Travel blossomed in Edo society. The shogunate developed five highways branching outward from Edo. One of the most famous roads was the Tôkaidô running three hundred-odd miles along the coast between Edo and Kyoto. The highways were regularly traveled by daimyo processions, as well as ordinary people on pilgrimages, merchants, entertainers, and other sightseers and travelers.

Landscape art became a popular genre in the nineteenth century. Artists such as Hiroshige and Hokusai produced numerous prints and books featuring beautiful and famous places; architecture, temples, and natural phenomena.