The Iwakura Mission was a Japanese embassy that sailed from Yokohama in 1871 and travelled through San Francisco, Liverpool, Sheffield and Windsor Castle on a two-year tour of the West.
From 1871 to 1873, about 50 government officials of the newly established Meiji government studied the political, military, economic and educational institutions of the United States and Europe. This route follows the British leg in detail: a textile mill near Bradford, a country house in Sheffield, Chatsworth, and an audience with Queen Victoria. The Yokohama, San Francisco and Liverpool pins mark the port or station area, not an exact landing spot.
Tamamo-no-Mae, the nine-tailed fox of Japanese legend, ends at the Sesshō-seki, the Killing Stone at Nasu, after a path through Yin Xu in China and Emperor Konoe's court in Kyoto.
The route follows the fox from Daji at the Shang court to the hunt on the Nasu plain, the poison stone and its scattered fragments. The legend names few exact places, so most pins are approximate.
Date Masamune, the One-Eyed Dragon, was born at Yonezawa Castle and ended his life as lord of Sendai. This route follows him through Yonezawa, Aizu, Iwadeyama, Sendai Castle, Zuigan-ji at Matsushima and his mausoleum at Zuihoden.
It covers the castles he took, rebuilt or founded between 1584 and 1636, and the temple and tomb that survive him. Most of the original buildings are gone, so several stops are sites or rebuilds.
In This Corner of the World is set in Hiroshima and Kure, Japan, during the Second World War. Suzu Urano grows up in Eba, sketches at the Atomic Bomb Dome building, and marries into a family in the naval port of Kure.
The route follows Fumiyo Kōno's story from Suzu's hometown of Eba to the Kure Naval Arsenal and Niko Park, where the Hōjō family goes to see the cherry blossoms in spring 1945. Kure's Hōjō home is only approximately placed.
The Satsuma Rebellion of 1877 began in Kagoshima, besieged Kumamoto Castle, was fought out at Tabaruzaka and ended on Shiroyama, where Saigō Takamori died. This route follows the samurai army from its first march to its last stand.
Six stops run from Kagoshima Castle through Kumamoto, Hitoyoshi and Mount Enodake and back to Kagoshima. Three are exact landmarks you can visit; the battlefield and retreat stops are approximate.
Sōseki's novel Kokoro is set between Kamakura, Zōshigaya Cemetery, Ueno Park, Nogi Shrine and Koishikawa in Tokyo. This route follows the student narrator and his mysterious teacher, "Sensei", through places the book names.
Starting at a summer beach in Kamakura, the route visits the cemetery where Sensei brings flowers each month, the cherry trees of Ueno, the Akasaka house of General Nogi, whose death in 1912 changes everything, and Koishikawa, where Sensei's story of K unfolds. Some stops are approximate, since the novel names districts, not addresses.
Sansho the Bailiff (Sanshō Dayū) follows Anju and Zushiō, two noble children sold into slavery, from Naoetsu in Niigata to Tango in northern Kyoto and back to Sado Island. Mizoguchi's 1954 film and Mori Ōgai's 1915 story both retell an older oral tale.
The route runs from the Naoetsu bridge where the family is torn apart, through Yura and the Tango Kokubunji to Kyoto and Sado, and ends on Mount Iwaki, where Anju's memory lives on. The legend is fictional, so most pins are approximate.
The Siege of Odawara of 1590 was fought at Odawara Castle in Kanagawa, with Toyotomi Hideyoshi's one-night castle at Ishigakiyama and Hōjō outposts at Hachigata, Hachiōji and Oshi.
Hideyoshi's army surrounded the Hōjō capital while other forces took its castles across the region one by one. This route follows the campaign through five castle sites, from the siege to the last holdouts, and most can still be visited as parks or ruins.
The Shimabara Rebellion of 1637–38 was fought at Tomioka and Shimabara Castle and ended at Hara Castle, with roots in the martyrdoms of Nagasaki and a legacy of hidden Christians.
The route starts on Nishizaka Hill in Nagasaki, follows the revolt through Amakusa, Shimabara and Hara Castle, and ends at Dejima, where seclusion pushed Christianity underground.
The film Battle Royale (2000) was filmed on Hachijō-kojima, at a school location in Oni-ishi, Gunma, at Tsurugisaki Lighthouse in Miura and at Toei Tokyo Studio, and it ends in Shibuya, Tokyo.
The story is set on a fictional island, so these five stops follow the film from the class waking on the island to the last run toward Shibuya Station. Each pin marks where a scene was shot.
Points and Lines is set between Tokyo Station and the beach at Kashii in Fukuoka, while Castle of Sand follows a detective from the Kamata rail yard in Tokyo to Akita and Shimane. Seichō Matsumoto's two best-known crime novels turn Japan's railways into the clues.
This route follows both stories: the four-minute gap on Tokyo Station's platforms, the Kashii shore, and the stations named Kameda that lead the detective to Kamedake. Pins at Kashii and Kamata are approximate.
The Nakasendō is the old "Central Mountain Route" between Edo and Kyoto, and its best-known stretch runs through the Kiso Valley, from Narai-juku to Tsumago and Magome in Nagano and Gifu.
