Walk on Japan

If you had stood on the bridge at Nihonbashi during the Edo period, you wouldn’t just see merchants and travelers. You would see something much more impressive — long processions of samurai moving through the city.

These were daimyo, the powerful regional lords of Japan, traveling to and from Edo under a system known as sankin-kotai, or “alternate attendance.” This system required each daimyo to spend every other year in Edo, while their family remained there permanently. On the surface, it looked like a bureaucratic rule. In reality, it was one of the most effective ways the Tokugawa shogunate maintained control over the country.

Each journey to Edo was a major event. Daimyo didn’t travel alone — they moved with large entourages that included hundreds of samurai, servants, and attendants. These processions stretched for long distances and followed the great highways of the time, especially routes like the Tokaido and the Nakasendo.

Travel wasn’t just about getting from one place to another. It was a display of power and status. The size of a procession reflected the wealth of a domain, and the costs were enormous. Maintaining residences in both Edo and their home provinces, along with the expense of travel, placed a heavy financial burden on the daimyo. This was exactly the point. By keeping the regional lords busy and financially strained, the shogunate reduced the risk of rebellion.

But sankin-kotai didn’t just control the daimyo — it also transformed Japan.

The constant movement of people along the roads helped develop and maintain the Five Roads of Edo. Post towns grew into busy centers filled with inns, restaurants, and shops catering to travelers. Merchants thrived by supplying goods and services to these large processions. Over time, these routes became vibrant cultural corridors where ideas, fashion, and information spread across the country.

The towns themselves had various types of lodging based on social status. They ranged from fancy lodging called Honjin which were used by high ranking people such as aristocrats and samurai to lodging called Hatago which were for regular travelers.

Edo itself changed as well. Because daimyo were required to spend so much time there, the city grew rapidly. It became one of the largest cities in the world during this period, filled with samurai, merchants, artisans, and laborers. What began as a political center evolved into a cultural and economic powerhouse — the foundation of modern Tokyo.

There was also a human side to all of this. For the samurai and attendants traveling these roads, the journeys were long and demanding. They faced changing weather, difficult terrain, and the routines of life on the road. At the same time, they experienced parts of Japan they might never have seen otherwise. In many ways, sankin-kotai helped create a shared sense of geography and culture across the country.

Today, it’s still possible to follow parts of these historic routes. Walking sections of roads like the Nakasendo gives a sense of what these journeys were like — moving from town to town, passing through landscapes that have changed surprisingly little over the centuries. Although parts of these historic routes have been swallowed up into surrounding towns and cities, some have been partially restored and a few have even been nearly restored.

Sankin-kotai may have started as a system of control, but its impact went far beyond politics. It shaped the roads, the cities, and the culture of Japan in lasting ways. And if you imagine those long processions passing through Nihonbashi, you can begin to see how movement — not just power — helped define the Edo period.

You too can walk along the same paths as the daimyo, samurai, servants, and travelers. Join one of Walk On Japan’s guided tours to experience these historic roads firsthand.