wilderness
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50. to 52. Fushimi to Unuma
This was a very varied hike. It started on the southern banks of the Kiso river, crossed that waterway (for the last time), and then followed it on the northern side instead. This part of the river valley is called… …more
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48. to 50. Hosokute to Fushimi
As I left Hosokute-juku, the owners of the ancient inn where I stayed the night graciously posed for a picture. This day meant hiking along two legs again, from Hosokute-juku, via Mitake-juku, to Fushimi-juku. I also hiked about five kilometres… …more
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46. to 48. Ōi to Hosokute
The hike of the day started in Ōi-juku, and ventured into the wilderness of the Jūsan toge, the thirteen mountain passes before arriving in the tiny village of Ōkute-juku. After a short pit-stop, the I crossed the second wilderness of… …more
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41. to 44. Midono to Nakatsugawa
This hike covers what probably are the most famous and well-known passages along the whole Nakasendō: the Magome pass between Tsumago-juku and Magome-juku, as well as the Ochiai cobblestones (ishidatami) on the leg between Magome-juku and Ochiai-juku. The path towards… …more
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37. to 39. Fukushima to Suhara
This day was a sometimes fantastic hike, and at other times rather hard on the psyche. I started off in Kiso-Fukushima, hiked via Agematsu-juku and ended up in Suhara-juku at the end of the day. On the positive side of… …more
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34. to 37. Narai to Fukushima
The hike of the day had two main themes: the Torii pass between Narai-juku and Yabuhara-juku; and the Kiso river. The first leg for the day was “just” the hike from the Narai river valley across the ridge and down… …more
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30. to 31. Shimosuwa to Shiojiri to Seba
Shimosuwa-shuku is an interesting place. It is situated right on the north shore of the rather large lake Suwa, and it has an utter abundance of natural hot springs. It even has so many hot springs that there are several… …more
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Moar wildlife
The hike today followed the Early Nakasendō instead of the “normal old Nakasendō”. There will be a post about that as well as usual, also explaining what the Early Nakasendō actually is. But these wild stretches of mountain roads I… …more
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29. The Wada pass
The big one. The length of this leg is about 22 kilometres, but the pass itself is a gruelling hike uphill from Wada-shuku for almost 800 metres, and then down a bit more than 800 metres, reaching the post town… …more
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23. – 28. Iwamurada to Wada
This day stretched across several old post stations, from Iwamurada where I spent the night, via Shionada, Yawata, Mochizuki, Ashida, and Nagakubo before finally reaching Wada-shuku. While the distances between the post stations on the Higashi Shinshu Nakasendō is on… …more