Wooden houses
On the street.
Chensiyuan — CC BY-SA 4.0 · DimiTalen — CC0 · lumoplank — CC0 · lumoplank — CC0 · BobTanGo — CC BY 4.0
Tsumago-juku is a small town on an old road in the Kiso Valley, its single street lined with dark wooden houses and inns with wooden balconies and lattices, ringed by forested mountains. There are no visible power lines on the main street, so it looks much as it did centuries ago. It was the 42nd of the 69 post towns on the Nakasendō, the road that linked Edo, now Tokyo, with Kyoto in the Edo period. In 1968 residents began restoring the houses; by 1971 some 20 had been restored, and they agreed that no place in Tsumago should be sold, rented out or destroyed. In 1976 it was designated a preservation district for historic buildings. People still live here. You walk the street and visit the old honjin inn, and many hike the old road through the forest to Magome, about 8 km. It is about 4 km in a straight line south of Nagiso station. In the walking season, luggage can be forwarded between Tsumago and Magome.
On the street.
Through forest.
Old inn.
Nagiso, Kiso Valley, Nagano Prefecture
Yes, about three hours.
Train to Nagiso, then bus.