Adventure 28/50 : Walking the Nakasendo Way, part 1

When I started researching our trip to Japan, I heard about the Nakasendo, a centuries-old "highway" that connected Kyoto and Edo (that's Tokyo to you and me) through the island of Honshu. This inland route stretches for over 300 miles, but was considered safer than a similar, larger road, the Tokaido.

In the early 17th century, the Tokugawa regime demanded that their courtiers travel between Edo and Kyoto on a regular basis, so many of them and their families traveled along the Nakasendo or yearly. The route was carefully planned, with villages established at convenient distances as "post towns" to provide lodging and food for official travelers. Some of these towns are well preserved, including two we visited, Magome and Tsumago.

We took a bullet train from Tokyo to Nagoya (wheeee!) and then a local train to Nakatsugawa, a town on the Nakasendo. Many travelers take a bus from Nakatsugawa to Magome, but we had decided to get an extra day of hiking in.

We left the station and walked up to the Nakasendo as it travels through Nakatsugawa. It wasn't super promising, to be honest. Though there were some nice older buildings.

We headed up the hill to the overpass, so well marked on the map.

There we saw our first "kosastuba", a replica notice board for travelers that was set up at either end of post towns on the Nakasendo.

Soon we reached the large red torii gate -- again marked on the map...

... and then we saw this on a signboard.

Would we be able to stay on the route through the town? Yep. #followtheyellowspeckledroad

Along the way we passed through countless shrines, beautifully maintained "rest stops" with spotlessly clean bathrooms, and plenty of signage to let us know we were on the right track.

We soon reached an old teahouse that was built to serve travelers. A few years ago the children of the last owners re-opened the teahouse, and served traditional food, including these "shiratama danga", sweet mochi dumplings with brown sugar.

The teahouse itself was lovely inside -- I can imagine in the cold winter to come this hearth would be very welcoming:

and lovely outside, too:

We continued along through rice fields ...

... and past small neighborhoods...

... until we arrived in the larger town of Ochiai. where we stopped in at a small grocery store to pick up picnic supplies -- some bread, some tofu, some drinks, some candy.

After making a a detour to visit a beautiful shrine with its multiple torii and kitsune statues:

we walked to a nearby bridge over a river and had some lunch.

The weather at this point was still really fine, but as we continued on into the forest we started to hear thunder. After climbing a steep hill, we arrived at the old stone pavement, a heavily restored section of paving that connects ancient fragments. This paving is called "ishidatami" -- literally "stone tatami". It's atmospheric and moody -- or maybe that's just a forest in a thunderstorm...

We stopped in a forest shelter as the first real wave of rain hit, but we were being eaten by mosquitos so decided to gore-tex up and move on. We soon arrived at another shelter, this one with a fancy bathroom. We stood there for a while watching the downpour ... at least until we noticed a nearby office for a mini golf course, with a large covered patio, lots of empty picnic tables, and vending machines.

When the rain passed, the heat returned, so we watched steam rise from the pavement as we walked through fields and the houses of a small village. We loved these ponds near most houses, and larger ones that served as fire control... and homes for fish.

The last stretch of the trail followed a narrow roadway that turns out to be the bus route. We didn't actually see any buses all day, but there aren't many in the afternoon .

The fields were vibrant and lush

 
Some had already been harvested:

Soon we arrived on the outskirts of Magome, right on schedule.

I admit it, we looked in the gift shops near the bus stop... but soon we headed up the old street.

The village is nearly all traditional buildings built after a devastating fire in 1895.

Many of them are shops, some are museums, and others are inns.

Our inn, Tajimaya, was the most beautiful of them all.

after a great night there, we would continue on to Nagiso via Tsumago and the Magome Pass.

Adventure 27/50 : Staying in a Ryokan

One essential experience in Japan is staying in a ryokan, or traditional family-run inn. We stayed at Tajimaya, located on the Nakasendo in Magome, and it was perfect.

The building itself is exquisite; the owner told us that his great grandfather ("who was short") built the inn and he's the fourth generation to run it.

We checked in promptly at 4. We had been told that check in was between 4 and 6 because the staff would be preparing dinner after 6, and it would be served at 7. We were shown to our rooms: a sitting room with a small low table and cushions on the floor, and a bed room with futons. 

Both rooms had air conditioning -- necessary during the hot summer -- and a small television, but those were the only concession to modernity. And that was fine with us. 

We also didn't have much of a view, but we were there for the experience, not the view. Some rooms did overlook the main pedestrian street, but given how quiet the village was at night, that would not have been a concern.

The rooms had tatami mats on the floor, which gave the room a lovely grassy smell. We were welcomed with cups of green tea and crisp biscuits, which we nibbled on while we relaxed for a while. 

It had been a ridiculously hot and humid day, and we also were caught in a thunderstorm during our hike. So we took our yukata -- more on those later -- and headed down to the shared, sex-segregated baths downstairs to freshen up before dinner.

The baths are the sort of thing that stresses out Western travelers, especially those who didn't play sports in school. (Hey, I was on swim team, okay?) You go into an antechamber and take off your clothes. Then you go into a "wet room" to shower and wash, being careful not to get any soap into the bath, which is usually covered unless in use. And after you get clean, you can get in the bath and soak and relax in the hot water. It's great.

