An old route between Tokyo and Kyoto, called Tokaido, was built in the Edo era about 400 years ago. Tokyo was called Edo and the center of Japan. Kyoto was the place where the royal family lived. That is to say, Tokaido was the most prosperous and busy road at that time. Numerous people utilized this route both in business and in private. Naturally, lots of inns were built along the route and the cluster of inns formed small villages for a certain time. My dictionary says that these villages are translated into "post stations" in English. The number of these villages was, 53 and they were named, "Fifty-three Stages of the Tokaido" by a famous painter. "To" of "Tokaido" means "east" and "kaido" means "road". This route is located to the east from Kyoto, and is called "Tokaido".
By the way, there's a small town of Tobe to the south of my hometown, which is famous for its original earthenware called "Tobeyaki". This district is one of the bedroom suburbs of my city and a very peaceful area. It has a long history as a town of earthenware and it has also historical and geological attractions at the every corner of the area. The town office picked 53 spots out of those attractions and set up the 53 stages of the Tokaido. "To" of this "Tokaido" means "to" of "toki", which means earthenware in Japanese. Japanese letters, kanji, are ideographs and these plays on words are often seen in Japan. People who understand Japanese would feel something witty about this naming.
I heard that the town office issued a guidebook for the town, which has blank pages for collecting stamps at each one of the 53 attractions. If you finish the collection after visiting all of the 53 spots, the town will give you something. I made up my mind to visit all the spots and collect these stamps with my bicycle.
(Vocabulary)
Fifty-three Stages of the Tokaido 東海道五十三次
post station 宿場町
earthenware 陶器（の）
bedroom suburb ベッドタウン
ideogram / ideograph / ideographic character / ideographic writing 表意文字
a play on words 語呂合わせ
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