Okitsu-juku

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

Okitsu-juku (興津宿, Okitsu-juku) was the seventeenth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is located in what is now part of the Shimizu-ku area of Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.

History

Okitsu-juku was established in 1601, just before the beginning of the Edo period. At its peak, there were approximately 316 buildings and 1,668 people. Among the buildings were two honjin, two sub-honjin and 34 hatago. It was a little over 11 kilometers from the preceding post station, Yui-shuku.

The classic ukiyoe print by Ando Hiroshige (Hoeido edition) from 1831-1834 depicts two sumo wrestlers being carried across the Okitsu River, one on a packhorse and the other in a kago.

Neighboring post towns

Tōkaidō

Yui-shuku - Okitsu-juku - Ejiri-juku

Further reading

• Carey, Patrick. Rediscovering the Old Tokaido:In the Footsteps of Hiroshige. Global Books UK (2000). ISBN 1901903109
• Chiba, Reiko. Hiroshige's Tokaido in Prints and Poetry. Tuttle. (1982) ISBN 0804802467
• Taganau, Jilly. The Tokaido Road: Travelling and Representation in Edo and Meiji Japan. RoutledgeCurzon (2004). ISBN 0415310911