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.
