10 Experiences Along Japan’s Edo Shogun Roads

Tokyo may be Japan’s most popular hotspot, buzzing with neon lights and nonstop energy, but if you want to dig deeper into the country’s history and culture, you should step off the modern path and follow the Edo Shogun Roads. We just followed this network of historic highways built during the Edo period to connect Tokyo (then called Edo) with the rest of Japan. On them we found quiet post towns, sacred mountains, centuries-old temples, local food traditions, and moments that felt like time travel. And this post highlights some of the best stops along these storied routes.

What are the Edo Shogun Roads

The Edo Shogun Roads refers to five major highways established by the Tokugawa shogunate to control travel and consolidate power across Japan. These included the famous Tōkaidō, Nakasendō, Kōshū Kaidō, Ōshū Kaidō, and Nikkō Kaidō.

These historic routes, officially called the Edo Shogun Roads, once stitched Japan together during the Edo period (1603–1867). They were the arteries of the country, connecting Edo, now modern-day Tokyo, to distant provinces through a network of five main highways and countless side roads. Daimyo processions, pilgrims, merchants, and monks all traveled these roads. And where people traveled, towns bloomed. These sleepy villages have turned into thriving post towns filled with inns, teahouses, sake breweries, and shops.

Today, modern highways and rail lines often follow the same paths. Which means you can still travel them.

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Places to Visit on and Near the Edo Shogun Roads

Visit the Ōyama Afuri Shrine 

About two hours from Tokyo, Mount Ōyama rises like a pyramid from the landscape, its peak often wrapped in mist. It’s been worshipped since the Jōmon period, long before the Edo roads even existed, but during the Edo era, Ōyama Afuri Shrine became the pilgrimage. At its height, as many as 200,000 people climbed this mountain in a single summer.

Getting there today still feels ceremonial. You walk uphill past shop-lined streets selling local snacks and souvenirs, climbing staircases dotted with trivia questions (which, frankly, felt like encouragement disguised as education). Then you board the Ōyama Cable Car — a steep, six-minute ascent that replaces what was once a serious physical ordeal.

The shrine itself is layered with meaning. Founded over 2,200 years ago and associated with rain, agriculture, and protection, it was especially beloved by Edo-period firefighters, farmers, and fishermen. During my visit, I pulled an umbrella fortune (it turned out to be a good one!), filled my water bottle with sacred spring water believed to bring prosperity and long life, and stood looking out at views pilgrims once prayed beneath.

Matcha Tiramisu With a View at Saryo Sekison

Right next to the lower shrine is Saryo Sekison, a teahouse named after the sacred stone worshipped here. Sitting on the terrace with matcha tiramisu and tea, overlooking Sagami Bay on a clear day, felt like a modern reward at the end of an ancient journey.

They even brew their coffee using the shrine’s sacred spring water! If you go, get there early. The matcha tiramisu sells out, and I would hate for that heartbreak to be on my conscience.

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Have a 5-Course Tofu Meal at Wachuso

At the base of the mountain, we stopped for lunch at Wachsuo, one of the oldest tofu restaurants on Mt. Ōyama and known as the birthplace of Oyama tofu. During the Edo period, travelers ate tofu here to fuel up before making the pilgrimage up the mountain, and after sitting down to their five-course tofu tasting meal, I completely understood why.

The menu showed just how versatile tofu can be, from silky goma tofu topped with mountain vegetables and a touch of wasabi to warm, comforting dishes like tofu cooked with bamboo shoots and shiitake mushrooms. There’s something special about eating the same food that pilgrims relied on centuries ago, especially in a place that still feels deeply rooted in its history.

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Sankeien Garden

Created by businessman Hara Sankei, this 175,000-square-meter garden in Yokohama instantly slows you down. Historic buildings were carefully moved to Sankeien Garden from Kyoto, Kamakura, and other regions, many dating back to the Edo period, including a three-story pagoda that’s more than 550 years old. Wandering the paths across bridges, past ponds, and under lingering autumn leaves felt calm just like a Japanese garden should be.

Sankeien is split into two distinct areas, and I loved how different they feel. The Outer Garden, which opened to the public in 1906, is all about wide-open views and seasonal color, with irises, cherry trees, lotus flowers and a dramatic pagoda from Kyoto’s Toumyoji Temple. There is also Rinshunkaku, a villa building that was originally constructed about 350 years ago by the Kishu Tokugawa family and later relocated and often likened to Kyoto’s Katsura Imperial Villa for its refined design.

While there, we also stopped at Sankeien Saryo, a small teahouse by the Oike Pond, and it ended up being one of my favorite moments in the garden. We ordered skewers of chewy, hand-baked dango (a classic Japanese sweet made from rice flour) in seasonal flavors like pumpkin, chestnut, and sweet potato, along with matcha and roasted green tea.

