22nd Station: Fuji-jeda

Fujieda was a castle town as well as one of the relay stations. In this scene a small party of messengers and porters has stopped outside a rest house in order to change horses and luggage handlers. Relay stations, like this one, enabled the rapid transmission of high priority messages and goods between Edo and Kyoto. At the back of the group well-dressed officials oversee the activity and make note of the porterage fees in a record book.

In addition to being a post station on the Tokaido this location also served as a rest stop along the intersecting Unuma Road, which ran to the salt-producing area of Sagara.