Roving Japan

It rained a lot last night, and it rained a lot this morning. I am very happy that I bought an umbrella when it started raining super hard yesterday. The rain gear we brought with us is way too hot to wear while walking.

We walked through 3 post towns today. Samegai, Kashiwabara, and the famous city of Sekigahara.

The first town we came too was Samegai, and we were really happy to see that the old Nakasendo is clearly marked and actually goes through the city. So instead of walking along side the big trucks on the highway, in the rain, we got to take a nice stroll through an old post town that seems to have retained most of it’s old charm. The best part about this town is the cool stream that flows along side the main road. Unfortunately it was raining pretty hard, so we didn’t get any pictures.

All day long, we were surprised to see how well the Nakasendo is marked, and that it never forces you to walk right on the highway. We spent almost the entire day walking on quiet streets that meander through trees, rice patties, or these cool old post towns.

After Samegai we came to Kashiwabara which seems to require all buildings to hang a white lantern with “Nakasendo” written on it. The town also had a little museum and tea shop. We waited out a heavy rain at the tea shop, and when we left we finally got a chance to break out the camera and take some pictures. As you can see, we were following this small little road through some classic looking towns.

I have to say, despite the rain, this was probably the best walking day we’ve had. The road was quiet, the towns were cool, and overall we really got the feeling of walking the Nakasendo. The fact that you come to a new town every couple of hours or so gives you plenty of time to rest and recharge. I hope the rest of the trail is so well preserved.

The last post town we walked through was Sekigahara. This city is famous for the decisive battle between Tokugawa and the Western Armies. Tokugawa won, and the Tokugawa shogunate began (basically).

Today, Sekigahara is still a small town, but much bigger than it was back in the day. There are markings all over the city for little historical land marks. We only went to one, but it was kind of interesting. There was a stone marker and a sign which basically said, “So and so deployed his troops here, but one of them betrayed him and the entire group was wiped out.” This marker now resides in an elementary school parking lot.

Our camp today is in a park just south of the post town of Tarui. We lucked out when we looked at the park map and discovered that there was a gymnasium. Risa said, “A gym! That might mean they have a shower!!!” Suddenly she walked 109343 times faster than me, as she bolted for the gym to ask permission for the shower. They initially said no, but Risa gave them her puppy dog eyes and explained that we’ve been walking the Nakasendo and are in desperate need of a shower. After hearing her plead for mercy, they were kind enough to let us use the shower (for free!) and even gave us permission to camp in the outfield of a baseball diamond. So right now we are camping out in right field, way out where the dandelions grow.

It’s raining again.