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Stay at Hotel Isobe Garden

Hotel Isobe Garden is located in a hot spring town about 1.5 hours from Tokyo and is the perfect homebase to explore it. But, from the popular onsen to the traditional meals, you don’t even have to leave the hotel to experience the rich Japanese culture. You can start with soaking in their relaxing onsen, then slip into a yukata for a traditional multi-course kaiseki dinner that feels like an experience all on its own. We had about 20 different items at our kaiseki dinner!

The hotel is known as the setting of the Japanese folktale Shita-kiri Suzume (“The Tongue-Cut Sparrow”), and it leans all the way into that storybook energy. So after dinner, wander the lobby, catch the charming folk tale performance, and really lean into that old-Japan ryokan vibe.

The rooms vary on luxury level, ours was very traditional with tatami mats, sliding doors, and a Usui River view. In the morning, breakfast was a buffet feast fill with Western and Japanese options. Afterward step out into the tiny town to watch bakers make the local isobe senbei by hand. These thin rice crackers are grilled in the windows of the shops right in front of you. It’s a local specialty that’s been made here for generations.

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Shorinzan Darumaji Temple

Shorinzan Darumaji Temple has been around since 1697, and it’s believed to be where Japan’s lucky daruma dolls were born. The dolls are round, red and slightly grumpy-looking, but they are very serious about your goals. These little figures are all about intention. You color in one eye when you make a wish, then fill in the second once it comes true. At the end of the year, people bring them back here to be ceremonially burned, a quiet reset before starting again.

The temple grounds are crowded with daruma in every size and shade, each color carrying its own meaning, though red, for general good fortune, is the classic choice. There’s also a small museum tucked away that shows more unusual designs, which I loved because it reminds you how playful tradition can be. If you’re here in early January, the Daruma Market Festival turns the place lively, with locals choosing their dolls for the year ahead.

But the moment that stayed with me most came after wandering the grounds. I joined a daruma painting workshop where we all painted our own dolls and included a wish written in Japanese. Then a monk performed a short blessing ceremony, and painted one eye on the daruma so the wishes would be more likely to come true. 

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Lake Yamanaka in a Swan boat 

Yes, we rode a boat shaped like a swan. And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Lake Yamanaka sits closest to Mount Fuji of all the Fuji Five Lakes, and gliding across the water with Fuji quietly looming behind us is definitely bucket list worthy. But, what even makes it more epic was that we did it in a boat shaped like a swan. 

And then there are the real swans too. They actually live on the lake and sometimes paddle right up to the boats, completely unfazed by humans. For 100 yen, you can buy a small bag of feed, which turns the whole outing into something unexpectedly joyful and slightly ridiculous in the best way.

For an extra special experience, you can bike the full loop around the lake in about an hour and a half to two hours, stopping at small shrines and quiet corners along the way, or head onto one of the nearby hiking trails for a bit of fresh air and perspective.

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Explore Saiko Iyashinosato Nenba

Saiko Iyashinosato Nenba is set near the shore of Lake Saiko with Mount Fuji rising quietly behind it, the village is made up of traditional thatched-roof houses that look like they belong to another century. And in a way, they do. This was once a real farming village, destroyed by a landslide during a typhoon in 1966. Forty years later, it was carefully rebuilt and reopened in 2006, as an open-air village meant to preserve everyday rural life. Only three of the buildings are original, but the rest were reconstructed with care.

Today, more than twenty houses line the paths, each repurposed as a small shop, gallery, museum, or café. You can step inside old-style homes with tatami floors, browse silk goods, ceramics, and local crafts, or watch artisans at work. Some houses offer hands-on workshops, things like metal engraving, kaleidoscope making, or decorative straps, all easy to join without reservations and surprisingly affordable. There’s even a studio where you can rent a kimono and take photos with Mount Fuji in the background.

We spent an afternoon wandering, ducking into shops, and eventually stopping at the café, where I ordered a strawberry pudding shaped like a pig. It sounds silly. It was perfect. 

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Explore Daigahara-juku

Daigahara-juku is a preserved town along a stretch of the Kōshū Kaidō, one of the most important highways of the Edo period, where travelers once stopped to rest on their way between Edo and the surrounding provinces.

The main street itself is recognized as one of Japan’s “100 Best Roads,” and it’s easy to see why. Old wooden buildings line the route, sake breweries and traditional shops sit quietly in place, and nothing feels rushed. This was once a busy post town, filled with inns serving merchants, officials, and pilgrims, and thanks to careful preservation by local residents, it still carries that sense of purpose. 

One of the highlights was visiting Shichiken, a sake brewery founded in 1750 that has been producing smooth, elegant sake here for more than 300 years. Here you can do a sake tasting, but also see where Emperor Meiji once stayed overnight in the brewery’s wooden building during his 1880 imperial tour of Yamanashi. Inside, the former imperial lodging, now known as Anzaisho, still holds beautifully carved fanlights depicting the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, a gift that inspired the brewery’s name. There’s also a small exhibition space, Denso-gura, housed in a renovated rice storehouse, where rotating seasonal displays feature artworks and documents passed down through the Kitahara family, including items connected to the emperor.

