geography
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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
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Interlude: The Early Nakasendō, 初期中山道
This day the hike didn’t go along the classical Nakasendō from Shimosuwa towards Shiojiri, but followed what is known as the Early Nakasendō. At the very start of the Tokugawa regime after the battles of Sekigahara in 1600, they started… …more
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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
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More resources
Just a quick note that the Resources page has been updated with a lot more GPX-files, including one for the complete Nakasendō track, and one for all the post stations. These tracks will be updated even further if need be,… …more
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Geography of the path
Along the way, The Nakasendō meanders across a varied landscape. It passes through deep forests, modern cityscapes, over steep mountain passes, and across countless rivers. All these various parts come with their own set of challenges. In order to summarise… …more
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Post stations
A shukuba, which can be translated to “post station”, or a “post town”, were mostly small towns or villages that served travellers along the road with places to eat, drink, rest, and to spend the night. They had a government… …more
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The layout of the Nakasendō
Researching the old path has been an adventure in itself. There are a lot of versions of the complete route available on the internet, often only subtly different from each other. Sometimes though the various maps and files are starkly… …more