Nakasendō Hiking

General

  • Posts about the post stations

    Posts about the post stations

    Over the next several weeks I’ll write a blog post for each one of all the sixtynine post stations, or shukuba, along the Nakasendō, as well as one each for the ones that have been lost in the shuffle over… …more

  • Spreading information during the Edo period

    Spreading information during the Edo period

    Kōsatsuba or seisatsu were message boards where government declamations, edicts, rulings and other kinds of official information could be posted. That could include new laws, information about what kinds of activities the government thought to be harmful to the state,… …more

  • More fun things

    More fun things

    The featured photo up above shows the 24 metres tall Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn statue that stands in front of the DiverCity shopping mall on Odaiba, in Tokyo. It will be taken down some time after the summer of ’26. …more

  • Manhole covers in Japan

    Manhole covers in Japan

    Having a specific type of manhole cover for your town’s sewage drains or fire hydrants seems to be a point of local pride in Japan. There are thousands and thousands of different designs all over the country. Along the Nakasendō… …more

  • Return of the Son of Weirdness, part II.

    Return of the Son of Weirdness, part II.

    Here are some more interesting things I encountered on my hike from Tokyo to Kyoto. This is from an ordering website at a restaurant: The featured image of the this post is a view from the hotel that overlooks the… …more

  • More weirdness and fun

    More weirdness and fun

    North of Tokyo, the city ended and the wilderness began. I did rest on this “bench”, and it was a great place to pause on the hike! I stayed longer than a minute, though. I will do a couple of… …more

  • Post hiking weirdness and fun

    Post hiking weirdness and fun

    I have encountered a lot of fun, weird and perplexing stuff that didn’t have anything to do with the Nakasendō on my hike across Japan. I thought I’d give it a whirl and share some of these things that I’ve… …more

  • Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō

    Sixty-nine Stations of the Kiso Kaidō

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    In the early to mid 19th century, the master artist Utagawa Hiroshige made a series of woodprints, ukiyo-e, of the 53 stations along the Tōkaidō road between Tokyo and Kyoto. In contrast to the Nakasendō, the Tōkaidō hugs the coast… …more

  • Masugata

    Masugata

    A number of the post towns along the way have incorporated a series of what seems to be non-sensical 90-degree turns in the layout of their towns where the Nakasendō passed through. A normal post town has a layout much… …more

  • Signs along the Nakasendō

    Signs along the Nakasendō

    The Nakasendō has a bewildering amount of different kinds of designs and looks for the signs, markers and stones along the way. It’s not so easy either that a specific section only has of one type of design, although that… …more

Nakasendō Hiking