| The chief roadways of the [[Edo period]] were the so-called ''Gokaidô'' 五街道, or "Five Highways." These included four major highways which started at [[Nihonbashi]] in [[Edo]] (modern Tokyo), one more which branched off of these, and eight auxiliary roads. | | The chief roadways of the [[Edo period]] were the so-called ''Gokaidô'' 五街道, or "Five Highways." These included four major highways which started at [[Nihonbashi]] in [[Edo]] (modern Tokyo), one more which branched off of these, and eight auxiliary roads. |
− | The system contained 248 [[post-stations]], or ''shukuba'', which ranged in their spacing; in some parts, it was roughly 12.1 km from one station to the next, while in other parts it was only around 4.2 km.<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), 90-105.</ref> | + | The system contained fifty-three ''[[sekisho]]'' (barriers, or checkpoints), and 248 [[post-stations]], or ''shukuba'', which ranged in their spacing; in some parts, it was roughly 12.1 km from one station to the next, while in other parts it was only around 4.2 km.<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), 90-105.</ref> |