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Nihonbashi at dawn. Nihonbashi is the starting-point for travel along the Tokaido Highway. With the big castle gate in the foreground wide open, a daimyo feudal lord's procession comes across the bridge led by footmen carrying hasami-bako (daimyo's lacquered traveling boxes) and twirling decorative halberds. These travelers start early in the morning at nanatsu, or seven, which is four o'clock in the morning today. In sharp contrast to the brisk movements of the somewhat tense-looking fishermen returning from the fish market, who hastily make way for the procession, the whole town, including its fire lookouts, seems to be still asleep in the early morning glow.