Nakasendo Way · Kiso Valley

THE JOURNEY IN DETAIL

The Edo-era post road.

The Nakasendo linked Edo and Kyoto through the mountains and was one of the five great roads of Tokugawa Japan. Its best-preserved stretch runs through the Kiso valley: the post towns of Magome, Tsumago and Narai with their wooden facades, cobbled sections of the old highway and the Torii pass. A gentle route with nights in ryokan.

• Tsumago, a post town with no wires on its streets
• The Torii pass, the oldest surviving stretch
• Narai, the longest of the post towns
• The Medaki and Odaki falls near Agematsu

1. 01
   DAY 1 · Transfer and briefing

   Nagoya and the transfer to Magome

   We meet in Nagoya, take the train to Nakatsugawa and a bus up to Magome (600 m), a hillside post town of cobbles and water wheels. A first minshuku supper in the evening.

   Overnight: Minshuku in Magome
2. 02
   DAY 2 · 8 km, an 800 m pass

   The Magome pass and Tsumago

   The best-known stretch of the road: 8 km over the Magome pass (800 m), with bear bells along the trail and an old teahouse at the saddle. Down into Tsumago, where signs and overhead wires are banned.

   Overnight: Ryokan in Tsumago
3. 03
   DAY 3 · 17 km along the river

   Tsumago to Nojiri along the river

   A long easy day, around 17 km on the old road beside the Kiso river through Nagiso and Midono. The highway runs through forest in places and village streets in others. A train to Kiso-Fukushima in the evening.

   Overnight: Ryokan in Kiso-Fukushima
4. 04
   DAY 4 · 10 km, museums

   Kiso-Fukushima and its checkpoint

   The town held one of the four main checkpoints on the Nakasendo, and the inspection post survives as a museum. We walk the clifftop Ue-no-dan quarter, then take a short afternoon walk to the Agematsu falls.

   Overnight: Ryokan in Kiso-Fukushima
5. 05
   DAY 5 · 9 km, a 1,197 m pass

   The Torii pass to Narai

   The high point of the route: from Yabuhara up to the Torii pass (1,197 m) on surviving stone paving, past the shrine gate that frames Mount Ontake. Down into Narai, around 9 km in all.

   Overnight: Ryokan in Narai
6. 06
   DAY 6 · 5 km and a transfer

   Narai and Matsumoto

   A morning in Narai, a kilometre of wooden frontages, lacquerware shops and the Kiso-no-Ohashi bridge. After lunch a train to Matsumoto and its black sixteenth-century castle, one of Japan's five national treasures.

   Overnight: Hotel in Matsumoto
7. 07
   DAY 7 · Train and transfer

   Departure from Matsumoto

   Breakfast and the train to Tokyo via Shinjuku, about two and a half hours, or back to Nagoya. The leader helps with tickets and bags at the station.

   Overnight: —