Hakone Pass was added to Your Favorites!
Fuji-Hakone-Izu NP, Kanagawa / Shizuoka
Claim this place to tell your story your way.
Before 1680, rain could leave the old Tokaido over Hakone Pass ankle-deep in mud, despite bamboo laid as footing. The shogunate spent more than 1,406 gold ryō to pave it in stone, about 3.6 m wide.
The 32-km “Hakone Eight Ri” climbed from Mishima, about 25 m above sea level, to Hakone Pass at 846 m, then descended to Odawara, about 10 m. The route’s western and eastern halves were called Nishi-zaka and Higashi-zaka.
In 1604, the Tokugawa shogunate replaced the older Ashigara route with a new Tokaido crossing over Hakone Pass. The mountain route became a main link between eastern and western Japan during the centuries of Edo-period travel.
A local heritage account says the old road’s two slopes served different defensive purposes: the ridge-like western approach helped spot intruders, while the eastern route through valleys was suited to resisting them. Hakone Pass joined the two.
The roadside station at Hakone Pass serves its namesake Hakone Pass soba topped with kamaboko, the fish cake for which neighboring Odawara is famous. It’s a local food link between the mountain crossing and the coast.
The roadside station at Hakone Pass opened on May 30, 1995, as Kanagawa Prefecture’s first Michi-no-Eki. It stands on National Route 1 at the Shizuoka prefectural border—a modern stop on a crossing used for centuries.
