 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 国道119号 | ||||
 National Route 119 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Length | 39.4 km[1] (24.5 mi) | |||
| Existed | 1953–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| West end |   National Route 120 /National Route 122 / Tochigi Prefecture Route 247 inNikkō | |||
| East end |  National Route 4 inUtsunomiya | |||
| Nikkō Utsunomiya Road section | ||||
| Length | 24.5 km (15.2 mi) | |||
| West end | Nikkō Interchange Nikkō Utsunomiya Road inNikkō | |||
| East end | Utsunomiya Interchange Tōhoku Expressway inUtsunomiya | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | Japan | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
National Route 119 (国道119号,Kokudō Hyakujūkyū-gō) is anational highway located entirely withinTochigi Prefecture,Japan. It connects the city ofNikkō toUtsunomiya, the prefecture's capital, and has a total length of 63.9 kilometers (39.7 mi). The present-day highway largely follows the path of theNikkō Kaidō, anEdo periodroad that linkedEdo and theShrines and Temples of Nikkō.
The designation of National Route 119 applies to two highways. The first highway to carry the designation almost entirely follows the originalNikkō Kaidō fromNational Route 120 andNational Route 122 atRinnō-ji inNikkō to a junction withNational Route 4 to the south of centralUtsunomiya. The second highway follows theNikkō Utsunomiya Road from Nikko Interchange to its eastern terminus at theTōhoku Expressway. The two highways have a total length of 63.9 kilometers (39.7 mi).[1]
The highway that follows the original routing of the Nikkō Kaidō has a total length of 39.4 kilometers (24.5 mi).[2] This routing of National Route 119 makes up the Nikkō–Utsunomiya leg of the scenicJapan Romantic Road that stretches across Tochigi andNagano prefectures.[3] The highway was deemed byGuinness World Records to be a part of what the organization called the world's longest tree-lined avenue, theCedar Avenue of Nikkō.[4][5]
The highway begins at a junction nearRinnō-ji with National Routes 120 and 122 and Tochigi Prefecture Route 247 in Nikkō. From there it travels southwest through the central district of the city, where it begins running parallel with theTōbu Nikkō Line and the Nikkō Utsunomiya Road. Within the former city ofImaichi, the highway has junctions with National Routes121,352, and461—sharing a brief concurrency with the former two of the three routes. Crossing into Utsunomiya, the highway begins gradually curving to the south still paralleling the Nikkō Utsunomiya Road, but moving away from the Tōbu Nikkō Line.[2]
In northwestern Utsunomiya, the highway has a junction withNational Route 293. Further south, the highway passes beneath, but does not connect directly to, theTōhoku Expressway. It instead intersects with the Utsunomiya-kita Road, and auxiliary route of National Route 119 that has a junction with the expressway, just to the south of that underpass. The Utsunomiya-kita Road and National Route 119 run parallel to one another for a short distance before they intersect with the Utsunomiya Ring Road, there the auxiliary route curves to the east towards its end while the main route continues south towards central Utsunomiya. In central Utsunomiya the highway zigzags its way south past several key locations, such as the city hall, the Tochigi Prefecture Office, andTōbu-Utsunomiya Station before coming to an end just under two kilometers south at a junction with National Route 4.[6][2]
The part of the Nikkō Utsunomiya Road designated as National Route 119 has a total length of 24.5 kilometers (15.2 mi).[7] The highway is designated for motor vehicles with a displacement of at least 125 cc. The design standard of the road is similar to mostnational expressways in Japan. The road has four lanes on the section designated as a part of National Route 119 and a speed limit of 80 km/h.[8]
Much of what is presently National Route 119 was preceded by the northernmost section of the Nikkō Kaidō, aroad established by theTokugawa shogunate during theEdo period. It connected Edo and theShrines and Temples of Nikkō. Secondary National Route 119 was established by theCabinet of Japan between of Nikkō and Utsunomiya in 1953 along pre-existing roads, mostly made up of the section of the Nikkō Kaidō between the two municipalities.[9] In 1965, the Cabinet of Japan amended the highway's designation, upgrading it from its secondary status to a full national highway.[10]
In 1988, an ordinance was put in place along the Nikkō Kaidō that forbade any new installation of large advertisements along tree-lined sections of the road.[11] On 16 May 2018, a section of the highway was rerouted to protect the Cedar Avenue of Nikkō, a protected tree-lined section of the original Nikkō Kaidō that was being degraded by the heavy automobile traffic of the national highway.[12]
The route lies entirely withinTochigi Prefecture. For the Nikkō Utsunomiya Road section of National Route 119, see thejunction list of that article.
