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.
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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.
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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.
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, 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.
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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.
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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
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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
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, I swiftly fall asleep beneath the fluffy duvet, although not before ensuring there are no hidden threats behind the curtains.