Love Goes Beyond - Arachigoe

…The Nishi-Omi Road, which runs from Kaizu (Makino-cho, Takashima-gun, Shiga Prefecture) on the north shore of Lake Biwa through Chihara, across the prefectural border, to Tsurugatsu in Echizen (Fukui Prefecture), is said to be about seven and a half ri long, and has been called the Shichi-ri-han-goe since ancient times. Arachi-no-seki, one of the three ancient checkpoints, is located along this route (on the Fukui side of the prefectural border), so this road is also called the Aichi-goe. This route is part of the Hokuriku Road, which connects the countries on the Japanese coast north of Wakasa and Echizen with Kyoto, and since the Ritsuryo period, goods from the northern part of the country and San'in region were first gathered in Tsuruga, and then transported to Kaizu or Shiotsu via the Nishi-Omi Road (Shichi-ri-han-goe) and the route that crosses Fukasaka halfway to Shiotsu, and from there they were transported by boat on the lake to Otsu and Kyoto. …

*Some of the terminology that refers to "Aihatsukoshi" is listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…琵琶湖北岸の海津(滋賀県高島郡マキノ町)から路原（ちはら）を経て県境を越え越前(福井県)敦賀津に至る西近江路は，道程約7里半あるというので古来七里半越と呼ばれる。古代三関の一つである愛発関（あらちのせき）は，このルートに沿って(県境の福井側)いるので，この路は〈愛発越〉ともいう。このルートは若狭･越前以北の日本海岸諸国と京師を結ぶ〈北陸道〉の一部で，律令時代から，北国ならびに山陰の物資はまず敦賀に集められ，この西近江路(七里半越)と，途中から深坂越えをして塩津に至るルートとによって，海津や塩津に運ばれ，そこから湖上舟運で大津～京都に輸送される定めであった。…

※「愛発越」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報