by admin | Feb 13, 2025 | hiking, tourists, Travel, travel destinations, walking
Underfoot lies the weathered black stone of the Nakasendo pathway, covered in moss. For more than four centuries, travelers have walked this route, an idea that sends shivers down my spine—though maybe those chills come from the frigid air at freezing five degrees below zero.
Tall magnolias and dense bamboo groves block out the sun, leaving icy spots of snow blanketing the earth beneath them.
Atop the Japanese Alps, all I can hear are bird calls and water trickling through the stream next to the trail. However, when travelers initially traversed this historic pathway, it would have been much more chaotic.
The Nakasendo Road: An Ancient Path in Japan That Still Welcomes Travelers After 400 Years
The Nakasendo highway came into existence during the 17th century to promote commerce and transportation.
travel
Between Kyoto and the Shogun capital Edo – now Tokyo – for military leaders, samurais, and warlords.
Wandering processions of individuals and packhorses occasionally required several days to traverse a solitary village. The travelers on this path held significant status and considerable riches, prompting the emergence of teahouses, stores, and lodging options alongside their routes, which eventually developed into modest townships.
The entire Nakasendo Road remains intact, along with many of the post towns it connects, making for an impressive hiking trail through central Japan.
Japan
.
Much of the path follows contemporary roadways, yet the stretch passing through the Gifu prefecture offers an idyllic 2-3 day hike that transports you back to the rustic ambiance of feudal Japan.
Woodblock prints depicting the Nakasendo in Ena City
I start my trek in Ena city, visiting the Hiroshige Museum of Art to inspire my journey ahead.
This center focuses on 19th-century ukiyo-e woodblock prints, such as the collection ‘Sixty-nine Stations of the Nakasendo’. These works portray ordinary scenarios featuring people carrying heavy loads.
travellers
, pit stops at tea houses, visitors enjoying baths at an onsen, and bustling market towns.
Behind them stand soft mountains, gentle cherry blossoms, distant shrines, and hints of an almost clear ocean.
A particular scene from “Oi Juku,” a post station only a few hills distant from Ena, appears notably fitting as the indistinct figures of travelers cloaked in robes struggle through snow up to their ankles.
landscape
.
Teahouses and mountain sanctuaries dotting the Nakasendo route
The section with the greatest ambiance along the historic highway in the Gifu Prefecture lies just beyond the village of Ochiai, on the edge of Nakatsugawa city.
In Ochiai, you can explore a ‘honjin,’ which was formerly an official resting place and now operates as a museum showcasing the security measures once necessary at roadside lodgings. This site features a hidden escape window, a concealed passageway used by ninjas who protected traveling nobles, along with translucent panels designed to prevent attackers from hiding.
The town features an distinctive S-curved turn in the roadway, typical of post towns, which aided travelers evading attacks by allowing them to lose pursuers more easily.
Leaving Ochiai, you start the steep climb up to Jikkoku Pass. Along the way, you have the option to visit Io-ji Temple, which is devoted to aiding travelers’ recoveries and houses deities associated with healing in alcoves.
Just past this point lies the sole stretch of the 400-year-old cobblestone path that has been maintained—and even augmented—enabling you to stroll for about half an hour much like travelers from the Edo period did.
The section concludes at the two-story Shin Chaya inn, offering you the chance to enjoy tea, homemade plum wine, or secure a futon for the evening.
Step back into the past in two Edo-era post stations
The path extends towards the postal town of Magome, with the snow-covered Kiso Mountains serving as a dramatic background.
As tour buses arrive and depart, it maintains the bustling atmosphere of a longstanding destination.
journey
At pit stops, expansive eateries offering views of the mountains alongside road-side vendors provide quick bite options such as glutinous rice balls drenched in savory sesame sauce and zesty miso served with spoons, complemented by thermos flasks filled with piping hot green tea.
Magome features a partially restored 17th-century main street with small, dark wooden buildings, sake distilleries, and stores offering items such as straw hats and yukata robes for tourists.
More historically significant is the Manpuku-an Eishoji Buddhist temple.
temple
Just uphill stands a large bell ready to be rung with a bamboo pole, alongside an inner sanctuary adorned with shimmering silver curtains and ornate golden lanterns.
