Kyo-kaido Road (京街道 (大坂街道))
Kyo-kaido Road, or Osaka-kaido Road, is a street that starts from Kyobashi (later moving to Koraibashi) of Osaka, runs along the left bank of the Yodo-gawa River and leads to Kyo (Kyoto) via Yodo. It originates from Bunrokutei Bank, which Hideyoshi TOYOTOMI had the Mori ｆamily build at the left bank of the Yodo-gawa River in February 1596 as a part of the Fushimi Castle construction, which he had started in 1594.
The road has taken two significantly different routes between Yodo and Kyoto. One is the Toba-kaido Road which runs along the left bank of the Katsura-gawa River, and the other runs along the right bank of the present-day Uji-gawa River, Yodo-tsutsumi bank, to Fushimi and then to the heart of Kyoto via either the Fushimi-kaido Road or Takeda-kaido Road.
The section between Fushimi and Osaka was under the control of Dochu-bugyo (magistrate of major roads) as the extension of one of the Go-kaido roads (major five roads that started from Edo (now Tokyo)), and four stages were established along it: Fushimi-shuku (along the Kyo-kaido Road), Yodo-shuku, Hirakata-shuku and Moriguchi-shuku. In Sankin-kotai (daimyo's (feudal lord) alternate-year residence in Edo), some took this route without passing through Kyoto; at Higechaya-oiwake (Higechaya bisection) after leaving Otsu-shuku of the Tokaido, they separated from the route toward Sanjo-ohashi of Kyoto and traveled along Otsu-kaido Road to Osaka via these four stages. Some call the route Tokaido Gojusan Tsugi (53 stages of the Tokaido Road) or Tokaido Gojunana Tsugi (57 stages of the Tokaido Road). There is also an unofficial stage called Hashimoto between Yodo-shuku and Hirakata-shuku, which once had a prostitution quarter.
River traffic on the Yodo-gawa River was busy from Fushimi to Osaka, while land traffic was busy from Osaka.
During the Meiji period the route via Toba-kaido Road began to be recognized as Osaka-kaido Road, and this route was chosen as a national route between Kyoto and Osaka (Old Keihan-kokudo National Road) instead of the route via Fushimi.
The Keihan Electric Railway follows these four stages, including Fushimi.