28th Station: Mitsuke

This post station received its name, which means "with a view," because it was the first place from which Mount Fuji could be seen by travelers coming from Kyoto, although Mount Fuji cannot actually be seen in this rendering. In this scene, travelers are viewed standing on a sandbank waiting to board ferryboats in order to cross the Tenryu River. Since the river current at this point made it unsafe for wading across, travelers generally used the nearby Oi River, as it had a deeper channel and fewer difficult places to navigate. However, much like Shimada, whenever the Oi River overflowed, travel through the town became impossible.

Today, the Tokaido Road Shinkansen express train crosses the river in a few seconds.