While overall that schedule was not too demanding physically, it left us with little time during the day to sightsee and talk to people we met along the way. With that in mind, I've put together an easier schedule for my Tokaido walk. I'll be walking an average of around 21.5km a day, and the greatest distance I'll cover in a single day (assuming my calculations are accurate this time!) will be 28.6km.
So, how does this compare with travelers in the Edo period? According to the Gokaido Walk website, people took an average of just 14 days to walk the Tokaido back then. That works out at around 35.5km a day. The longest section commonly walked in a single day was between Hamamatsu and Akasaka, which is a distance of 53.6km! Don’t forget that travelers didn't have fancy walking shoes back then. Mostly they wore straw sandals, which must have made it difficult to negotiate the numerous stretches of slippery and uneven ishidatami stone paving. Wheeled vehicles were not allowed on the Tokaido except for the short 11km section from Otsu to Kyoto. Horses were used, but mostly for carrying baggage.
The fastest things on the Tokaido were the hikyaku (literally "flying feet"), express messengers whose job it was to carry urgent official messages between Edo and Kyoto. Running in relays, they made the journey between the two cities in an incredible three days. Because they were on official government business they weren't required to stop at the many checkpoints along the Tokaido which slowed down normal travelers. Even so, 496km in three days is amazing. Incidentally, Hiroshige depicted one of these messengers in his print for Hiratsuka in the series The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido.
Distance walked today: 0km
Total distance walked since Tokaido training began: 45km
Days left until departure: 81
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