{"id":65307,"date":"2020-07-18T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-18T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/?p=65307"},"modified":"2021-04-20T21:02:43","modified_gmt":"2021-04-20T12:02:43","slug":"hiking-hakone-hachiri-tokaido-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/voyapon.com\/hiking-hakone-hachiri-tokaido-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Hiking Hakone Hachiri Along Part of the Tokaido Road"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Roughly an hour and a half away from central Tokyo<\/a> lie Hakone<\/a><\/strong>, a favourite day trip or weekend getaway for locals and tourists alike. Famed for its hot springs<\/a>, its beautiful nature, and if you\u2019re lucky with the weather, glorious views of Mt Fuji.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Views
Views of Mt Fuji & Hakone Shrine (from Hakone Hachiri<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What few visitors know is that Hakone was part of the ancient highway called the Tokaido Road<\/a><\/strong> <\/strong><\/a>which connected the old capital of Kyoto to modern Tokyo (formerly called Edo). The route between Odawara Station (\u5c0f\u7530\u539f\u99c5) and Mishima Station (\u4e09\u5cf6\u99c5) via Hakone is known as Hakone Hachiri<\/strong><\/a>, named for the distance of 32kms between the two stations. Hachi <\/em>\u516b means 8 in Japanese, and ri <\/em>is a unit of distance equal to approximately 4kms. Hakone Hachiri has recently been declared a Japan Heritage<\/a> Area<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlights of hiking Hakone Hachiri include sipping amazake<\/em> <\/strong>(\u7518\u9152) from Amazake Chaya<\/a>, walking the quiet paths of Cedar Avenue<\/strong>, visiting Hakone Checkpoint<\/strong>, exploring the interesting Yamanaka Castle Ruins<\/strong>, following the Genbegawa<\/strong> and enjoying the beauty of Mishima Taisha<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Stop at Amazake Chaya, A Historic and Traditional Tea House<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The first stop along the Hakone Hachiri trail is a visit to the historic<\/strong> Amazake Chaya<\/strong>. One of the few remaining traditional tea houses<\/strong> left along the Tokaido, Amazake Chaya has been serving travellers along the Tokaido for four centuries<\/strong>. Amazake<\/em> is a traditional low or non-alcoholic sweet Japanese beverage made from fermented rice. The natural sweetness derives from the glucose of the rice, rather than added sugar. The tea house is run by Yamamoto-san, the 13th generation manager, and his wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n