Mariko-juku

Mariko-juku in the 1830s, as depicted by Hiroshige in The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō

Mariko-juku (鞠子宿, Mariko-juku) was the twentieth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is located in what is now part of Suruga Ward in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It can also be written as 丸子宿 (Mariko-juku).

History

Mariko-juku was one of the smallest post stations on the Tōkaidō. Old row-houses from the Edo period can be found between Mariko-juku and Okabe-juku, its neighboring post station, in Utsuinotani. This post town also had strong ties to the Minamoto, Imagawa and Tokugawa clans.

The classic ukiyoe print by Ando Hiroshige (Hoeido edition) from 1831-1834 depicts two travellers at a wayside teahouse, from which another traveller has just departed.

Neighboring post towns

Tōkaidō

Fuchū-shuku - Mariko-juku - Okabe-juku

Further reading

• Carey, Patrick. Rediscovering the Old Tokaido:In the Footsteps of Hiroshige. Global Books UK (2000). ISBN 1-901903-10-9
• Chiba, Reiko. Hiroshige's Tokaido in Prints and Poetry. Tuttle. (1982) ISBN 0-8048-0246-7
• Taganau, Jilly. The Tokaido Road: Travelling and Representation in Edo and Meiji Japan. RoutledgeCurzon (2004). ISBN 0-415-31091-1