A cluster of small roadside shrines near the Hakone Pass along the ancient stone-paved Tokaido road above Hatajuku. The Hakone crossing was notorious as the 'greatest barrier under heaven,' and travelers prayed at these shrines and stone Buddhas for safe passage. The cedar-lined cobblestone road and the Amazake-chaya teahouse — operating since the Edo period — preserve the atmosphere of the old hi…

The Hakone Pass area has long been a vital corridor linking eastern and western Japan. Around 1600, during the Keichō era, the Tokaido highway was formally developed, and the stone-paved road stretching from Hatajuku to the pass is said to have been laid out at that time. Roadside shrines and stone …