Wednesday, July 1, I took the shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagoya, the express train to the small city of Nakatsugawa, and then a bus further up into the mountains to the small town of Magome-juku.
Magome-juku, along with Tsumago-juku, are two preserved post-towns along the Nakasendo trail. The original Nakasendo from the 1600's was a 400 km trail from Tokyo through the mountains to Kyoto. Now, most of the original trail is covered with roads, but there are sections, like the one between Magome-juku and Tsumago-juku, that make for a beautiful hike.
My guesthouse was right on the trail that ran through the center of the village.
The Nakasendo is a popular hike, and you can actually hike mostly on trails for a day before and a day after the part between the two post-towns. However for the couple of days I planned to stay here, I decided to hike just the popular 8 km section from Magome-juku to Tsumago-juku.
When I was planning this trip, I understood the rainy season to be in June. However I didn't do enough research and it turns out that in this part of Japan the rainy season starts later and lasts longer, so my hiking plans were right in the middle of it.
I woke up Thursday and it was pouring rain. However I had two days, and the forecast for Friday was better, so I decided to do the hike then. The owner of the guesthouse recommended an onsen that was a short bus ride away so I went there in the morning.
The rain let up a little in the afternoon, so after returning from the onsen I walked down the Nakasendo in the other direction toward a town called Ochiai. At Ochiai there is about a kilometer long section of the trail in the original cobblestone, and it was a nice walk through the woods.
On the way there was a little side-trail to an old shrine.
The scenery below Magome-juku was also beautiful with the rice patties.
The next day was perfect hiking weather: not raining but cloudy so it was cooler, with a few breaks of sun. The hike itself was a beautiful trail. About half way there was an old tea house with a friendly elderly man who served tea to visitors.
In Japan recently there has been a marked increase in bear sightings, with a few fatalities. Apparently the bears only come out very early in the morning and in the evening, so hiking on the trail with other people around felt pretty safe. Nevertheless, periodically along trail there were these bells to ring.
I arrived in Tsumago-juku about 11:30am. The main street still seemed like the 1600's. There were some restaurants and a lot of shops selling tacky tourist stuff.
I went into a building that was a preserved house where feudal lords stayed.
