Hiking the Nakasendo

This weekend we took a much-needed break from city life and headed for the hills. The plan was to hike a section of the Nakasendo highway between two restored post towns, Magome and Tsumago. The Nakasendo, which loosely translates to “central mountain way”, was a road that was constructed in the 8th century to link the major cities of Kyoto and Tokyo. Now of course the old road has been replaced with modern highways, but sections of the historic route remain.

Our train pulling into the station

Our day began with a train ride from Nagoya up through Gifu prefecture to the town of Nakatsugawa. From there, we caught a local bus that took us up a winding mountain road to the town of Magome. By the time we reached Magome, we were eager to hit the trail. We were also a bit hungry, so rather than dig into the food we’d packed for the trail, we stopped into a souvenir/snack/deli shop near the bus stop.

Always read the label before taking the free sample. "Horse Tongue" - whoops!

Being both hungry and cheap, I was thrilled to see that the shop offered free samples of many of their snacks. I circled the store, collecting little morsels of candied ginger, chocolate wafers, etc. At the meat counter, I saw samples of various dried and cured meats, so I helped myself. This was a grave error. At the very instant that my teeth made contact, my eyes fell on the nearby packaging, conveniently labeled in English just to be extra clear: “Horse Tongue”. I froze, horrified. Add to the list of life lessons: always read the packaging before you start eating. It turns out that the tongue wasn’t too bad, but the very idea of it was gross enough to keep me from trying any more meats.

Mountain view from the parking lot at Magome

Entering the town of Magome from the bus stop

The old section of Magome is situated on a steep hill, which must have been interesting in the time of carriages and wagons. The mountain scenery was incredible. This town, along with many others that we passed along the trail, seemed to have an abundance of fresh water running down the hillside in ditches along the road and routed through the yards via pipes. There were a few water wheels along with some less conventional methods of utilizing this resource.

Magome water wheel

The locals had all sorts of creative uses for the constant stream of water that ran through the town. This family had it piped through an outdoor sink and into a koi pond

Hiking through the bamboo

Leaving Magome, the trail meandered through the woods and bamboo groves. There is something really beautiful and exotic about hiking through the thick bamboo. While I marveled at the plants, Joe was dreaming about all the fishing poles he could make from the young trees. Soon, the trail opened back up to more villages and farmland, in many cases passing right through the villagers’ yards. We really enjoyed seeing the countryside and the quiet mountain villages – definitely a stark contrast from the urban landscape.

We made it to the top! Magome Pass, and the crossing into Nagano Prefecture.

Upon reaching the top of the pass, we were rewarded with a stunning view of the mountains of Nagano Prefecture. What a landscape! We descended through the valley towards the next post town of Tsumago. Along the way we saw waterfalls, several small villages and farms, a really nice stretch of forest, and a snake (our first “actual” wildlife sighting!). A few pictures of that leg of the hike – as always, click the picture if you want to see a larger view:

What? Bear? No...

A bear bell! "Ring the bell hard against bears" is what the sign says. There were 5 of these along the trail, and people were definitely ringing them.

Parts of the trail looked just like the Pacific Northwest, moss and all.

The Nakasendo trail through the woods

A one-of-a-kind warning sign. Not sure if we were supposed to be hiking with hard hats or not...

This little Shiba Inu was hanging out on the porch of one of the houses we passed on the trail. She was a real goofball and a good excuse to take a break!

The town of Tsumago at the other end of the trail

We finally reached Tsumago, which is a beautifully restored town complete with museums and shops. We spent a little time exploring the town before hitting the road to the next train station. We made one last detour up to the site of Tsumago Castle – the castle is no longer there, but the site was a great spot to get a birds-eye view of the whole valley (and any approaching armies, as it were). We made it to the train station by late afternoon, worn out but definitely recharged from our day in the mountains.

View of Tsumago from the old site of Tsumago Castle - an awesome piece of property, if you ask me