Not my picture -- I'm not a person to bring a camera into a bathroom! Image from JapaneseGuestHouses.com

But while we were there, I walked in to the dressing room while an older woman was finishing up her bath, and I have never seen anyone get dried off and dressed quite so quickly! By the time I headed in to the shower she was dressed and leaving the room. I showered and then climbed into the big bath. As I sat there, a young woman came in, opened the door, closed the door, stepped back into the hallway, and then came back in. She hesitantly asked me if I knew if this was the only place to shower. I said yes, I thought so, and she said, "Oh, okay. Well, when in Japan..." and she got undressed and had a quick shower. We chatted a little bit about how it was both of our first time in a ryokan, etc., and she headed out. Me? I just lay happily in the bath.

Eventually I got out of the tub, dried off, and put on my snappy, blue-and-white cotton yukata. Yukata are casual robes now typically worn only in the summer, but in ryokan they're "fashionable" year round. We had read that it's traditional to wear them to dinner and to wander the town after dinner, so of course we did.

Ah, but first, DINNER.

We arrived in the dining room, which was magically full of tiny dishes of food. Thirty minutes earlier, it had looked like this:

We had a table in the corner, labeled as hours, noting "vegetarian". When we booked, we asked if they could serve a dinner without chicken, beef, pork, etc. But we told them that fish was fine -- we often include fish in our diets when we travel; it just makes things easier. And in this case, totally delicious. Here's the full table -- our dinner for two...

I am giddy with excitement at the prospect of this dinner!

You can see that most of the guests -- including the young woman I met in the bath, way in the back of the image, but not her traveling companions -- were wearing yukata.  

The real challenge: what to eat first? What to eat next? 

You'll be happy to know that we persevered and ate ALL OF OUR DINNER. 

After dinner we put on outdoor slippers and went for a walk up and down the street. With the small lights and most people wearing yukata, it felt a little like time travel. 

During dinner the owner told us that at 8pm, he would teach us a samurai dance and song. We all laughed, a little, but when we came back from our walk at 7:58 he was in the entryway, smiling. We joined him around the traditional hearth.

Four of us started out, and then two more joined in. We warbled along -- or tried to -- and when he was satisfied, he attempted to teach us the dance. Thankfully, no photos survive of this, but we deemed it a success that no one fell in the hearth or knocked anything off the shelves nearby!

After the dance, he slipped into the next room and came back with a tray of mismatched sake cups and a big bottle of sake, and asked us all to drink with him. We sipped the sake as he told us a bit about the inn and his family. One woman asked if we were drinking local sake. He said, "Oh no... it's *my* sake." We followed up. "Your sake?" "Yes, I make it here. Just rice and mountain water and time." Need I say that it was delicious and smooth?

The quiet, the massive amount of food, the hot baths, and the hike meant we were ready for bed by 9am. We slept like logs on the comfy futons in the quiet house!

Oh, and in the morning, we enjoyed another massive meal -- a delicious breakfast:

Stuffed to the gills, we dressed and headed out for the day's hike to Nagiso via Tsumago. Tajimaya had been a definite highlight of our trip to Japan.

Bonus: they have a taxidermied tanuki which, until I saw pictures of him when I booked the ryokan, I didn't know was a real animal.

Adventure 26/50: Nippori Fabric Town, Tokyo

I love fabric shopping ... Wil, not so much. So I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have loved to spend in Nippori Textile Town, but I squeezed a lot of browsing into those two hours on our last day in Tokyo!

Just a few steps away from Nippori station, Nippori Textile Town / Fabric Town / Fabric Street is less than a mile long, but somehow contains nearly 100 stores that specialize in textiles and trims.

My number one destination was "Tomato" ... but there are multiple locations scattered on both sides of the street! I popped in at the first location --"Tomato Select" and poked around for a while, admiring the range of fabrics as well as the trims. I made my first purchase there -- these cute skull embroidered pieces. One is destined for a bag, the other for the back of a shirt.

While there I asked the staff for where I would find sashiko stitching materials. At first they thought I was looking for fabric that looked like sashiko, until I mimed stitching and they said, "Ahh, kit!" Even then they were a little puzzled -- this was really a place for fabric and trims, not stitchery, it seemed. But they pointed to the Tomato Notions location, a little farther along and across the street.

It was a little overwhelming -- so many patches and buttons and trims! But toward the back I did find a nice selection of sashiko threads and kits... so I stocked up. Bless Wil, he said, "Buy as much as you want -- you won't be able to get things as easily at home!"

In addition to the kits, panels, and thread, I also picked up some beautiful ribbon in classic washi prints, and some vintage kimono pieces. Nope, I have no idea what I'll do with them (shoelaces? bra straps?) but they were too beautiful to pass up. I've already started on the sashiko bag, though I haven't made huge progress yet.

Then we headed into the main Tomato location, Tomato Honkan. Five stories packed with fabric of all types!

(See the other Tomato location RIGHT NEXT DOOR? It's like that in Nippori Textile Town!)

I really didn't need any fabric -- I know, does anyone ever NEED fabric? -- but I did pick up some cute Japanese themed prints. Again, no real idea what do to with either, though maybe the Fuji print would be a good liner for my sashiko bag.

We had already spent nearly 2 hours there, and had lots of other things we wanted to do that day, so I carefully chose one last store to visit: On-travelling, which was described as carrying "badges, handicraft kit, buttons".

I walked in and the place took my breath away. Talk about an "Aladdin's Cave"!

Look at how she merchandises her ribbons:

I spent a very long time in there, again, not needing or really looking for anything in particular. I loved that she had patches, and some weird little kits, so picked up a couple of things more as souvenirs than as supplies.

I could imagine spending an entire day in the shops and coming home with more than I could carry -- maybe next time.