The portion of the Nakasendo Road in Gifu Prefecture concludes at Magome, yet just across the border in the Nagano Prefecture lies the well-preserved village of Tsumago.
Automobiles are banned from the principal thoroughfare lined with closed-up homes featuring classic lattice screens, while telephone wires and electrical cables have been rerouted out of sight.
Experience staying at a traditional ryokan as Edo-period travelers did.
To enhance your historical walking adventure, avoid modern lodging options and choose to stay at a ‘ryokan’ instead. These traditional guesthouses offer an affordable yet culturally enriching experience.
experiential offerings
.
In Ena City, Ryokan Ichikawa has served as an inn for four centuries; however, the present building was constructed in the 1950s. Despite this, it maintains the traditional ambiance of welcoming visitors. Upon entering, guests remove their shoes in the lobby and are provided with plastic slippers.
The rooms come equipped with tatami flooring, soft futon mattresses paired with soothing rice husk pillows, traditional sliding paper partitions, and low tables. Typically, ryokans do not offer en-suite facilities; instead, they usually have shared restrooms and a common bath area for guests to use.
Dinners are where these
traditional inns
In a large room where heaters are operating at full blast, I’m served a seven-course meal by the 15th and 16th generation of innkeepers — a mother-daughter duo dressed in silk kimonos with their hair neatly arranged.
The sequence of dishes starts with a selection of small bowls filled with bits of black mushrooms braised in soy sauce, crispy shrimp encased in kadaif dough, and deep-fried millet gluten crowned with miso.
Next comes succulent raw blue prawns, amberjack, and konjac, all delicately fresh. For the second course, you get marbled Hida beef served sizzling on personal grills along with pools of melting butter and slices of vegetables. This is followed by steamed shrimp dumplings in broth, pickles, and rice, concluding with a pumpkin pudding for dessert.
After that
feast
, I swiftly fall asleep beneath the fluffy duvet, although not before ensuring there are no hidden threats behind the curtains.
by admin | Aug 22, 2024 | beaches, hiking, hiking trails, outdoor activities, walking
This tranquil trek through the untamed charm of Cap Ferrat includes stony shores and jagged bays.
Just a twelve kilometers distance away
Old Nice
Wandering along the Cap Ferrat coastal trail provides an excellent opportunity to reconnect with nature and enjoy spectacular vistas. Spanning almost the complete length of the Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat peninsula, this route stands out as one of the prime natural attractions on the French Riviera. Stretching for approximately 14 kilometers, it is suitable for everyone and presents magnificent sights of the Mediterranean Sea, the harbor at Villefranche-sur-Mer, and the Cap.
Nice
.
Starting from Lido, the path to the Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat harbor takes you through an array of scenery including hidden shingle shores, dramatic cliff faces, covert bays, and sprawling pine woods. Along this route, numerous breathtaking vistas await your discovery. Nature enthusiasts will appreciate the educational markers detailing regional flora and fauna alongside historical insights about the area. Additionally, you’ll have the chance to spot opulent mansions perched high above the coast.
Chemin des Douaniers
06230 Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
by admin | Jun 20, 2024 | back pain, health, health and exercise, lower back pain, walking
According to a recent study, individuals who walked for 30 minutes five times per week experienced a nearly 50% reduction in episodes of lower back pain. The researchers suggested that increased emphasis on preventative measures could result in significant cost savings down the line.
A recent study featured in the medical journal The Lancet suggests that frequent walking can be an inexpensive and simple method for possibly preventing various health issues.
recurring back pain
.
The trials demonstrated that patients who engaged in 30-minute walks five days per week and received guidance from a physical therapist experienced less frequent exacerbations compared to those in the control group.
The research team noted that patients experienced an enhanced perception of their overall quality of life, and the duration of work absence decreased by nearly fifty percent.
![]()
Inexpensive and simple activities suitable for nearly everyone.
The writers expressed optimism that these inexpensive and straightforward measures could have a “significant effect” on a condition that is the primary source of disability globally.
