Arai-juku

Arai-juku was the thirty-first of the fifty-three stations of the Tōkaidō road, which connected Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and Kyoto during the Edo period in Japan. It was located in what is now present-day Kosai, Shizuoka Prefecture. Unusually, Arai-juku was a shukuba (post station) that included a sekisho (barrier station), the only one on the Tōkaidō. This sekisho, called the Arai Barrier, controlled traffic crossing Lake Hamana, allowing the Tokugawa shogunate to monitor and control the flow of people and goods, particularly women attempting to leave Edo and weapons entering. The barrier was primarily concerned with preventing the smuggling of firearms and the unauthorized movement of women out of Edo, a policy enforced to maintain control over the daimyō (feudal lords) and prevent potential conspiracies against the shogunate. The Arai Barrier remained in operation until 1869, after the Meiji Restoration. Today, a reconstructed Arai Barrier exists as a museum.