Here we go again...
After a satisfying breakfast at the minshuku, (the young Japanese chap did not show up for breakfast, poor thing...maybe we should have offered him ibuprofen yesterday), we set off for a 1.6km walk to the nearby post-town of Tsumago.
We arrived before 9am on a Sunday, so the place was deserted, allowing us the chance to take some quiet shots
Some obasan (aunties) were opening up their shops but stopped to chat with each other on the slow morning
The souvenir shops of Tsumago still offer many of the same items that they have sold to the travelers back in the Edo and early Meiji periods - laquerware boxes, handcrafted children's toys, oiled paper umbrellas, and medicines made from mountain herbs.
This probably served as a rest area for travelers during the town's heyday
Each post-town had a honjin, an officially appointed inn for dignitaries, and a waki-honjin, a secondary accommodation in case of overflow of dignitaries. Tsumago had an excellent waki-honjin that served as a museum to showcase the function of the place. During the Tokugawa shogunate, the family who owned this place was one of two heads of transportation business in the town
The seat in front of the fire with a small wooden platform for resting the legs was given to the male head of family because it was the warmest seat.
This table was constructed for the visit of Emperor Meiji when he toured Nakasendo in the early 19th century. Apparently, the local carpenter had never seen a raised table, being used to the traditional Japanese ones, and wrecked his brains to come up with this design which did not use any nails. The Emperor sat on it for 20 minutes while having his tea. The inscription at the bottom of the table described the visit of the Emperor.
A special toilet was made for the Emperor, too. It was never used. Trust the Japanese to make everything look elegant.
Tsumago produces an annual version of the traditional notice board "newspaper" used during the shogun era. This one is for 2016, showing the Rio Olympics.
After that surprisingly entertaining stopover in Tsumago, we continued our way at around 10am as we had a good 20km to cover before 5pm. The last train leaves Nojiri station at 5:32pm for Kiso-Fukushima where our accommodation for that night was located. Miss that, and we would be stranded. Yup, that was good motivation to get moving.
More Nakasendo signs
Sometimes the trail is a village with proper paved roads...
...sometimes it's a path in the woods...
Toilet stop. Cleanest mountain toilet I've seen. Of course. It's Japan.
We were given short 5-10 minute breaks based on YL's estimation of how we did in terms of distance covered. Often we just plopped down on the ground wherever that may be, even on a bend on a motorway, grateful to rest our wobbly legs and snack.
What's smaller than a village? A hamlet. What's smaller than a hamlet? A settlement. We passed through several hamlets and settlements on our walk. At this one, the two old ladies were super-impressed by our kids for walking the Nakasendo. So am I, obasan... so am I.
Many of the villages/hamlets/settlements are involved in small-scale agriculture
Rice paddy fields on the way up to the Nenouetoge Pass
We made it to the pass at 2700 feet! It's marked by a toilet :)
Aaaah....we can rest! And snack!
Some parts of the trail were strewn with the vestiges of autumn. Generally the kids did well, with Sophie often leading the pack, and Ju trailing waaaay behind. Some amount of scolding and threatening did happen in order to get him to catch up.
WE MADE IT to Nojiri station with 1 hour to spare! 21km in 8 hours - woohoo!
The most appreciated vending machine of our whole Japan trip. Having skipped lunch and sustained our energy with chocolates throughout the day, we gleefully consumed the tubes of chips from the machine while waiting for our train to arrive.
The train from Nojiri station took 30 minutes to reach Kiso-Fukushima station, where our ryokan has sent a van for us. It was such a relief to step into the small but elegant place that was reminiscent of the ryokan at Nozawa-onsen last year (still the best ryokan so far, according to Julian's rankings). Civilisation!
Though we could not wait to check out the onsen, we decided to first take care of our yucky selves and growling stomachs, and then savour it *after*.
We couldn't walk properly - you should see Ju! - and grunted each time we had to sit down or stand up, but the onsen and fantastic dinner at Koma no Yu ryokan outside of Kiso-Fukushima made everyone feel better. The kids are fussy eaters but they were happy with most of the food served at all the places we stayed during the walk.
Our luggage sent by Takyubin 2 days ago arrived, and was waiting for us in our room. This service is magic!
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