With the Kiso-ji section of the Nakasendō coming to an end on my last walk I needed to decide on a plan to continue. Either turn around and start again heading northeast back along the Kiso-ji again (but why so soon?) or continue walking west along the Nakasendō.
It took me a year, but the Kiso-ji section of the Nakasendō from Shiojiri to Nakatsugawa is now complete. Pre-baby-toddler daughter and I would have finished it much sooner, but I quite enjoyed stretching it out over a year – it meant I got to see the Kiso Valley in all seasons.
Getting back on the Nakasendō felt good. A few months ago I ended a hot and humid day of walking at Suhara station in Nagano and promised myself I’d take a break from the walk as the heat and humidity of the Japanese summer set in.
This stretch was a mixed bag of wonderful Nakasendō/Kiso-ji (中山道・木曽路) backroads and the monstrous national R19, with truck after truck whizzing past.
Another walk on the Nakasendō/Kiso-ji. Starting at Niekawa Station (where I finished last time) I passed through Kiso-Hirasawa (木曽平沢), Narai (奈良井), and then over the Torii Pass (鳥居峠) to Yabuhara (藪原).
Magome (馬籠) and Tsumago (妻籠) — possibly the two most popular villages on the Nakasendō (中山道). My first visit was way back in 2000 if memory serves me well and I’ve been back on numerous occasions ever since.
The Kiso-ji (木曽路), a small section of the Nakasendo (中山道), runs through the Kiso valley in Nagano prefecture. I wrote about walking it between Kiso Fukushima to Agematsu here and decided last week to walk it some more.
It’s been a long time since I walked a section of the Nakasendō (中山道). Back then it was the mountainous trail between Magome (馬籠宿) and Tsumago (妻籠宿), an insanely popular Nakasendō ‘theme park’ for both Japanese and foreign tourists.
read more Nakasendō/Kiso-ji – Walking Kiso Fukushima to Agematsu
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