Catalog
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.
Tōno Monogatari, Kunio Yanagita's 1910 book of folk legends, is set in Tōno, Iwate: Kappabuchi, Denshoen, Mount Hayachine and Yamaguchi village carry its kappa, zashiki-warashi and Oshira-sama stories. The route follows five places in the order of the tales, from the mountain goddess of Hayachine to the Oshira-sama gods and the kappa pool. Two stops are only approximate, and one is a traditional identification.
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.
Mishima's The Temple of the Golden Pavilion is set in Kyoto at Kinkaku-ji, with earlier scenes near Maizuru and Cape Nariu, at Nanzen-ji and on the Sea of Japan coast at Yura. The novel is loosely based on the burning of the Golden Pavilion by a young Buddhist acolyte in 1950. This route follows the narrator Mizoguchi from his childhood on the north coast to the night he sets the temple alight. Three stops are approximate and two are unpinned.
John Manjirō, the Japanese fisherman rescued in 1841, travelled from Tosashimizu in Japan to Honolulu, Fairhaven and New Bedford in Massachusetts, then home via Okinawa and Nagasaki. This route follows the castaway from his fishing village to the wreck on Torishima, his school years in Fairhaven, whaling in the South Seas, the California gold fields, and his return to a closed Japan. Several stops are approximate: the sources name the places but not exact spots.
The Yamata no Orochi myth is set along the Hii River in Izumo, Shimane, with Mount Sentsu named as the battlefield and Yaegaki Shrine and Susa Shrine honouring Susanoo afterwards. The serpent's sword ends up at Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya. The route follows the Kojiki story: the god Susanoo sees a chopstick floating down the river, meets a family upstream, and defeats an eight-headed serpent with sake. Every location is a traditional identification of a mythical event, not a proven site.
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.
Philipp Franz von Siebold's Japan story starts on Dejima, the Dutch trading island at Nagasaki, where the physician arrived in 1823. From there it runs to his Narutaki school, his 1826 court journey to Edo and his museum home in Leiden. The route follows Siebold from Nagasaki to Edo, then to the SieboldHuis in Leiden and his grave in Munich. Nagasaki's Siebold Memorial Museum and Leiden's SieboldHuis can still be visited. The Edo stop is a general marker, not a single building.
The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter (Kaguya-hime) never names its setting, but Japanese towns from Kōryō and Takatori in Nara to Fuji City and Lake Yogo claim a link, and the tale ends on Mount Fuji. The route follows the story from the shining bamboo stalk, through the Moon princess's farewell, to the Emperor burning her letter on the summit. Four of the five stops are rival local claims, not proven sites.
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.
Golden Kamuy is set in Hokkaido after the Russo-Japanese War, and its gold hunt runs through Otaru, Yūbari, Kushiro Marsh, Abashiri Prison and Sapporo. Veteran Saichi Sugimoto and the Ainu girl Asirpa chase convicts tattooed with a map to hidden gold. This route follows the manga's trail across real Hokkaido places, from the port of Otaru to the prison at Abashiri. The manga names towns and landmarks, not exact spots, so most pins are approximate.
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.
Engelbert Kaempfer travelled from Dejima in Nagasaki to the shogun's court in Edo in 1691, via Shimonoseki, Osaka and the Tokaido road near Lake Ashi. He was a German physician with the Dutch trading post. The route follows his 1691 trip in five stops, from the island of Dejima to his audience with the shogun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. The exact spots in Shimonoseki, Osaka and Hakone are not known, so those pins are approximate.
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.