Shimada-juku

As part of the outer defenses of the capital of Edo, the Tokugawa shogunate expressly forbid the construction of any bridge or ferry service over the Ōi River, forcing travelers to wade across its shallows.

[1] The classic ukiyo-e print by Andō Hiroshige (Hōeidō edition) from 1831 to 1834 depicts travelers crossing the shallows and sand banks of the Ōi River.

The site of the post town is located approximately two kilometers west of present-day Shimada Station on the JR East Tokaido Main Line.

The number of people making the crossing each day was estimated at 350 in the early Edo period, growing to more than 650 by the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate.

The magistrate's office has been relocated from its original site due to construction of the modern highway, but the structure itself is in good preservation.

Shimada-juku in the 1830s, as depicted by Hiroshige in The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō