last of the three unifiers who put Japan together again after the Warring States Period. Ieyasu was the ally and retainer of the other two unifiers, Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi moved Ieyasu to a large domain with a dilapidated castle at the fishing village of Edo (which lent its name to the 250 years of peace which followed the Warring States period). Ieyasu’s move to Edo was a reward for his loyal service, a means to increase Hideyoshi’s control over eastern Japan, and a safely remote location for Ieyasu, a powerful, and therefore potentially dangerous, retainer of Hideyoshi. After Hideyoshi’s death, Ieyasu quickly took control of the country. In 1603, he accepted the title shogun from the emperor. With the aid of excellent advisors, Ieyasu put together a system of stable government on the feudal model, using elements perfected by his two predecessors.

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