A quieter stretch of the old Nakasendo — the lacquerware town of Narai, the Torii Pass, and the granite gorge of Nezame-no-Toko — walked at an unhurried pace.
While most visitors to the Kiso Valley stop at Magome and Tsumago, the post towns further north see a fraction of the crowds and lose none of the atmosphere. This trip follows the Nakasendo from Narai-juku — the longest of the valley's 11 post towns, its single street lined with lacquerware workshops and combware makers — up over the forested Torii Pass to Yabuhara, then on by local train and foot to the river-carved rock formations at Nezame-no-Toko.
It's a trip for travellers who want the Edo-period atmosphere of the Kiso Valley without the tour-bus crowds, plenty of time in family-run inns, and short, well-marked walking days through cedar forest and river gorge. Evenings are spent in minshuku and small ryokan eating hoba miso and mountain vegetables, with the Kiso River running past almost every window.