| Location | km[2] | mi | Destinations | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nikkō | 0.0 | 0.0 | National Route 120 west /National Route 122 south –Lake Chūzenji,Numata Tochigi Prefecture Route 247 east | Western terminus | |||
| 1.4 | 0.87 | Tochigi Prefecture Route 169 north –Kuriyama, Kirifugi Highland | |||||
| 1.5 | 0.93 | Tochigi Prefecture Route 14 south | |||||
| 1.7 | 1.1 | Tochigi Prefecture Route 203 north –Nikkō Station | |||||
| 8.0 | 5.0 |   National Route 121 north /National Route 352 west –Kawaji,Kinugawa | Western end of concurrency with National Routes 121 and 352 | ||||
| 8.4 | 5.2 | Tochigi Prefecture Route 62 east –Shimo-Imaichi Station Tochigi Prefecture Route 229 south –Imaichi Station | |||||
| 8.5 | 5.3 | National Route 121 south /National Route 352 east –Kanuma | Eastern end of concurrency with National Routes 121 and 352 | ||||
| 9.8 | 6.1 |  National Route 461 east – Kinugawa,Yaita | |||||
| 11.3 | 7.0 |  National Route 121 south (Itabashi Bypass) – toNikkō Utsunomiya Road, Kanuma | |||||
| 14.0 | 8.7 | Tochigi Prefecture Route 279 north – Kinugawa,Ōkuwa | |||||
| 15.8 | 9.8 | Tochigi Prefecture Route 110 west – toNikkō Utsunomiya Road,Shimotsuke-Ōsawa Station | |||||
| 16.3 | 10.1 | Tochigi Prefecture Route 22 south – Inokura | |||||
| 16.9 | 10.5 | Tochigi Prefecture Route 295 north – Imaichi Youth Sports Center | |||||
| Utsunomiya | 21.9 | 13.6 | Tochigi Prefecture Route 149 west –Fubasami | ||||
| 22.9 | 14.2 | Tochigi Prefecture Route 77 north – Funyu | |||||
| 25.4 | 15.8 |  National Route 293 – Kanuma,Sakura | |||||
| 28.3 | 17.6 |  National Route 119 (Utsunomiya-kita Road) – toTōhoku Expressway,Nikkō Utsunomiya Road,National Route 4,Oyama,Tochigi | Interchange | ||||
| 32.3 | 20.1 | Tochigi Prefecture Route 3 / Tochigi Prefecture Route 157 east (Utsunomiya Ring Road) – toNational Route 4, Utsunomiya-kita Road, Sakura, Tochigi, Kanuma | |||||
| 35.4 | 22.0 | Kiyosumichichō-dōri – toNational Route 4 | |||||
| 35.6 | 22.1 | Tochigi Prefecture Route 22 north | |||||
| 36.6 | 22.7 | Tochigi Prefecture Route 2 south – toTōhoku Expressway, Tochigi Tochigi Prefecture Route 70 west – toNational Route 293, Ōya | |||||
| 36.8 | 22.9 |  Tochigi Prefecture Route 10 east –Utsunomiya Station, Tochigi Prefecture Office | |||||
| 39.4 | 24.5 | National Route 4 (Utsunomiya Bypass) –Koga, Oyama,Nasushiobara, Sakura | Eastern terminus | ||||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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TheUtsunomiya-kita Road [ja] forms the northern section of the Utsunomiya Ring Road, and as an auxiliary route of National Route 119, it has the function of bypassing the narrow Nikkō Kaidō and connecting National Route 4 with the Nikkō Kaidō without passing through the central district of Utsunomiya. Its western terminus is Utsunomiya Interchange where it continues west towards Nikkō as the Nikkō Utsunomiya Road and its eastern terminus is at National Route 4 in the northeastern part of Utsunomiya. Before the opening of the Utsunomiya-kita Road in 1972, vehicles passing from National Route 119 to the southeastern part of the prefecture and Ibaraki prefecture had to go through the center of Utsunomiya, which caused heavy traffic. The opening of the bypass reduced traffic in central Utsunomiya.[13]
Media related toCategory:Route 119 (Japan) at Wikimedia Commons
