目川の里　石部　草津迄二り廿八丁

About this print

People with Western umbrellas, packhorses and rickshaws come and go on a road beneath two large pines. By the roadside is a stone marker post. Beyond the men with carrying poles on their shoulders, fields and distant mountains spread out. This is the village of Megawa, on the way from the Ishibe post town to the Kusatsu post town. It is a print published in 1875 (Meiji 8), from Utagawa Hiroshige III's Tokai Meisho Kaisei Dochuki (Famous Places of the Tokaido, Revised Travel Guide). The National Diet Library titles it Kaisei Gojusan Eki (The Fifty-three Stations, Revised).

Megawa was known for nameshi dengaku, dengaku (grilled tofu with miso) served with nameshi (rice mixed with chopped greens), and it was a favorite of travelers on the Tokaido. In the Kanpo era (1741 to 1744), it is said, shops serving Megawa's nameshi dengaku became popular in Edo, and from there the dish spread along the highway.

Megawa is in what is now the city of Ritto, Shiga Prefecture. It is much closer to the next stop, Kusatsu, than to Ishibe.

Glossary