Magome to Tsumago

Magome-juku is a small town in Kiso Valley, a couple of hours north of Nagoya. The valley is in the Japan Alps, and is one of the old post roads that connected Edo (Tokyo) with Kyoto in the Edo period. (If you want the details, ask Jeff. He knows them all!) The towns of Magome and Tsumago were built to be “post-towns” - places where travelers could stop to rest and eat and be safe. At the time, the warlords were supposed to spend a good portion of their time in Edo (allowing the emperor to keep an eye on them). It meant the roads were used quite frequently. It would have been a very long trip to have had to make the journey every year. The road now is partially paved with blocks from an earlier construction cemented into the path. Parts of the path actually go through people’s backyards!!! It was a good thing they had signs or we would have turned back, thinking we had missed the road!
Tsumago-juku is the end of this trail and is another of the post-towns, (juku means post-town). It’s a cool place because they’ve worked at keeping it old looking – it’s supposed to be just like the old cities in the Edo period. They don’t allow telephone poles, tv aerials, modern buildings or modern signs in the town. There are some wonderful old homes there and beautiful koi ponds/waterfalls all integrated into the landscape. I found the one I want to retire to! There are many waterways coming down from the alps in the area so they’ve simply used what is coming anyway as a part of their landscape. It’s really quite beautiful!