Hakone Sekisho

Author: Richard Perkins
Photos/Videos Taken: 2021/05/18
Address: 1 Hakone, Hakone-machi,
Ashigarashimo-gun, Kanagawa,【250-0521】

In the city of Hakone, Kanagawa prefecture there was once a place that was referred to as the 箱根関所 (hakone sekisho). Once a principal road in Japan, the Tōkaidō highway is a road that runs from Tokyo to Kyoto prefecture. Sekisho were built all across Japan to keep an eye on who was coming and going to various parts of the country. The Hakone Sekisho was set up to keep an eye on those who were coming and going via the Tōkaidō highway. Those who passed through any of the Sekisho underwent an investigation, and the 出女 (deonna), women who were leaving Edo (Tokyo), in particular, underwent a harsh investigation at the Hakone Sekisho.

To pass through any one of the Sekisho in Japan, a 通行手形 (tsukō-tegata), a note that served as evidence that one was allowed to pass through, was required. The Sekisho across Japan are what we might consider modern-day customs at an airport that one has to pass through when going abroad. A tsukō-tegata is what nowadays may be referred to as a passport.

The Hakone Sekisho was originally built back in 1619. Over about 260 years, the Japanese government used the Hakone Sekisho as a way to keep an eye on a large number of Japanese people. In 1869, just after the 江戸幕府 (edo bakufu), or the Tokugawa shogunate in the Edo period (1603-1868), collapsed, each of the Sekisho across Japan were discontinued. The Hakone Sekisho too closed its doors.

The Hakone Sekisho that exists now is not what was originally built. The one that stands today is a reconstruction that was completed in 2007 based upon some very detailed historical documents.

It’s unclear what color clothing those that worked at the Hakone Sekisho actually wore, so all of the statues of the government officials and so on placed here have deliberately been made gray (being portrayed with no color).