Used as a street for Sankinkotai (a system under which feudal lords in the Edo period were required to spend every other year in residence in Edo), it was called Kamigata kaido and Kyo kaido because it was a primary road connecting Tottori to Osaka and Kyoto.
参勤交代の道として用いられ、鳥取から大坂・京都への幹線道路であったことから上方街道、京街道と呼ばれた。