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The Mino Road was a secondary road connecting the [[Tokaido|Tôkaidô]] and [[Nakasendo|Nakasendô]] highways, overseen by the ''[[dochu bugyo|dôchû bugyô]]'' (Highways Magistrate). As such, despite being a secondary road, it saw much traffic from prominent travelers and famous events, including ''daimyô'' on their ''[[sankin kotai|sankin kôtai]]'' missions to the capital, [[Ryukyuan embassy|Ryukyuan]] and [[Korean embassies to Edo]], and the ''[[chatsubo dochu|chatsubo dôchû]]'' caravan carrying [[Uji tea]] to the shogunate, as well as, on one occasion, an elephant being brought up to [[Edo]] from the [[Dejima|Dutch settlement]] in [[Nagasaki]]. The shogun himself traveled this road as well a number of times early in the [[Edo period]], when journeying between Edo and Kyoto.

The Mino Road was a secondary road connecting the [[Tokaido|Tôkaidô]] and [[Nakasendo|Nakasendô]] highways, overseen by the ''[[dochu bugyo|dôchû bugyô]]'' (Highways Magistrate). As such, despite being a secondary road, it saw much traffic from prominent travelers and famous events, including ''daimyô'' on their ''[[sankin kotai|sankin kôtai]]'' missions to the capital, [[Ryukyuan embassy|Ryukyuan]] and [[Korean embassies to Edo]], and the ''[[chatsubo dochu|chatsubo dôchû]]'' caravan carrying [[Uji tea]] to the shogunate, as well as, on one occasion, an elephant being brought up to [[Edo]] from the [[Dejima|Dutch settlement]] in [[Nagasaki]]. The shogun himself traveled this road as well a number of times early in the [[Edo period]], when journeying between Edo and Kyoto.

The road had seven "stations" along its route, around which inns and other facilities cropped up. The road began at Tarui-shuku on the Nakasendô, then split in two, leading two and a half ''[[ri]]'' and six ''chô'' to Ôgaki-shuku (1). Travelers then crossed the Ibi River by boat, and two ''ri'', fifty ''[[ken]]'' later arrived at Sunomata-shuku (2). Crossing the Nagara and Kiso Rivers by boat, the road went another two ''ri'', 17 ''chô'', and 25 ''ken'' before arriving at Okoshi-juku (3). Hagiwara-juku (4) was one ''ri'' later, and Inaba-juku (5) one and a half ''ri'' after that. One and a half ''ri'' beyond Inaba was Kiyosu-juku (6), followed by Nagoya-juku (7) two ''ri'' further down the road. Travelers could then walk one and a half ''ri'' from Nagoya to the Tôkaidô's Miya-juku, located near [[Atsuta Shrine]]. Each of these post-stations had, in [[1843]], an average of 13.7 ''[[hatagoya]]'' (commoner inns) and 2,836 residents.<ref name=gokaido>Constantine Vaporis, "Linking the Realm: The Gokaidô Highway Network in Early Modern Japan," in Susan Alcock et al (eds.) ''Highways Byways and Road Systems in the Pre-Modern World'', Wiley-Blackwell (2012), 94.</ref>

The road had seven "stations" along its route, around which inns and other facilities cropped up. The road began at Tarui-shuku on the Nakasendô, then split in two, leading two and a half ''[[ri]]'' and six ''chô'' to Ôgaki-shuku (1). Travelers then crossed the Ibi River by boat, and two ''ri'', fifty ''[[ken]]'' later arrived at Sunomata-shuku (2). Crossing the Nagara and Kiso Rivers by boat, the road went another two ''ri'', 17 ''chô'', and 25 ''ken'' before arriving at Oki-juku (3). Hagiwara-juku (4) was one ''ri'' later, and Inaba-juku (5) one and a half ''ri'' after that. One and a half ''ri'' beyond Inaba was Kiyosu-juku (6), followed by Nagoya-juku (7) two ''ri'' further down the road. Travelers could then walk one and a half ''ri'' from Nagoya to the Tôkaidô's Miya-juku, located near [[Atsuta Shrine]]. Each of these post-stations had, in [[1843]], an average of 13.7 ''[[hatagoya]]'' (commoner inns) and 2,836 residents.<ref name=gokaido>Constantine Vaporis, "Linking the Realm: The Gokaidô Highway Network in Early Modern Japan," in Susan Alcock et al (eds.) ''Highways Byways and Road Systems in the Pre-Modern World'', Wiley-Blackwell (2012), 94.</ref>

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