Walking the Nakasendo: Magome to Tsumago from Nagoya

In the Edo period two highways connected Kyoto and Edo. The Tokaido ran along the coast; the Nakasendo ran inland through the mountains. Along it were sixty-nine *shukuba* — post towns where travellers, merchants and daimyo processions rested, changed horses and slept.

Most of the Nakasendo is now road. Two adjacent post towns in the Kiso Valley, Magome-juku and Tsumago-juku, were preserved instead — Tsumago in particular was the subject of a deliberate conservation campaign from the 1960s, when residents agreed not to sell, rent or destroy the buildings.

The result is a village where power lines are buried, vending machines are hidden behind wooden screens and cars are kept out during the day. It is not a reconstruction. These are the actual buildings, still lived in.

The trail between them is roughly 8 km and takes about two and a half to three hours at a steady pace. It is a real walk but not a hard one — a stone-paved and forest path climbing from Magome to the Magome Pass, then descending through cedar and bamboo into Tsumago.

Do it Magome to Tsumago, not the reverse. Magome sits higher on its own hillside but the pass is between them, and this direction puts the climb in the first hour when you are fresh and the long descent at the end. It also finishes in the better-preserved of the two towns, which is the right way round.

Along the way you pass waterfalls, a teahouse where a volunteer serves free tea, and bear bells mounted on posts that walkers ring as they pass. The bells are not decorative. Ring them.

Both towns run a luggage forwarding service between them in season — drop your bag in Magome in the morning, collect it in Tsumago in the afternoon. If you are walking with a suitcase in tow, use it.

Nagoya is the natural base, better than Tokyo or Kyoto, and this is one of the strongest arguments for stopping in the city at all.

The standard route is a JR train up the Chuo Line to Nakatsugawa, then a local bus to Magome. Allow about an hour and a half. At the Tsumago end, a bus runs to Nagiso station to pick the line back up. Buses are infrequent — check the return times before you start walking, because missing the last one is the classic mistake here.

That timetable dependency is why a lot of people do this on an organised day trip instead: transport is handled, the timing is guaranteed, and you walk rather than watch a clock. Either works. Independently it is entirely doable, but it needs the bus times written down.

Late October into November is the best window. The Kiso Valley turns properly, the walking temperature is ideal, and the cedar forest sections are at their most atmospheric.

Spring is the second choice — fresh green and manageable temperatures. Summer is humid and the forest holds the heat; it is doable but start early. Winter brings snow and ice on the pass; the towns are beautiful and very quiet, but the trail can be genuinely slippery and daylight is short.

Whatever the season, start early. Both towns are day-trip destinations and both empty by late afternoon, which means the last hour of the walk and the first hour in Tsumago are often the quietest and best part of the day. Staying overnight in a Tsumago *minshuku* is the upgrade — the town after the buses leave is a different place entirely.