Kisokaidô: Echigawa - Station 65

Utagawa Hiroshige - Series of the 69 Stations of the Kisokaido: Station Echigawa (67th print) (Echigawa)

© Trustees of the British Museum

Echigawa is the name of the station and the name of the river running through it. The station itself is not shown in the print, focused on the Miyuki-bashi Bridge (1) built in 1831 to replace a ferry service. The post (2) near the entrance of the bridge states むちんはしはし銭いらす “toll free crossing of the bridge”. In the foreground, a pair of itinerant priests (3) walks towards the bridge. Their faces are hidden by their basket-like hats. The one on the left carries a bamboo flute (4) protected by a cloth cover, in his sash. Their belongings are contained in a bundle carried on their back. A woman (5) leads an ox with loaded basket on his back and in the other directon, an old man and a child are heading towards the bridge where there is a number of other travellers. On the right is Mt.Wada and on the left, Mt.Kannonji where Oda Nobunaga built the famed Azuchi Castle.

This print was not modified.

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

View of Azuchi Castle with Echigawa in the foreground and Lake Biwa in the background

And now ?

Echigawa is now part of Aisho city. It was an important station and a commercial hub for the region. We are 480km/300mi from Edo and at 55km/36mi from Kyoto. For the travellers coming from Kyoto or Otsu, Echigawa was often the stop for the first or second night. There was one honjin, two waki-honjin and 28 inns. Echigawa is still an active city. Halfway towards Musa, the next station lies the village of Goka-sho where merchants and entrepreneurs (such as Tonomura Uhei, Tonomura Shigeru et Nakae Jungoro) who became rich, thanks to textiles or trading built large mansions. These can be visited and reception rooms, old kitchens, attics and storage rooms (full of old luggage) and a superb collection of old dolls can be seen.

Echigawa is well known for its temari. Coming originally from China and introduced to Japan in the 15th century, temari (literally hand ball) are balls made from old kimonos and scraps of silk. First they were toys contening dry rice or a small bell, but over the years, they became good-luck charms, traditional New year gifts with more complex and finer decors.

The ruins of Azuchi Castle lie at the foothills of Mt.Kannonji, close to Echigawa. When it was built in 1575, it was a revolution in castle architecture. Before castles were purely defensive structures with keeps and walls. But Azuchi Castle has a 7-storey high tower and it is believed that at that time, it was the tallest wooden building in the world. The sixth floor was octagon-shaped and symbolized heaven. The 7^th floor was a square room with golden walls decorated with Taoist paintings. But this castle did not survive long after Nobunaga’s assassination and burned to the ground in 1590. A beautiful model was made for the 1992 Sevilla (Spain) World Expo and is now housed in Azuchi Museum.