'Kinu-no-michi', There Is A Japanese Silk-Road Used In Early Modern Era in West Tokyo

As I mentioned a couple of times in my previous posts, Hachioji city had been famous for producing silk fabrics in old times. After Japan began trading with Western countries in the last years of the Samurai era, this area became prosperous with the export business of silk fablics. 

Although Japan was closed for more than 200 years until then, it appears that people in Hachioji were very open-minded and good at business. It didn't take long until they realized that the most efficient way to do their business was a direct trade with foreigners. They started visiting Yokohama Bay in Kanagawa prefecture which was one of the few bays opened to foreign countries at the time and selling their products to foreign buyers.

Hachioji silk fabric traders maintained the road connecting between Hachioji and Yokohama, and the route was named "Silk Road" later. They built buildings for their business along the road, and the road side business boomed a lot since they were making a large profit. They even had a guest house to invite their foreign customers to Hachioji though most Japanese in those days were not familiar with any foreign languages. Perhaps people at that time could communicate with foreigners much more positively than people of today? 

The silk business declined in this area and the "Silk Road" has been now abandoned. A big temple along the road, that had been thriving with silk traders at that time, was completely decayed and only the foundations are remaining as you can see in the photo on the right corner of the bottom row.

However, people can still enjoy the atmosphere of Samurai era road as you can see in the photos on the middle row. Moreover, there is a small museum exhibiting the history of silk fabric business in the area. The museum building is shown in the photos on the top row. The area isindeed a nice place for a historical walk!