was the eighth of the sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto during the Edo period. It was located in the present-day city of Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
Kumagai-shuku began as a temple-town outside the Buddhist temple of, which dated from the Heian period. The kanji which make up the temple name can also be read as Kumagaya or Kumagai. Kumagaya Naozane was a noted Kamakura period samurai who served under Minamoto no Yoritomo.
Kumagai-shuku became formalized as a post station on the Nakasendō under the Tokugawa shogunate in 1603. Per an 1843 guidebook issued by the, the town has 1715 buildings, with a population of 3263, and boasted two honjin, one waki-honjin and 42 hatago[1]
From the Meiji period, the area around Kumagai-shuku flourished as a producer of barley and silk.[2]
Kumagai was 16.4 kilometers from Kōnosu-shuku and due to the distance an ai no shuku, Fukiage-shuku was located in-between the two stations. However, many travelers preferred to travel on to Fukaya-shuku for the night, as it was famous for its large number of Meshimori onna and numerous chaya, whereas the previous station, Kumagai-shuku had neither.
Most of what remained of Kumagai-shuku was destroyed by in the Bombing of Kumagaya in World War II. The site of one of the honjin is commemorated by a stone monument.
Keisai Eisen's ukiyo-e print of Kumagai-shuku dates from . This complicated composition is set at a fork in the highway, with a sign pointing in the direction of Oshi Castle in one direction and Fukaya-shuku in the other. A way-side tea-house is located in the fork of the road, advertising udon noodles and ankoro (a sweet bean paste). A wealthy travelers in a palanquin is arriving together with his servant, and a guest at the tea house is being serviced by a waitress. A pack-horse man, naked to the waist, is waiting with his horse. The horse has a blanket with the word Take, advertising "Takenouchi" the owner of "Hoeidoh", the publishers of the series of prints. In the far right is a stone statue of Jizō Bosatsu, protector of travelers.