Also, tucked just off the main road is a Buddhist temple built in 1604, where I sat quietly for a short unplanned meditation with a monk. Pair that with nearby Shinto shrines and the gentle pace of the town, it made Daigahara-juku feel less like a stop on an itinerary and more like a pause in time.

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Samurai Experience at Oshi Castle

At Oshi Castle in Gyoda, about an hour and forty-five minutes from Tokyo, I did something I never thought I’d do in Japan. I put on full samurai armor and walked the grounds of a castle that dates back to the Muromachi period and that’s now a designated Japanese Heritage Site. 

The samurai experience is run out of the Oshijo Bus Terminal Tourist Information Center, where you can choose from three levels. The Ume Plan is a lighter introduction, with helmet, chest armor, and sword. With this entry level plan it gives you the feel of being a samurai without the weight or layering of a full traditional outfit. The Take Plan goes further, adding traditional garments like a kosode, hakama, and tabi socks for a more immersive look. We chose the Matsu Plan, which includes a professional photographer, and I’m glad we did., because we got about 30 photos!

The staff took their time suiting us up piece by piece, explaining what everything was and how it was worn. The full transformation happens slowly, and by the end, you’re acutely aware of the weight and structure of what samurai once carried every day. The best part is that you leave with beautifully shot photos, and bragging rights!

➞ You can book your visit here: gyoda-kankoukyoukai.jp

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Eat Jelly Fries at Sanpomichi Restaurant

Sanpomichi is a cozy, homey spot near the ancient tombs in Gyoda, known for serving traditional Japanese comfort foods — including the area’s famous jelly fries. Despite the name, they’re not jelly at all. The nickname comes from their oval “koban” gold-coin shape. These croquette-like bites are made from okara and potato, mixed with carrots and green onions, giving them a chewy texture that locals love. The dish traces back to Gyoda City and has been a favorite since the late Meiji period.

For lunch, we had a set with udon, tempura, and those iconic jelly fries. Everything was delicious, but the jelly fries totally stole the show.

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Visit Zenkoji Temple

Founded in 642,Zenkoji Temple is one of Japan’s most important Buddhist sites. Its main image, known as the Image of Sangoku Denrai, is believed to have come from India via Korea and has been hidden from public view since 654 — and yet, thousands come to worship it.

While we were there, we joined the Zenkoji Sutra Copying Experience, and it ended up being one of the most meaningful moments of the trip. Sitting quietly, brush in hand, we carefully transcribed part of a sutra (a Buddhist scripture), beginning with the words “I take refuge in Buddha.” Afterward, we added our names and a personal wish. 

A monk explained the spiritual meaning behind the practice, and suddenly it wasn’t about perfect characters or neat lines. It was about intention. 

➞ Zenkoji is an easy visit from Nagano Station, about a 25-minute walk or a short local bus ride.

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Visit Hokusai Museum

Obuse is a small town in Nagano and where Katsushika Hokusai spent his later years, well into his 80s, creating what many consider the culmination of his career. By the time he arrived here in the 1840s, he was already famous for Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, including that wave you definitely would recognize. But Obuse gave him something quieter and more focused, thanks to the support of local merchant and patron Takai Kozan.

The Hokusai-kan Museum, which opened in 1976, centers on this period. Inside, you’ll find original paintings, woodblock prints, hanging scrolls, and nishiki-e, along with two extraordinary festival floats whose ceilings Hokusai painted himself. Standing beneath them, you can’t help but think about the fact that these were created by a man in his mid-80s, still experimenting, still pushing himself. 

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Pay Respects to the Samurai at Sengakuji Temple

Paying respects at Sengakuji Temple felt like the quiet, emotional full stop to our journey along the old Edo Shogun Roads. These historic routes all led to Edo, now Tokyo, and standing here made that history feel very real. Sengakuji, founded in 1612 by Tokugawa Ieyasu, belongs to the Sōtō Zen school and has long been a place of learning and reflection. Today, it sits in a calm, almost nostalgic neighborhood near Shinagawa, far removed from the neon and noise most people associate with Tokyo.

The temple is best known as the resting place of the 47 rōnin, the masterless samurai who avenged their lord, Asano Naganori, in 1703 after he was ordered to commit seppuku. Their story of loyalty and honor is one of Japan’s most enduring legends, and you can feel the weight of it as you walk through the small graveyard, lighting incense and watching others quietly bow in respect. It is solemn, simple, and deeply moving in a way that surprised me.

If you happen to visit on December 14, the experience becomes even more memorable during the Ako Gishi Festival, held each year on the anniversary of the rōnin’s revenge. The temple fills with people honoring the samurai, the air thick with incense smoke, while food stalls line the streets outside selling things like yakitori, okonomiyaki, karaage, and fluffy Japanese sponge cake. 

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