Roving Japan

Day 81 Photoset

Rained quite a bit last night, but the tent remained undefeated in battles against the weather. It was a bit dodgey this morning though, when we realized that the space between the footprint and the main tent was full of water. We both slept well, maybe because of the extra cushion?

Our target for today was a traditional Ryokan (think traditional Japanese B&B) in the town of Tsumago. Tsumago was about 15km from our camp, so we planned a nice and easy walk through what is probably the most famous stretch of the Nakasendo.

After packing up, we started hiking up route 7 towards Magome, one of the most popular and well known post town on the Nakasendo.

We arrived at Magome around 8:30, which was perfect because we beat the crowds and could enjoy the peaceful streets alone. It was really beautiful, and we both could really sense the Edo era. The only knock against Magome is that it’s a tourist destination and is therefore a little TOO perfect. However, since we were basically alone, we could admire it all without fighting through the crowds.

From Magome, we followed the old preserved Nakasendo through the woods and along the highway to Tsumago. This section was really great, as we got to hike on the old road just like we saw a couple of days ago with Mr. Itoh.

The hike between the two towns takes a couple of hours, but is downhill for most of the way so it wasn’t that bad. We also past by 2 awesome waterfalls and found a rest house run by a nice man who gave us free food and even sang a song!

When we arrived at Tsumago, our first priority was to find the Ryokan. Risa had booked it last night while we were at the Onsen, so we weren’t 100% sure where it was. Turns out, this Ryokan was actually pretty far away from the main town, so we are glad we asked someone for directions.

The folks who run the Ryokan are really nice. When we got there, they let us check in a bit early, then the main lady took our laundry and started cleaning our dirty clothes for us! I couldn’t believe it. They also let us hang our soaking wet tent so it could be dry by tomorrow.

After checking in, we decided to go explore the main town for a couple of hours.

Tsumago is really cool. It’s not quite as perfect looking as Magome, so it manages to feel a little more authentic. The shops lining the street are part trinket store, part museum. Almost everything looks like it did 200 years ago. It’s pretty amazing.

We went to see the old luxury hotel which was built to house any VIP that might pass through. We also got a tour of an old house that also served as the backup hotel to the main fancy one.

The tour was cool, and we learned some things like the fact that in an old household, the family would have specific seats around the stove. The man would sit on the tatami mats with his legs closest to the fire, while the women would sit on wood floor.

The tour guide also showed us an area that was built specifically for the Meiji emperor who stopped here for 30minutes and never returned. They had to make his own room and bathroom which he never used.

We had fun looking around, but around 5pm everything closed, so we headed back to the Ryokan for a home cooked dinner!

Tonight we will get some rest, and tomorrow morning we will head back to Tsumago and then on to Okuwa.