Toba no Tsukurimichi (an ancient road from Heian-kyo [the ancient capital of Japan in current Kyoto] (鳥羽作道)

Toba no Tsukurimichi (Toba New Road) was an ancient road from Rajo-mon gate, the entrance to the Suzaku-oji Street running through north to south in the center of Heian-kyo, to Yodo through Toba (Kyoto City).

It had been suggested that the road had existed prior to the transfer of national capital to the city of Heian-kyo, or that it had been constructed by Emperor Toba when Toba-dono Palace was built, but it was regarded as the road which had been constructed in order to transport supplies from the Yodo-gawa River when the Heian-kyo capital was being built.

Since "Tsurezure gusa" (Essays in Idleness) shows about a historical event that Imperial Prince Shigeakira wrote down that the voice of Imperial Prince Motoyoshi making a ceremonial speech on the morning of the new year was heard from Daigokuden (Council Hall in the Imperial Palace) to Toba no Tsukurimichi, it was considered that the road existed in the early 10th century when the two Imperial princes were active (however, there are opinions that questions this, as the original writings of Imperial Prince Shigeakira which Kenko YOSHIDA is supposed to have seen do not exist).

After the construction of Toba-dono Palace, it was regarded as a road from Heian-kyo capital to Toba, and was referred to as 'Toba no Nishioji' (West Avenue to Toba) (in this period, the west part of the capital was already in ruins and the Suzaku-oji Street had become the road in the west side of the Kyoto town area). Furthermore, water transport in the Yodo-gawa River was utilized in the Yodo area, making it a road that led to the Kusatsu-juku Post Station in the east, to Nara in the south, and to Nanba in the west; however, it became desolate from the disturbances of the later wars, and although parts of the road exist today as Old Osaka-kaido Road, even the tracks of the course are lost in many of the areas.

[Original Japanese]