Slowly, but surely, I am blogging about the things that had happened during the Nakasendo Trail. I shall prove the naysayers (my beloved friends) that I am going to persevere beyond Day 1 of my writing!!
If you got here by mistake and only want the itinerary for the Nakasendo trail, click here.
After a satisfying breakfast aka convenience store food (you get the idea!), we checked out of the hotel to camp outside the luggage forwarding office at the Kyoto station. That’s how kiasu (aka afraid of losing out) we were. If you would like to know more about forwarding your luggage, do write in the comment section. If many people are asking for it, I will create a post on it.
We were just carrying the bare minimum for our 6 day trek. I wasn’t ready to lug along everything, trotting on dirt trails. I have quite a collection of backpacks (ok, ok, I need to cut down on buying these stuff, I just can’t help myself!!). This time I brought my Osprey Tempest 30 because it was the lightest one I had. This was my first multi-day trek after the long covid lockdown period and I didn’t want to kill myself carrying a heavy backpack. Even then, it was only about 70% after I packed everything in.
When we were in the Shinkansen, we already observed the skies getting dark and rain started falling. We were praying that, by some miracle, the rain would go away. Alas, our manifestation skills weren’t strong enough, it was… still raining when we reached the Nakatsugawa station. Sigh…
We strolled around the town of Nakatsugawa a little in the rain and decided to wait it out in a restaurant while having lunch. Even though we were in the rain, we still wanted a decent meal, so we googled for a restaurant with decent ratings. Hardcore yah?
Maybe we were wet and tired and depressed, the warm welcome from the restaurant staff cheered us up and it felt like it was one of the best meals I had on the trip! The wonderful staff made us feel so welcome and were constantly checking with us on how we were. The server even sat down at the next table and chatted with us in his broken English, asking us where we were going and all. With our hand gestures and awfully pronounced Japanese names, we managed to tell him that we were going on the Nakasendo Trail. At that, he went into the staffroom and brought many brochures and pamphlets on the trail and even gave us some tips on the trail! Check out this cool booklet! I love the simple drawings on it. I believe you can get a copy at one of the tourist information centres.
There was a huge world map with pins on it, showing where the customers came from. I pinned one on Singapore. It was overflowing with pins on that little dot on the map. Many Singaporeans had dined there.
I simply must introduce this restaurant to all of you, because the food was great and the staff were awesome! Check out うなぎ料理山品 and the link to the restaurant is here. It is only a 5 mins’ walk from the train and bus station.
We pored over the pamphlets and brochures and stayed as long as we could, but the rain wouldn’t cease. It would have been a wonderful walk from Nakatsugawa to Magome, but we decided to take a bus there instead. If you have the chance to do the walk, you SHOULD!!
Magome was a short bus trip from Nakatsugawa. We alighted at the foot of the town. Magome town’s main street is an uphill slope from the bus stop. Our ryokan, Tajimaya Minshuku, happened to be conveniently situated in the middle of the main street.
Tajimaya Minshuku is run by an old couple and we were greeted with relics from the Edo period as we walked into the place. We did our check in and were briefed on the bathing and eating time slots, dropped our backpacks, surveyed our rooms, basic but adequate, and scooted out to roam the town.
It wasn’t open when we got there. Made a mental note to eat it the next morning (if it’s open by then), or in the next town!!
Magome was a very well conserved Edo period town with its wooden building and it was basically one main street and that’s it. All the attractions were easily accessible as they were lined up nicely along that street.
As we walked down the cobblestoned path (our minshuku was in the middle of the street), we passed by many working water mills. These used to the main industry of the town and were used to mill rice and also to produce electricity for the town. These were probably considered state-of-the-art technology 400 years ago.
The grey dreary sky actually gave the whole place a very zen look. The Nakasendo photos on all websites would have shown it in its full glory of blue skies, green trees and brown wooden buildings. All the photos which I took on this day would be a sharp contrast to the rest. Because of the rain, there were few people outdoors and gave us some peace which we totally appreciate, coming from the horde madness in Kyoto.
Mt Ena was feeling shy, masked by the thick clouds and heavy rain.
Nakasendo is famous for its chestnut snacks and dishes. We wanted to try the famous Kurikinton and the lady at the counter recommended this to us. It was a crumbly “dumpling” made of sweet potato with chestnut wrapped in the middle.
The best thing about staying in ryokans is…. the food!!! OMG!! Especially when you are on a multi-day trek. Every time I felt like cursing and swearing under the weight of my backpack or going up a steep slope, I thought of the wonderful feast that I would be gorging myself silly with when I reach the ryokan, I would press on. LOOK AT THE SPREAD!!! Nuff said. The picture sells itself.
We had a nice, steamy bath in the ryokan’s onsen. What I love about Japanese ryokans and hotels is they provide yukata (bathrobe), which is a light, casual robe that is worn after the bath and for sleeping and house slippers. Any lightening of load on a multi-day trek is welcome!! K, that’s me in a yukata sans makeup. But heck, you guys are here for my travel stories right?!
That’s the owner of the Tajimaya Minshuku, singing a Japanese song to welcome us for our stay before we started our feasting!! How cool is that??!
If you want to do a self-guided Nakasendo trail, it is possible! I did it and at a fraction of the price charged by the travel agents. Go to my link for the 6 days Nakasendo trail itinerary (covering the best sections of the trail). I have already put together all the to-dos, routes and accommodation links so that you don’t have to trawl through the internet like how I did.
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