Mr Yamamoto is the thirteenth generation manager of Amasake Chaya Teahouse. Together with his family, including potential 14th generation managers son and daughter, their quaint little establishment serves thirsty Tokaido travellers with the sweet, warm, amasake their family has been serving for four centuries. Due to the lightweight construction of the teahouse, there have been many versions of the building over the centuries, on both sides of the road. The current structure was refurbished to traditional style in 2009 – the thatched roof doesn’t use a single nail. Be sure also to check out their small museum with original feudal period Tokaido artifacts.

Lunch by Lake Ashi, a 700m deep crater lake with red tori gates in the water

Cedar Avenue Hakone. Four centuries ago exactly, the second Edo Period Shogun, Tokugawa Hidetada, ordered the planting of sugi (Japanese Cedar, Cryptomeria japonica) along both sides of Tokaido to shade travellers as they made their way around the shoreline of Lake Ashinoko towards Hakone Checkpoint. 420 of these magnificant specimens remain, towering straight, fat, and proud into the Hakone sky along Cedar Avenue.

Tokaido had checkpoints at various intervals to ensure that travellers were bonefide and to protect the Shogun in the capital, Edo. Hakone was the closest checkpoint to Edo, so was one of the most severely policed. Perched between the waters of Lake Ashinoko and the steep mountainous terrain of Hakone, Tokaido travellers had no alternative but to submit to inspection.

Back to 1590. Hojo’s western boundary is protected by Yamanaka Castle, literally meaning “castle in the mddle of the mountain”. The site is true to its name, but despite impressive earthworks to create defences accentuating the site’s naturally steep terrain, Yamanaka Castle is quick to fall to the might of the force from the west on its way along Tokaido eastwards to surround Odawara. A visit to the castle ruins today is rewarded with spectacular views from its highest point of Mt Fuji, weather permitting.

Hike a 12km stretch of the Old Tokaido Foot Highway between Odawara and Mishima now preserved as a Japan Heritage Area