Eso

Eso lies in Bingo, one of the eight ancient provinces that made up the San’yōdō. The circuit was established in the Asuka period (538–710) as part of the Gokishichidō, and Bingo was listed alongside Harima, Mimasaka, Bizen, Bitchū, Aki, Suō, and Nagato. The old administrative system faded by the Muromachi period (1333–1467), but the name San’yōdō also referred to the main road along the sunny southern side of Honshu’s central mountains, and that route remained important. The road ran mainly east–west. Its eastern terminus was Kyoto; from there it passed through Fushimi, Yodo, Yamazaki, and Hyōgo, then followed the Seto Inland Sea coast to Hagi near Shimonoseki. It played a strategic and logistical role in military movements. Emperor Go-Daigo in the fourteenth century and Toyotomi Hideyoshi in the sixteenth used it to flee conflict, return to the Kinai, or move troops. Under the Tokugawa shogunate, many daimyō travelled it for their mandatory sankin kotai journeys to Edo, while merchants, traveling entertainers, pilgrims, and other commoners also used the road. Traffic on the San’yōdō remained heavy through the Edo period (from 1603 onward). Eso's historical setting is Bingo’s place within the San’yōdō system and the road’s continuing administrative, military, and everyday transport functions from the Muromachi through the Edo period.