Two hundred years ago, the thickly wooded Kiso Valley was one of the main routes through central Japan.
It’s more out of the way these days, with the happy result that it
preserves a number of old post stations along the Nakasendo – the
mountain road, celebrated in the work of woodblock print artists, that
ran from Edo (modern Tokyo) to Kyoto. The most attractive of the
stations is Tsumago, where modern development has been restricted and
dark-wood, lattice-fronted houses line the car-free main street. An hour
or two is enough to browse the tasteful souvenir shops, sit down in a
traditional restaurant or visit the former rest stop for retainers of
travelling samurai lords, with its moss garden. It’s worth extending
your stay however to take the five-mile hike along the route of the
Nakasendo, past farmland, forest and waterfalls, which connects Tsumago
to the village of Magome – another time capsule.
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