Edo Five Routes

The Five Routes (五街道, Gokaidō^?), sometimes translated as "Five Highways", were the five centrally administered routes, or kaidō, that connected the capital of Japan at Edo (now Tokyo) with the outer provinces during the Edo period (1603 – 1868). The most important of the routes was the Tōkaidō, which linked Edo and Kyoto. Tokugawa Ieyasu started the construction of these five routes to increase his control over the country in 1601, but it was Tokugawa Ietsuna, the 4th shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate and Ieyasu's great-grandson, who declared them as major routes. Post stations were set up along the route for travelers to rest and buy supplies. The routes thrived due to the policy of sankin-kōtai, that required the daimyo, or regional rulers, to travel in alternate years along the routes to Edo.

The various roads that make up the Five Routes existed in some form before becoming an official set of routes. Tokugawa Ieyasu began work on the routes shortly after becoming Shogun in 1600. The official creation of the Five Routes began with the Shogunate taking government control of the Post Stations along the existing routes. Before this intervention, the post stations provided places for travelers to rest and ran a courier system. After the official takeover, the Shogunate required that these stations give preferential treatment to those on official business or be forced to cease activity. In the 1640s, Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu closed down all but the necessary stations, which would be the last major change during the Edo Period.

...
Wikipedia