was the sixteenth 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 Annaka

Annaka, Gunma

is a city located in Gunma, Japan.As of March 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 63,584, with a household number of 23,575 and the density of 230.09 persons per km²...

, Gunma Prefecture

Gunma Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the northwest corner of the Kantō region on Honshu island. Its capital is Maebashi.- History :The remains of a Paleolithic man were found at Iwajuku, Gunma Prefecture, in the early 20th century and there is a public museum there.Japan was without horses until...

, 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...

, at the foot of Mount Myōgi

Mount Myogi

is one of the major mountains in the Gunma Prefecture, Japan. Well known for its rocks weathered into fantastic forms, this famous peak is ranked among Japan's three most noted places of rugged beauty...

.

Travel towards Kyoto

Usuinoseki Checkpoint was one of the four major checkpoints along the Nakasendō and was between Matsuida-shuku and Sakamoto-shuku

Sakamoto-shuku

was the seventeenth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the present-day city of Annaka, Gunma Prefecture, Japan.-History:...

. Travelers who wanted to avoid this checkpoint could make use of a hime kaidō

Hime kaido

was the name given to minor routes that created detours around the difficult crossings of main routes during the Edo period in Japan...

that would take them over the mountains and to Oiwake-shuku

Oiwake-shuku

was the twentieth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located in the present-day town of Karuizawa, in the Kitasaku District of Nagano Prefecture, Japan.-History:...

, the twentieth station on the Nakasendō.