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Places of interest · Lake Ashi

Hakone Checkpoint (Hakone Sekisho) 箱根関所

Reconstructed shogunate checkpoint on the Tokaido by Lake Ashi, where travellers were inspected from 1619 to 1869.

Hours9:00–17:00 (to 16:30 Dec–Feb)
Getting thereBus stop 'Hakone Sekisho-ato', 2 min
Time needed45 min
Address1 Hakone, Hakone, Kanagawa

About

From 1619 until 1869 the shogunate kept a checkpoint here on the Tokaido, the main road between Edo and Kyoto, squeezed between Lake Ashi and the mountains. Officials checked every traveller's papers. They were especially strict about 'guns going in and women going out': weapons entering the Edo region, and the wives and daughters of daimyo, who were kept in Edo as hostages, slipping away. Women were examined by female inspectors. The checkpoint was abolished in 1869. Using records discovered in the 1980s, the buildings, gates and fences were reconstructed with traditional methods and opened in 2007, together with a lookout tower over the lake.

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Open in Google Maps · Info checked 2026-10-19

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