Stone street
Climbing past houses.
Chensiyuan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · lumoplank — CC0 · lumoplank — CC0 · lumoplank — CC0 · 663highland — CC BY-SA 4.0
Magome-juku was the 43rd of the 69 stations of the Nakasendō, the road linking Edo (Tokyo) with Kyoto in the Edo period. It now lies in the city of Nakatsugawa in Gifu Prefecture, about 5 km southwest of Tsumago-juku in a straight line, and was the last of the eleven stations of the Kiso Valley. The town sits on a rugged mountain stretch of the road, and travellers between it and Tsumago had to cross an 800-metre pass. It appears in records from 1215 and became an official stop for merchants and feudal processions when the post-station system was formalised in 1602. In 1843 it had 717 people in 69 houses, with a main inn, a secondary inn and 18 travellers' inns, 326.7 km from Edo. A stone-paved street climbs a steep slope between dark wooden houses with low roofs and balconies, decorated with flowers and small water channels. From the top of the town the view opens over the Kiso mountains and green valleys. Visitors wander the climbing street among shops and cafés, and many walk the old Nakasendō trail through the forest to Tsumago-juku in a few hours.
Climbing past houses.
Low roofs.
To Tsumago.
Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture, Japan
Yes, in a few hours.
Yes.