Ishibe-juku
History. Ishibe-juku was originally formed in 1571, when Oda Nobunaga formed the town of Ishibe (石部町 "Ishibe-machi") by joining the five nearby hamlets. In 1597, Toyotomi Hideyoshi further developed the post station to be used for the shipment of goods by travelers on their way to Zenkō-ji In Shinano Province. In the early Edo period, the system of post stations on the Tōkaidō was formalized by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1601, Ishibe-juku became an official post station. It was on the "sankin-kōtai" route by many western "daimyō" to-and-from the Shogun's  court in Edo. Ishibe-juku was a popular as the first night's stop for travelers en route from Kyoto to Edo. It is 457.5 kilometers from Edo and 38 kilometers from Kyoto. Per the 1843 guidebook issued by the , the town had a population of 929 in 458 houses, including two "honjin" (the Kojima Honjin and the Sandaiji Honjin), and 32 "hatago", and extended for 1.6 kilometers along the highway. It had one "Tonyaba", for the stabling of packhorses and warehousing of goods, and one "kōsatsu" for the display of official notifications. In 1864, Shogun Tokugawa Iemochi, stayed at  Ishibe-juku, though his visit was preceded in 1863 by Tokugawa Yoshinobu, who later became the fifteenth and final "shōgun" of Japan. Both stayed at the Kojima-honjin. Modern Ishiba-juku. Modern Ishibe-juku is poorly-preserved, as most of its buildings have been lost to modern redevelopment. The is an open-air museum with a number of preserved and reconstructed farmhouses, tea houses and shops. It is connected with the operated by Konan City. Both facilities are located a couple of kilometers from the site of the original Ishiba-juku. Ishibe-juku in "The Fifty-three Stations of the  Tōkaidō". Utagawa Hiroshige's "ukiyo-e" "Hōeidō" edition print of Ishibe-juku dates from 1833 -1834. The print does not actually show the post station at all, but instead shows a tea house called "Ise-ya", located at "Megawa no Sato", which was on the highway between Kusatsu-juku and Ishiba-juku, but actually closer to Kusatsu-juku. This shop was famous for its "tokoroten", a gelatinous sweet made from agar, and "kuromitsu", a black sugar syrup. A group of travelers are dancing and cavorting in front of the shop while three women with traveling hats and walking sticks look  on in amusement. A couple of other travelers, heavily laden, are some distance further down the road.