The is a Japanese geographical term.Deal, William E. (2005). Handbook to Life in Medieval and Early Modern Japan, p. 83. It means both an ancient division of the country and the main road running through it.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Tōkaidō," Japan Encyclopedia, p. 973. It is part of the Gokishichidō system.Nussbaum, "Goki-shichidō" at p. 255.

The term also refers to a series of roads that connected the capitals (国府 kokufu) of each of the provinces that made up the region. The fifteen ancient provinces of the region include the following:Titsingh, Isaac. (1834).

Awa Province Hitachi Province Iga Province Ise Province Izu Province Kai Province Kazusa Province Mikawa Province Musashi Province Owari Province Sagami Province Shima Province Shimōsa Province Suruga Province Tōtōmi Province

In the Edo period, the was demonstrably the most important in Japan; and this marked prominence continued after the fall of the Tokugawa shogunate. In the early Meiji period, this region's eastern route was the one chosen for stringing the telegraph lines which connected the old capital city of Kyoto with the new "eastern capital" at Tokyo.Smith, Mary C. (1897). "On the Tōkaidō," in Life in Asia, pp. 204-210.

In the modern, post-Pacific War period, all measures show the Tōkaidō region increasing in its dominance as the primary center of population and employment.Sorensen, André. (2002).

See also Comparison of past and present administrative divisions of Japan

Notes

References Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). Japan encyclopedia. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ; OCLC 58053128 Smith, Mary C. (1897). "On the Tokaido," in Life in Asia. The World and Its People (Dunton Larkin, ed.), Vol. VI. Boston: Silver, Burdett & Company. OCLC 6747545 Sorensen, André. (2002). The Making of Urban Japan: cities and Planning from Edo to the Twenty-first Century. London: Routledge. ; OCLC 48517502 Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du Japon (Nihon Odai Ichiran). Paris: Royal Asiatic Society, Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 5850691