Ise Bay

Ise Bay formed part of the Tokaido itself. Between Atsuta in Owari and Kuwana in Ise, travellers crossed by boat along the route called Shichiri no Watashi, the Seven-Ri Crossing. Kuwana was already a medieval port: the poet Socho described arriving by sea from Tsushima in 1526. In 1601, when Honda Tadakatsu became lord of Kuwana and reorganised its streets, the crossing was established as part of the main Tokaido route.

At the Kuwana landing stood a guard station, a board displaying official notices and offices concerned with shipping. A 1711 record fixed fares at forty-five mon for a traveller, one hundred for a load and one hundred and twenty-three for a horse with its handler. The bay crossing brought the infrastructure of a major road onto the water.