A reconstructed Edo-period checkpoint on the old Tokaido highway at the southern shore of Lake Ashi. The original Hakone Barrier operated from 1619 until 1869, controlling movement along Japan's most important road. Travellers needed documents to pass; daimyo lords' wives and children were checked most stringently as they were effectively hostages of the Tokugawa government in Edo.
The reconstruction gives a vivid sense of what the original looked like — guards' quarters, inspection rooms, barrier gates. The adjacent museum explains the role of the highway in Edo-period society. On the same site, a short section of the original Tokaido stone-paved road survives under the cedar trees. Admission around 500 yen.