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Tōkaidō · Station 4 of 53

Hodogaya-juku 保土ヶ谷宿

Hodogaya-ku, Kanagawa, JapanAbout 32.4 km from Nihonbashi
Hodogaya-juku
Hodogaya-juku (保土ヶ谷宿) — woodblock printWoodblock print: Utagawa Hiroshige — from The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō (public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
Tōkaidō (東海道)Station 4 of 53 · Nihonbashi (Edo) → Kyoto
Present-day locationHodogaya-ku, Kanagawa, Japan
PrefectureKanagawa (Kanto region)
Distance from NihonbashiAbout 32.4 km (by the historical station tables)
Next stationTotsuka-juku — about 8.8 km on
Coordinates35.44403° N, 139.59556° E

Hodogaya-juku (程ヶ谷宿, Hodogaya-juku) was the fourth of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō. It is located in Hodogaya-ku in the present-day city of Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Occasionally, it is also written as 保土ヶ谷宿.

History

Hodogaya-juku was established in 1601, and it was the westernmost post station in Musashi Province during the Edo period. The honjin still belongs to the same family today as the one that owned it when it was first opened. Additionally, there is a stone Buddha statue that travelers often prayed to for safety while traveling along the Tōkaidō.

The classic ukiyo-e print by Andō Hiroshige (Hōeidō edition) from 1831 to 1834 depicts a bridge over a stream, with two porters carrying a closed kago towards a village on the other side. By the bridge is a soba restaurant with waitresses standing in front beckoning travellers to enter.

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Neighboring post towns

Tōkaidō
Kanagawa-juku - Hodogaya-juku - Totsuka-juku

Minor routes, including the Kanazawa-Kamakura-dō (金沢鎌倉道), the Hachiōji-dō (八王子道) and the Ōyama-dō (大山道), branched off of the Tōkaidō at Hodogaya-juku.

Text adapted from the English Wikipedia article Hodogaya-juku by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Station facts cross-checked with the road station lists (Japanese Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Wikidata (CC0).

More post towns in Kanagawa

← Tōkaidō No. 3 · Kanagawa-jukuTōkaidō No. 5 · Totsuka-juku →