Walking along the Koshu Kaido | Discovering many zelkova trees! | Fuda 5 Shuku-Fuchu

植物の名前を知っていると、散歩が楽しくなるので、常日頃から植物の名前を覚えたいと思っています。でも、人の名前も覚えられないのに、木や草の名前は更に覚えられません。

今回の散歩はケヤキだらけだったので、ケヤキだけはだいぶ分かるようになりました。

ただし、葉のついていないケヤキという条件付きです。

Fuda 5 Shuku

Shibasaki station entrance

I started a walk from Shibasaki station. It is less than 300m to Koshu Kaido.

It is a splendid row of trees. It looks like zelkova.

Kyu Koshu Kaido entrance

An intersection called the Kyu Koshu Kaido entrance appeared near Kokuryo Station.

The old Koshu Kaido extends to the left. National highway No. 20 is lined with zelkova trees.

Kondo Isami Statue

Near Nishichofu Station, there is Saikou-ji Temple about 50m before the point passing under the Chuo Expressway, and I found a statue of Kondo Isami in it! I took a picture without knowing why there was a statue. Now, if you look at the picture again, the flag says the birthplace. I see, that’s why there was a statue.

Fuchu-juku

Stylish road signs on Shinagawa Kaido

About 300 meters after crossing the Seibu-Tamagawa line, the road straight ahead at the Fudoson-mae intersection is the so-called old Koshu Kaido. If you turn left here, you will find yourself on the old Koshu Kaido. Today, I wanted to see Tsunekyu Ichirizuka, so I turned left onto the old Koshu Kaido. This road is also called Shinagawa Kaido. There was a stylish road sign at the intersection near Tamareien Station.

It seems that the Kurayami Festival at Okunitama Shrine starts with drawing salt water from Shinagawa to purify the shrine, and this Shinagawa Kaido is used as the route to transport the water.

Remains of Jokyu Ichirizuka

A stone monument was placed at the site of the Ichirizuka in Jokyu, the seventh Ichirizuka from Nihonbashi.

Okunitama Shrine

This is Okunitama Shrine. It was still early in the new year, so it was crowded with people paying their first visit to the shrine.

Fuchu-cho road-origin marker

In front of the shrine, there was a Fuchu-cho road-origin marker.

The road-origin marker is a sign indicating the beginning and end of a road, so it must indicate the starting point of the Kokubunji-kaido road (lined with zelkova trees) extending to the north.

Stone monument at the entrance of the zelkova trees

This is a stone monument at the entrance of the zelkova trees. It says that Tokugawa Ieyasu donated a horse stable on both sides of the zelkova trees, and the inscription says, “From here to Ichino-torii, five chous over and left and right, during Keizai years, donated stable. 5 chous is about 545 meters, and the Ichino-torii was probably located around the intersection of the zelkova trees to the north.

Statue of  Hachiman Taro Minamoto Yoshiie

Incidentally, the zelkova trees were first planted by Minamoto no Yoshiie, who donated 1,000 trees, and then by Tokugawa Ieyasu. Thanks to the generosity of these donors, zelkova trees are still treasured in the area from Chofu to Fuchu.

Walking data

Course: Keio Line Shibasaki Station -> Nunda 5 Shuku -> Fuchu Shuku -> Keio Line Fuchu Station
Distance: 10.1km
Time: 2h