The , sometimes translated as "Five Highways", were the five centrally administered routes, or
kaido, that connected the capital of
Japan at
Edo (now
Tokyo) with the outer provinces during the
Edo period (1603 – 1868). The most important of the routes was the
Tokaido, which linked Edo and
Kyoto.
Tokugawa Ieyasu started the
construction of these five routes to increase his control over the country in 1601, but it was
Tokugawa Ietsuna, the 4th
shogun of the
Tokugawa shogunate and Ieyasu's great-grandson, who declared them as major routes.
Post stations were set up along the route for travelers to rest and buy supplies. The routes thrived due to the policy of
sankin-kotai, that required the
daimyo, or regional rulers, to travel in alternate years along the routes to
Edo.