| 19th Station: Fuchu |
| History |
Fuchu was a castle town established by Tokugawa Ieyasu who established the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1868). Fuchu literally means the center of politics. After retiring his job as 1st shogun in the Edo period, he moved from Edo (now Tokyo) to this place and lived there for 10 years, during the rest of his life. After his death, there were almost no feudal lords in Fuchu throughout the Edo period though it had been a castle town.
After Taisee Hokan or the Restoration of the Imperial Rule in 1968 (see the Meiji Restoration), the last shogun, Tokugawa Yoshinobu also lived in Fuchu for 30 years.
Fuchu is also well known as a birth place of Jippensha Ikku, the author of Tokaidochu Hizakurige, consisting of funny stories about travel experiences of two people during their trip on the Tokaido highway.
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| Ejiri |
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| Mariko |
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| Tokaido route |