was the fifty-second 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 was also the last post station on the Inagi Kaidō. It is located in the present-day city of Kakamigahara

Kakamigahara, Gifu

is a city located in the Gifu Prefecture of central Japan. It was founded on 1 April 1963 by the merger of Naka, Sohara, Unuma, and Inaba. Kakamigahara covers a total area of...

, Gifu Prefecture

Gifu Prefecture

is a prefecture located in the Chūbu region of central Japan. Its capital is the city of Gifu.Located in the center of Japan, it has long played an important part as the crossroads of Japan, connecting the east to the west through such routes as the Nakasendō...

, 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...

. The eastern and western portions of the old post town joined together to become a formal post town in 1651. Unuma-juku is approximately six kilometers from the preceding post town, Ōta-juku

Ota-juku

was the fifty-first of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō during the Edo period. It is located in Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. It was located on one of the more difficult parts of the Nakasendō, but relics from its days as a post town still remain today...

.

The old post town contains such historical treasures as Kuan-ji Temple, the ancient tomb of Ishozuka, and haiku

Haiku

' , plural haiku, is a very short form of Japanese poetry typically characterised by three qualities:* The essence of haiku is "cutting"...

-engraved monuments left by Matsuo Bashō

Matsuo Basho

, born , then , was the most famous poet of the Edo period in Japan. During his lifetime, Bashō was recognized for his works in the collaborative haikai no renga form; today, after centuries of commentary, he is recognized as a master of brief and clear haiku...

.

Neighboring Post Towns

Nakasendō

Ōta-juku

Ota-juku

was the fifty-first of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō during the Edo period. It is located in Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. It was located on one of the more difficult parts of the Nakasendō, but relics from its days as a post town still remain today...

 - Unuma-juku - Kanō-juku

Kano-juku

was the fifty-third of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō. It is located just south of JR Gifu Station in Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. During the Edo period, it was an independent post town that was approximately wide, making it the largest post towns in Mino Province.Kanō Tenman-gū is...

Inagi Kaidō

Unuma-juku - Inuyama-juku