Hakone Sekisho

The Hakone Sekisho features a dark, wooden gatehouse guarded by a high-walled courtyard and a series of steep, stone-lined paths. During the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate maintained this checkpoint to control travel along the Tokaido road. Officials watched for guns entering the capital and for the wives of feudal lords attempting to escape their required residence in the city. When a traveler arrived, they endured rigorous inspections of their travel permits and physical examinations of their hidden belongings before passing through.