This route follows six stops west along the Kisoji, the valley road that became part of the Nakasendō: the highest post town, a checkpoint, a town rebuilt after a flood, and two villages restored so well that you can still walk the road between them. Station numbers are counted from Edo.
Minamoto no Yoshitsune's life runs from Kurama temple in Kyoto through the Genpei War battles of Ichi-no-Tani in Kobe, Yashima in Takamatsu and Dan-no-ura near Shimonoseki, to his last stand at Takadachi in Hiraizumi.
The route follows the famous general from a boy among the monks to a hero turned out by his own brother at Koshigoe. Battle sites are approximate; the temple, the Koshigoe temple and the Hiraizumi chapel can be visited.
Tokyo Xtreme Racer (Shutokō Battle in Japan) is set on the Shuto Expressway: the C1 loop and the Bayshore Route in Tokyo, then Nagoya, Osaka and the Irohazaka mountain road at Nikko.
The route follows the series from its Tokyo expressway roots through the Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 city expansion to the Kaido Battle mountain spin-offs. The games recreate long roads, so pins mark one point on each.
Hokusai's Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji is set along real places from Mannen Bridge and Nihonbashi in Tokyo to Hodogaya, Edo Bay off Kanagawa, Lake Suwa and the Fuji River at Kajikazawa.
The series was produced c. 1830 to 1832, and each plate names its place. The route follows seven of them, from the capital out toward the mountain. Several spots are only approximate, and the pins mark the nearest modern place.
The Battles of Kawanakajima pitted Takeda Shingen of Kai against Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo on a plain near Nagano, with Zenkō-ji, Kaizu (Matsushiro) Castle and Kasugayama Castle as key sites.
The two warlords fought repeatedly over the plain. This route follows the fourth battle of 1561: Kenshin's march from Kasugayama, the signal fires from Kaizu Castle to Shingen's seat at Kōfu, and the legendary duel at Hachimanbara. The exact battlefield is traditional, and the duel itself is a tale from the chronicles.
Kawabata's The Dancing Girl of Izu (The Izu Dancer) is set on the Izu Peninsula, from Shuzenji and Yugashima over the Amagi Tunnel to Yugano and the harbour at Shimoda.
A student on the last days of his summer holidays follows a troupe of travelling musicians south, drawn to its youngest dancer. The route walks the same road, from the hot-spring towns of the north to the quay where he boards the boat home. Most pins mark a town or area rather than a single building.
Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, was born at Okazaki Castle and buried at Nikkō Tōshō-gū. His route also crosses the Sekigahara battlefield, Edo Castle in Tokyo and Sunpu Castle in Shizuoka.
Follow five places from his birth in 1543 through the 1600 battle, his rise to shogun in 1603, his retirement and his death in 1616. Sekigahara is pinned approximately to the town.
Kawabata's Snow Country is set in the hot spring town of Yuzawa in Niigata, reached through the Shimizu Tunnel on the Joetsu Line. The author never names the town in the novel, but later wrote that the snow country is the Echigo-Yuzawa hot spring.
This route follows Shimamura's train ride from the long border tunnel, past the signal stop and Echigo-Yuzawa Station, to the inn where Kawabata stayed, Komako's attic room and the warehouse fire that ends the book.
Urashima Tarō, Japan's fisherman who visits the Dragon Palace, is tied to the Tango Peninsula in Kyoto Prefecture, where Urashima Shrine in Ine keeps his story, and to rival claims in Okinawa, Yokohama and the Kiso Valley.
The route follows the tale from its 8th-century Tango roots through the undersea palace to the opened box, then visits the places that say he lived or ended up there. Most links are local legend, and each stop says how firm it is.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the foot soldier's son from Nakamura in Nagoya who rose to power, left his mark on Sunomata, Nagahama, Mount Tennozan, Osaka Castle, Jurakudai in Kyoto and Fushimi Castle.
This route follows his rise in order: the birthplace, the legendary one-night fort, his first lordship on Lake Biwa, the 1582 battle that avenged Nobunaga, and the great castles and palaces of his later years. Several of the original buildings are gone, so some stops are approximate.
Krishna's legend is set across northern and western India: born in Mathura, raised around Gokul, Vrindavan and Govardhan Hill, then his city of Dwarka in Gujarat, the battlefield of Jyotisar and his last place at Bhalka.
The seven stops follow the story from birth in a prison cell to his death by a hunter's arrow. Most sites are traditional identifications, so the labels say how firm each pin is.
Saint Nicholas, the early Christian bishop of Myra, was born at Patara, served at Myra (modern Demre) and now rests in Bari, with more relics in Venice. This route follows his legend from Lycia to Nicaea, Gemiler Island and Apulia.
Historians know little of the real man, so the route follows the traditional story and the journey of his bones. It ends in 1087, when sailors carried them across the sea, and in the Venice church that holds more.
Japan's legendary prince Yamato Takeru rides east from Ise Grand Shrine, escapes a burning plain at Yaizu, crosses Ashigara Pass and meets his end on Mount Ibuki. His sword ends up at Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya.
The route follows the legend, told in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki chronicles, through five places. Several are traditional identifications, so the pins mark shrines and mountains tied to the tale, not proven battlefields.