“Walking is an affordable, easily available, and straightforward form of physical activity that nearly everyone can participate in, irrespective of their geographical setting, age, or economic background,” stated co-author Mark Hancock, a physiotherapy professor at Macquarie University in Australia.
It is estimated that approximately 800 million individuals globally experience lower back pain. Among those who recuperate from an initial incident, about seven out of ten often encounter another bout within one year.
![]()
What was the process of the research like?
The research tracked 700 adults who had recently overcome an instance of lower back pain over a span of up to three years.
One half was randomly selected for a personalized walking regimen along with support from a physical therapist, whereas the remaining participants formed a control group and followed their own individual or medically recommended actions.
Hancock stated that the intervention group experienced less frequent activity-limiting pain than the control group, and also saw a prolonged average time until their next episode, with a median duration of 208 days versus 112 days for the control group.
How could walking benefit your back health?
“Although we’re not entirely sure why walking effectively helps prevent back pain, it probably involves several factors: the rhythmic up-and-down motions, which load and strengthen spinal components and surrounding muscles; the opportunity for relaxation and reduction of stress; and the boost from feel-good chemicals called endorphins,” Hancock suggested.
He mentioned that walking provided numerous additional significant health advantages, such as enhancing cardiovascular fitness, increasing bone density, promoting weight loss, and boosting mental well-being.
The researchers pointed out that lower back pain has increasingly become a widespread health issue globally due to extended lifespans and more inactive working and recreational activities.
They additionally mentioned that given the increasing strain on healthcare systems globally, an insufficient amount of resources was being allocated to research, prevention, and treatment in this field.
msh/sms (dpa, Lancet)
by admin | Jun 14, 2024 | exercise, health & fitness, health and exercise, running and fitness, walking
-
With each 1 percent increment in step variability, there was an increase in energy consumption.
-
READ MORE:
Experts claim that 10,000 steps per day isn’t a magical solution.
Reaching 10,000 steps daily has become a widespread health objective for many people around the globe.
However, a more efficient option might prove effective for shedding pounds, according to experts.
Walking with an irregular pace might aid in burning more calories compared to taking evenly measured strides, according to research.
American researchers monitoring the activities of 18 fit participants found that for each 1 percent increase in stride variation, there was a corresponding 0.7 percent boost in energy consumption.
The study indicated that inconsistent steps ‘have a minor but notable impact’ on the energy expended during walking, according to the researchers.
The team failed to gauge the number of calories expended by the participants.
Nevertheless, Adam Grimmitt, a co-author of the study and an expert in exercise physiology at the University of
Massachusetts
Amherst stated, “It seems reasonable to conclude that greater and more frequent changes in step length would lead to an increased metabolic rate during walking.”
In the study, the participants—ranging from 24 years old and averaging 11 stone 1 pound (70.5 kg)—were instructed to walk at their usual pace for five minutes on a treadmill.
A motion capture system documented their typical stride length at a usual pace of 1.2 meters per second.
They subsequently controlled their movements during a second 5-minute treadmill walking session by illuminating specific areas for the participants to target.
Positions were adjusted by as much as five and 10 percent below or above the typical stride length.
Each volunteer was equipped with a mouthpiece that measured their carbon dioxide output rate, which increases during physical activity.
The discoveries, shared on a pre-print server,
bioRxiv
The researchers suggest that when individuals transition between maintaining stability over short steps and long steps, it can lead to increased muscle contractions and subsequently higher metabolic costs.
‘Their findings indicate that a 2.7 percent rise in step length variability could lead to a 1.7 percent increase in the energy required for walking,’ they noted.
‘The variation in step length moderately but importantly influences the energy expended during walking.’
The research might be most applicable to elderly individuals, especially those suffering from neurological disorders, since their walking patterns show ‘higher step length variability,’ they added.
Researchers, nevertheless, admitted that adjusting lengths in 5 percent increments differs from actual variations observed in natural walking patterns.
The participants still found it difficult to maintain precision when adjusting their stride lengths without extra guidance, they noted.
‘Studies focused on the future should measure the precision of foot positioning and muscle activity across comparable virtual displays.’
Read more
