Kiga Checkpoint

photo by Abasaa · Pubblico dominio (dedica dell'autore)

A checkpoint from 1601 on the ‘road of the princesses’, rebuilt in 1990.

In the main hall visitors walk among life-size dioramas that recreate the Edo-period inspections on the Himekaidō, the ‘road of the princesses’: a detour from the Tōkaidō used above all by women, to avoid the stricter inspections at the Arai Checkpoint. You can also hire a kimono for the visit. On the last Saturday of March the princesses' costume procession sets out from here.

Kiga Checkpoint was set up in 1601 on the Himekaidō (姫街道, ‘road of the princesses’, the popular name for the Honsaka-dōri): an alternative to the Tōkaidō that avoided the Arai Checkpoint, and which women travellers preferred in order to escape the stricter inspections there. The building you visit today is a 1990 reconstruction.

ℹ️ Open 9:00–16:30 all year round (年中無休), with possible closures at the end of the year. Entry 200 yen for adults. Three minutes on foot from Kiga Station (Tenryū Hamanako Railway), or Entetsu bus line 40 from Hamamatsu. Car park at the nearby Rural Space Museum (田園空間博物館), not on site.

🚉 Kiga · 5 min walk

Sources: kigasekisho.com · kigasekisho.com · kigasekisho.com · ja.wikipedia.org · himesama.himekaido.com

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