Okitsu

• Japanese: 興津宿 (Okitsu juku)

Okitsu was the 17th post-station along the Tôkaidô highway. Today, the town is part of Shimizu Ward, Shizuoka City.

Okitsu is known as the setting of Oliver Statler's book Japanese Inn. The Minaguchi-ya waki-honjin (today a local history gallery) in the town was the "Inn" of the title. The town is also the site of the temple Seiken-ji, where Tokugawa Ieyasu had studied in his youth, where the Ryukyuan royal prince Shô Kô is buried, and where numerous Korean embassies had stayed overnight on their journeys to and from Edo. Two-time Prime Minister Saionji Kinmochi also maintained a villa known as Okitsu zagyosô in the town.

History

As early as the 7th century, Okitsu was the site of the Kiyomi-ga-seki checkpoint, a significant barrier or checkpoint along the ancient Tôkaidô. The temple Seiken-ji was founded in 679 on a hill overlooking the checkpoint;

Preceded by: Yui

Stations of the Tôkaidô

Succeeded by: Ejiri

References

• Gallery labels, Minaguchiya Gallery, Okitsu.[1]