Monday 16th June 2025
Today we left Kofu early but still weren’t able to move forwward very quickly. We are both on exhaustion level and our plan to slow down isn’t going very well. We had 3 or 4 stops between Kofu and Magome-juku just to take a break in a 200km drive. We took the expressway to save time but it ended up costing 4,400Y. Ouch! Not worth it for the hour we saved. Next time we will just try and leave early, or stop less.

We arrived at Magome-juku at 12.10pm in plenty of time to catch the bus at 1.25pm to Tsumago-juku to start today’s hike on a section of the Nakasendo Way. We had planned to go to the Tsumago-juku Castle Ruins about 10min walk north of the start of the trail at Tsumago-juku so we decided tpgo from Nagiso-eki, adding an extr 3.5km to the hike. This will make the hike today about 10km. We hopped on the bus and travelled the very winding road to Nagiso-eki.

We set off on the trail from Nagiso at about 2.10pm and walked towards Tsumago-juku. it was a beautiful lush trail with a very fast flowing Araragi River due to the recent excessive rain fall. We walked through the Tsumago-juku post town which was a hive of activity at about 3.30pm. Tsumago-juku had beautiful Edo period buildings, manicured trees, little cafes and souvenoir shops, and all in all it was a lovely quaint little town. We then vontinue on our way to Magome-juku which also had some beautiful features. Lovelt cobblestone pathways, bear bells to ring every 500m or so, to ward off the black bear that lives in this area. They have had a sighting in the last week. I had bought a bear bell as suggested for safety which drove David a little nuts, better nuts than in trouble with a bear. We then walked through the Magome-juku post town minus the crowds as by now it was 5.30pm, the light was beautiful and we enjoyed it as well.

We ended up walking about 12km over 4 hours. it was a lovely introduction to walking as we haven’t been doing much since we left Tokyo. I managed today pretty well having a head cold but by the time we got tp our new home just near Magome-juku, i ha hit the wall again. I am aiming for another early night, hopefully.

The Nakasendo Way, also known as the Kisokaido, was a historical highway in Japan, one of the five routes of the Edo period, connecting Edo (modern-day Tokyo) and Kyoto. It was a significant path for daimyos (feudal lords), samurai, and merchants. Today, it’s a popular route for hiking and experiencing traditional Japanese landscapes and post towns.
The cobblestone roads of the historic Nakasendo Route and the quaint Edo period (1603-1868) post towns of the Kiso Valley will make you feel like you have taken a step back in time to the age of the samurai.
The Nakasendo, literally the central mountain route, was a mountainous inland route that once connected Edo (present-day Tokyo) with Kyoto during the Edo period. It was one of the Gokaido (Japan’s five major highways) consisting of a network of sixty-nine post towns along its 540-kilometer route.
The Nakasendo in Modern Times – Today, most of the original Nakasendo has been lost to the past or turned into modern roads and highways. You can still find parts of the original road in the Kiso Valley with the most well-known section extending from Magome-juku in Gifu Prefecture to Tsumago-juku in Nagano Prefecture. This small section of the trail is about 7.3 kilometers (4.5 miles) long and should take you around 4 hours to walk at a leisurely pace.