The Kiso Valley lies about half-way between Tokyo and Kyoto, in the mountains of Gifu Prefecture. The Kiso Valley, oftened referred to in Japan as kiso-ji, or Kiso Way, was part of the Nakasendo, a medievel trail that lead between Tokyo and Kyoto. It was one (the other is the Tokaido Trail leading along the Pacific coast) of the trails used by merchants, nobles, and itinerant traders to travel through Japan up until the 19th century. Originally, there were 69 towns along the trail, referred to as ‘juku’, or ‘post towns’ in English. Each town had stables for horses, inns for the travellers, as well as a more elaborate accommodation for feudal lords known as daimyo who had to make the regular journey between their fiefdoms and Edo, as Tokyo was then called. It was part of the Shoguns’ system of rules and duties designed to keep the daimyos in their place. They had to spend six months in Edo each year, leaving their families in Edo as hostages when they returned. This system of ‘sankin kotai’ as well as other measures were very effective at stopping any revolts.
The village of Tsumago is located along one of the best-preserved sections of the old Nakasendo, and has been restored by its residents so that it gives the feeling of an Edo-period village. Starting in the late sixties, the villagers decided to restore their houses, which at that point were in a bad state of decay, and they have set themselves rules to follow so that the village is preserved. However Tsumago is not a museum, it is a living village, and this makes a big difference. As with most Nakasendo villages, it is long and thin, about one kilometre long to be exact. The merchants houses that line the main street are deep and narrow, as they were taxed according to the amount of space on the street they took.
My favourite place to visit apart from wandering past the small shops, is the waki-honjin, which was the accommodation provided for the daimyo’s retinue. Inside the wooden building you can see an irori (sunken hearth) and learn where each member of a family would sit according to their ‘rank’. You can also see the walls, deeply coloured by the smoke from the fire but polished to a deep shine up the height of the maids whose job it was.
There are several lovely places to stay in Tsumago, all Japanese-style minshuku run by local families. The evening is for me the best time to wander, as the other visitors have all gone home, and you are left pretty-much on your own. At dusk the lanterns glow and it’s hard to believe that you are in the 21st century!
We visit Tsumago on our Shoguns and Samurai, and the new Nakasendo Trail tour.
