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Tōkaidō · Station 28 of 53

Mitsuke-juku 見付宿

Iwata, Shizuoka, JapanAbout 238 km from Nihonbashi
Mitsuke-juku
Mitsuke-juku (見付宿) — woodblock printWoodblock print: Utagawa Hiroshige — from The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
Tōkaidō (東海道)Station 28 of 53 · Nihonbashi (Edo) → Kyoto
Present-day locationIwata, Shizuoka, Japan
PrefectureShizuoka (Chubu region)
Distance from NihonbashiAbout 238 km (by the historical station tables)
Next stationHamamatsu-juku — about 16.5 km on
Coordinates34.72684° N, 137.857° E

Mitsuke-juku (見附宿, Mitsuke-juku) was the twenty-eighth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is located in what is now the central part of the city of Iwata, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The post station received its name, which means "with a view," because it was the first place from which Mount Fuji could be seen by travelers coming from Kyoto.

History

Mitsuke-juku is located on the left bank of the Tenryū River, but boats generally used the nearby Ōi River, as it had a deeper channel and fewer difficult places to navigate. However, much like Shimada-juku, whenever the Ōi River overflowed, travel through the town became impossible.

In addition to being a post station, Mitsuke-juku also flourished as the entry to Tōtōmi Province's Mitsuke Tenjin Shrine (見附天神, Mitsuke Tenjin) and as the point at which the Tōkaidō separated with a hime kaidō.

When the Tōkaidō Main Line railway was established, the train station was built to the south of Mitsuke in the village of Nakaizumi. In 1940, Mitsuke and Nakaizumi merged, forming the town of Iwata, which became a city in 1948.

The classic ukiyo-e print by Andō Hiroshige (Hōeidō edition) from 1831–1834 depicts travelers changing boats on a sandbank while crossing the Tenryū River by ferry.

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Neighboring post towns

Tōkaidō
Fukuroi-juku - Mitsuke-juku - Hamamatsu-juku

Text adapted from the English Wikipedia article Mitsuke-juku by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Station facts cross-checked with the road station lists (Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikidata (CC0).

More post towns in Shizuoka

← Tōkaidō No. 27 · Fukuroi-jukuTōkaidō No. 29 · Hamamatsu-juku →