小田原町

About this photo

This photo shows the streets of Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture. It appears in Nihon no Meisho (Famous Sights of Japan), published in 1900 (Meiji 33). The title does not tell us which part of town is shown.

Odawara thrived in the Warring States period as the castle town of the Hojo clan. In the Edo period it was home to Odawara-juku, the ninth of the 53 post stations of the Tokaido. It was the first castle town on the road out of Edo, and it was busy with travelers getting ready to cross the Hakone mountains. But when the Tokaido Line opened in 1889 (Meiji 22), it avoided the steep coast and ran along what is now the Gotemba Line. Odawara was left off the main line, and its inns are said to have closed one after another. In 1900, the year this book came out, the horse-drawn railway linking Kozu Station with Odawara and Yumoto was converted to electric trains.

Odawara Castle was abandoned in 1870 (Meiji 3), and many of its buildings were torn down. In 1920 (Taisho 9) the railway reached Odawara and Odawara Station opened, and in 1960 the castle keep was rebuilt. Today the castle site is a National Historic Site, and many people come looking for traces of the old castle town and post town.

Glossary