was the sixty-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 Aishō

Aisho, Shiga

is a town located in Echi District in eastern Shiga Prefecture, Japan. The town was founded on February 13, 2006 when the towns of Echigawa and Hatashō merged. The name "Aishō" combines the first character in and the second character in ....

, Echi District

Echi District, Shiga

Echi is a district located in Shiga, Japan.As of 2003, the district has an estimated population of 34,262 and a density of 325.07 persons per km²...

, Shiga Prefecture

Shiga Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan, which forms part of the Kansai region on Honshu Island. The capital is the city of Ōtsu.- History :Shiga was known as Ōmi Province or Gōshū before the prefectural system was established...

, 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

Echigawa-juku has a long history. Kitabatake Akiie

Kitabatake Akiie

was a Japanese court noble, and an important supporter of the Southern Court during the Nanboku-chō Wars. He also held the posts of Commander-in-Chief of the Defense of the North, and Governor of Mutsu Province...

 recorded his stay here in 1336 in the Taiheiki

Taiheiki

The is a Japanese historical epic , written in the late 14th century. It deals primarily with the Nanboku-chō, the period of war between the Northern Court of Ashikaga Takauji in Kyoto, and the Southern Court of Emperor Go-Daigo in Yoshino....

. It was originally a post town along the Tōsandō

Tosando

was an old Japanese geographical region that made up the gokishichidō system and was situated along the central mountains of northern Honshū, Tōhoku region....

, before becoming part of the Nakasendō. In its heyday, it thrived as both a post town and a commercial center. For those who were heading to the Kantō region

Kanto region

The is a geographical area of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. The region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Within its boundaries, slightly more than 40 percent of the land area is the Kantō Plain....

 for trading, Echigawa was their traditional first stop along the Nakasendō.

In 1843, the post station had 929 residents and 199 buildings. Among the buildings, there was one 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:...

, two sub-honjin, and 28 hatago

Hatago

were Edo period lodgings for travelers at shukuba along the national highways, including the Edo Five Routes and the subroutes. In addition to a place to rest, hatago also offered meals and other foods to the travelers...

.

The current residents of the area surrounding the former Echigawa-juku often refer to it as the sixty-sixth stop along the Nakasendō, because they count Nihonbashi

Nihonbashi

, or Nihombashi, is a business district of Chūō, Tokyo, Japan which grew up around the bridge of the same name which has linked two sides of the Nihonbashi River at this site since the 17th century. The first wooden bridge was completed in 1603, and the current bridge made of stone dates from 1911...

as the first stop, even though it is an endpoint.