Kisokaidô: Imasu - Station 59

Utagawa Hiroshige - Series of the stations of the Kisokaido: Station Imasu (61st print) (Imasu)

© Trustees of the British Museum

Imasu is located at the boundary between the Mino Province to the East and the Omi Province to the west. The Nakasendo Road enters the Omi Province and will cross it until Otsu, its end station. The border post (1) in the main street of the station figures prominently in Hiroshige’s composition. A traveler (2) stops to read the inscription on the post (which reads 江濃両國境 (Eno Ryogoku border)) while his companion gets a light for his pipe from a man seated in front of a tea-house. Above him is a sign (4) promoting a cosmetic known as “Sennjoko Goods” manufactured by Mr.Sakamoto (See comments at Station Niekawa #33) who subsidized this print series. Farther down the road, travelers can buy all they need for their journey: Straw sandals, sedge hats,.... A porter (5) carrying two barrels wrapped in straw on a pole suspended over his shoulder is leaving the station. Several travelers arrive in the other direction. Tall stands of bamboo are visible between the thatched roofs of other houses. In the plain below, crops have been harvested with yellow stacks providing flashes of color in the dark green fields.

This print was not modified.

(Source: The 69 stations of the Kisokaido, Sebastian Izzard, Brazillier 2008)

The post with Province limits in 2011

A village similar to Imasu, along the road ca.1860

Another village near Imasu ca. 1860

And now ?

Imasu at 447km/280mi from Edo is now a section of Sekigahara town. It is reached after a small pass and it was a small station, used mainly by travellers blocked during the winter storms. Mt.Ibuki culminating at 1400m/5000ft, just north of the station is located between the Biwa Lake and the Japanese Alps and is famous for having the worlds heaviest snowfalls. In 1927, over 12m/40ft of snow fell during the winter.

There were one honjin, one waki-honjin and 13 inns, but the only remains are two warehouses (tonya) in the centre of the village. There were built for the business brought by the Kurihan kaido, a secondary road linking Gifu and the cities of Kanazawa and Fukui on the coast on the Sea of Japan. The border post between the Mino and Omi Provinces is still standing near the village exit. It is now the boundary between the Gifu Prefecture to the East and the Shiga Prefecture to the West. Not far from the post, a monument to Matsuo Basho (1644-1694), the poet and traveler, has the reproduction of one of his handwritten haiku.