[![Excerpt of
Map](https://i.stack.imgur.com/CxUUB.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/CxUUB.png)

I am looking for the reading/meaning of the kanji shown in the attached image.
It should spell 上御道田, if I am not mistaken. The image is an excerpt of an old
map of Achimura, Nagano-ken. I tried googling for it, but all I could find so
far is [this](http://www11.plala.or.jp/samma116/25/250hakken.html "駒場の八軒屋敷村").

Does anyone have any clues? Or maybe can point me to a place where I could
look further?

Thank you in advance!
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question
translation kanji
Reading and meaning of 上御道田
The page you linked clearly says 上御道 is read as うえみどう ( _Ue-midō_ ). The page
also says 上御道 was a small area located somewhere in [駒場 ( _Komaba_ )
district](https://goo.gl/maps/Dn6fUeRqtpw).

Currently Achi village doesn't have a district name related to 御道 or 上御道 ([zip
codes of Ochi](http://www.post.japanpost.jp/cgi-
zip/zipcode.php?pref=20&city=1204070&cmp=1)). I checked Googleマップ and
[地理院地図](http://maps.gsi.go.jp/), but found nothing relevant.

田 means "rice field", and is either read as _den_ (in on-yomi) or _ta_ (in
kun-yomi). So 上御道田 (probably _Ue-midō den_ ) means "the rice field in 上御道".

Historically, there was a [宿場【しゅくば】](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shukuba)
(post station) of 三州街道 ( _Sanshū_ highway, current [Route
153](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9B%BD%E9%81%93153%E5%8F%B7)) in 駒場. So
my speculation is that this 御道 ( _Midō_ , lit. "the (great) road") probably
refers to Sanshū highway. 上 ( _Ue_ ) is a kind of prefix which means "up",
"high" etc. Is this 上御道田 located somewhere along 三州街道?

That's all what I could gather on the net, but the page you linked is a part
of [this site](http://www11.plala.or.jp/samma116/mokuji.html), which is full
of information on the history of Achi. If you really want to be sure, probably
the author of this site is the best person to ask.

* * *

**EDIT:** Looks like うえみどう ( _Uemidō_ ) was a small area located [around
here](https://goo.gl/maps/RkAP5k5QnMG2), and it was [also written in kanji as
上見 **堂** or 上御 **堂**](http://www11.plala.or.jp/samma116/25/264hakken2.html) (堂
= small shrine, or [_hokora_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokora)). The name
上御堂 appears in the official history book of Achi Village,
[阿智村誌](http://misuzu-mokuji.net/detail.php?id=407001). Anyway,
[ateji](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ateji) was very common in those days, so
うえみどう might not necessarily refer to Sanshū highway.
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answer