Kano-juku

The post station in a castle town where the Imperial Princess Kazunomiya stayed

Around 1700, Kano-juku had a population of 2,728 and was the fifth-largest among the 69 Nakasendo post towns with a honjin (inn for passing dignitaries), waki-honjin (secondary honjin), and 35 lodging facilities.

When Gifu Castle was abandoned in 1601, Kano Castle was constructed in the post-town area and new inns were soon to follow. Upon the historic event kobu-gattai (the reconciliation between the imperial court and the shogunate) in 1861, Imperial Princess Kazunomiya stayed at the Kano-juku honjin and composed a nostalgic poem, which remains engraved on a stone monument.