Imasu-juku
History. Imasu-juku was located on the ancient Tōsandō highway connecting the capital of Heian-kyō with the provinces of eastern Japan, and near the border of Ōmi Province with Mino Province. In the early Edo period, the system of post stations on the Nakasendō was formalized by the Tokugawa shogunate in 1602, and it was a stopping place for traveling merchants () who originated from Ōmi Province. It was also on the "sankin-kōtai" route used by various western "daimyō" to-and-from the Shogun's court in Edo. It was also on the Kurihangaidō (九里半街道), a trade  road that connected the northwestern shores of Lake Biwa with Obama. Imasu is 447 kilometers from Edo. Nearby Sekigahara Pass has some of the heaviest snowfalls in Japan, and travelers trapped by early snowfall in autumn were forced to spend time at Imazu until the road became passable. Per the 1843 guidebook issued by the , the town had a population of 1784 people in 464 houses, including one "honjin", two "waki-honjin," and 13 "hatago". Following the Meiji restoration, traffic on the Nakasendō all but disappeared; prices increased and in 1969 after a bad harvest, the peasants around Imazu rose  in revolt, demanding debt cancellation and the release of stored rice to avoid famine. The station official appealed to Ōgaki Domain, which sent troops to suppress the uprising by force. This was an indication of how Imasu-juku, once quite prosperous, had declined. Imasu-juku in "The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō". Utagawa Hiroshige's "ukiyo-e" print of Imasu-juku dates from 1835 -1838. The print emphasizes the location by depicting a border post proclaiming "Mino-Ōmi border". A traveller stops to read this inscription while another gets a light for his pipe from a man seated  in front of a teahouse. Above him is a sign promoting “bien Sennjoko”, a cosmetic produced by the patron who subsidized this print series. Farther down the road is a man with two barrels wrapped in straw suspended by a pole over his shoulder, and there are shops for traveller's necessities, such as straw hats and sandals. Several travellers also arriving from the other direction, indicating the busy nature of this post station. In the plains below, crops have been harvested, indicating that the setting is autumn.