was the fifth of the sixty-nine stations

69 Stations of the Nakasendo

The are the rest areas along the Nakasendō, which ran from Nihonbashi in Edo to Sanjō Ōhashi in Kyoto. The route stretched approximately and was an alternate trade route to the Tōkaidō.-Stations of the Nakasendō:...

 of the Nakasendō

Nakasendo

The , also called the , was one of the five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected Edo to Kyoto in Japan. There were 69 stations between Edo and Kyoto, crossing through Musashi, Kōzuke, Shinano, Mino and Ōmi provinces...

. It is located in the present-day city of Ageo

Ageo, Saitama

is a city located in Saitama, Japan.As of December 1, 2010, the city has an estimated population of 227,127 and the density of 4,986.32 persons per km². The total area is 45.55 km². It is twinned with Ueda, Nagano.- History :...

, Saitama Prefecture

Saitama Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Saitama.This prefecture is part of the Greater Tokyo Area, and most of Saitama's cities can be described as suburbs of Tokyo, to which a large amount of residents commute each day.- History...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

History

Originally built as a rest area for the Late Hōjō clan

Late Hojo clan

The ' was one of the most powerful warrior clans in Japan in the Sengoku period and held domains primarily in the Kantō region.The clan is traditionally reckoned to be started by Ise Shinkurō, who came from a branch of the prestigious Ise clan, a family in the direct employment of the Ashikaga...

, Ageo-shuku became a station on the Nakasendō in 1603. Though it was comparatively small in terms of its size as a post town on the Nakasendō, it had the largest honjin

Honjin

thumb|250px|The honjin at [[Inaba Kaidō]]'s [[Ōhara-shuku]]. is the Japanese word for an inn for government officials, generally located in post stations during the later part of the Edo period.-Evolution of Honjin:...

after Shiojiri-shuku

Shiojiri-shuku

was the thirtieth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the central part of the present-day city of Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture, Japan.-History:This area was originally built by Ōkubo Nagayasu in the Keichō era of the early Edo period...

. Additionally, it also had three secondary honjin. There are no remains of any of the honjin in Ageo, but present-day Hikawakuwa Shrine is located in the center of where they all stood. The main honjin was located in front of the shrine, with one of the secondary ones on each side. The third secondary building was located just south of where the shrine is. A Maruhiro Department Store is presently located on the former site of the honjin.