TRAILBLAZERS OF HISTORY
Meandering through Japan’s Kiso Valley is a magical experience, allowing travellers to engage with the country’s ancient past, while enjoying the beauty and solitude of all nature has to offer.
It’s easy to get lost in thought as you wander along the Nakasendo Trail, which criss-crosses the pristine Kiso Valley near Japan’s Central Alps. Nature is the star here, as the stunning moss-carpeted forest scenery unfolds with each twist and turn you take.
The air is perfumed with the sweet scent of hinoki cypress trees, and small waterfalls tumble quietly into the crystal clear streams below.
I lose count of the number of shades of green on display in this nature lover’s paradise, which takes you deep into the heart of old Japan.
This is a trail with a history – powerful daimyo (Japanese feudal lords) and their entourages, samurai warriors, merchants, porters, priests, travelling minstrels, country doctors, shamans, healers and wandering poets once trod the same mountainous terrain.
One of the country’s five main routes established at the beginning of the Edo era (which lasted from 1603 to 1867), it stretched between Kyoto and Edo, now known as Tokyo.
It enabled shoguns (military leaders) to maintain control over their land and keep an eye on who was travelling where.
The 540-kilometre trail included 69 ‘post towns’ where weary travellers would stay each night, registering at several security checkpoints. Upon entering each town, travellers had to obey strict local rules that were written on timber noticeboards – those displayed in the preserved towns of Tsumago and Magome are the originals.
TRADITIONAL CUSTOMS
Felling a precious cypress tree back then would result in death, as the special timber was reserved for official uses such as castles, and the country’s most sacred shrines. Centuries later, there are still some sections in the Kiso district that have not been modernised. They retain the look of old Japan – with stone paths, traditional inns, wooden buildings and tiny farms. Walk the path between the historic mountain villages of Magome, Tsumago and Narai and it’s a little like stepping back into the past. It’s not hard to imagine life in those days.
The best news for hikers is that luggage can be forwarded each day, so you are free to just take a small backpack and immerse yourself in the experience.
Our hike between Magome and Tsumago is on a well-preserved, eightkilometre section of the Nakasendo Trail known as the ‘Kisoji’ – which stretches about 80 kilometres, from Magome in the south to a little north of Narai. Our guide – American Chris Gladden, who has lived in Japan for more than a decade – helps to bring
“Some sections retain the look of old Japan – with stone paths, traditional inns, wooden buildings.”
the trail to life, telling stories about the past. It’s possible to get a real feel for country life in the Kiso Valley, he tells us. “As well as a taste of the Edo period, you’re immersed in rural Japan and get a sense of what travel on foot was like in those days,” he says.
Before we start our hike from Magome we get a morning coffee fix at the busy HillBilly Coffee Company, and it is seriously good. As we leave the town, where Japanese author Tōson Shimazaki was born, we pass souvenir shops selling red lacquered bowls, fancy chopsticks, ceramic owls and wooden hair combs. An easy to moderate walk with just a few uphill sections, it’s well signposted in English.