igoiseeishoot: Walking the Nakasendo Highway between Narai and Yabuhara

26 May 2016

After walking the portion of the Nakasendo Highway between Magome, Tsumago and Nagiso, we planned to walk the stretch of the old Nakasendo Highway between Yabuhara and Narai. This stretch of the Nakasendo is about 6.2 km and includes crossing the Torii-Touge Pass which is one of the more difficult trail for travellers.

There is no same-day luggage forwarding service between Tsumago and Narai. Although we could have attempted the walk with our backpacks, we decided to make life easier by taking the train to Narai to drop off our packs at the Iseya Ryokan before doing the reverse hike from Narai to Yabuhara and then taking a train back to Narai again. A quick check of the train schedule using Hyperdia showed that this plan is feasible, although the frequency of the train is about one per hour or two in this part of the Kiso Valley.

Travelling along the Kiso Valley using the local train was slow but scenic. Many hydro-electric power stations can be seen along the Kiso River, powering the small towns along the valley. The local train was a one-man-operated train and exit from the train was only via the front carriage where we had to show our tickets to the driver. So it was best to sit at the front carriage.

Iseya Ryokan is a 10 minutes walk from the Narai train station and the young man at Iseya happily stored our backpacks till check-in time which was usually 3 PM.

Narai in the middle of the day was busy with visitors and students on excursions. There were quite a fair bit of local Japanese visitors too.

Yabuhara and the Torii Touge Pass is accessible from the south exit of Narai. There would be no restaurants or cafe along the trail. Hence, we bought some curry buns from one the many bakeries in Narai to eat along the trail and set off towards the Torii Pass. After the cloudy weather in the past two days, this day was relatively hot and sunny.

Narai as seen from the start of the trail to Yabuhara.

Shrine at the south end of Narai with several hundred-years-old cedar trees.

Signboard warning us that the Torii Pass to the south of Narai is one of the most difficult ones to go through on the Nakasendo Highway.

Leaving Narai, we took a steep uphill trail into the forest. Tall trees surrounded the path providing the needed shade as we hiked up towards the Torii-Touge Pass.

Start of the forested trail up towards the Torii Touge Pass.

Drenched in sweat, we continued up the trail. The most difficult part lay ahead.

The trail is relatively empty of other hikers, compared to the Magome to Tsumago trail. We did not meet other hikers until we arrived at the Torii Pass.

Surprising find along the trail. Flowing mountain spring with 4 cups.

After negotiating a series of steep switchbacks, we finally reached the peak. There was a resting area with toilets, running spring water and a view of Kiso Valley with Narai far below.

This gave us an idea of how much we have ascended on this hike.

Further on, we spotted a bear warning bell and an old trail stone marker with many creepy crawly caterpillars.

A torii gate that gave the pass its name is located here, as well as a Shinto Shrine with many figurines of ancient warriors. This mountain pass was named “Torii” (Shinto shrine gate) because a prominent local samurai warrior in 15th century prayed to Mount Ontake for victory in a battle against another clan. After winning the battle, he built this torii gate and Ontake Shrine to thank the spirit of the mountain.

We sat on a bench that, on a good clear day, will offer a view of Mount Ontake. But not on this day.

Nevertheless, this was a good spot for a rest, have a Snicker bar before continuing our walk down to Yabuhara.

After crossing the pass, the trail descended towards the town of Yabuhara. There was not much photo opportunities on this part of the trail.

The trail was well signposted and no map was needed.

Entering into Yabuhara town. From here, it is still a distance to walk to get to the train station.

Overall, the Yabuhara to Narai stretch of the Nakasendo Highway is a good walk that provides some physical challenge and satisfaction of crossing the Torii-Touge Pass. But this hike was less interesting compared to the walks of the last 2 days.

The train to Narai is not frequent and there was about an hour to go before the next train. Like Nakatsugawa, many shops and restaurants in Yabuhara were not opened after 2 pm and we were lucky to find a decent restaurant about 8 minutes walk uphill from the station, based on the information provided by the helpful station master. The old lady in the restaurant told us she was about to close for the day when we walked in. Hot udon noodles soup with slice pork, egg and tofu was served promptly. We were her last customer for the day, until the restaurant reopens for dinner later.

Narai is only one train stop away from Yabuhara. There was still time and energy left in us to check out some of the recommended things to see in Narai which includes:

Kiso-no-Ohashi (Kiso’s Big Bridge) - the bridge is about 300 years old and made of Japanese cypress

Nakamura House - well preserved historic house from 1840

Shizume Jinja Shrine - shrine area with a great Edo atmosphere
200 Juzos (stone Buddhist statues) - located at the northern end of Narai, where every statue is unique

Kiso-no-Ohashi (Kiso’s Big Bridge) - the bridge is about 300 years old and made of Japanese cypress.

Overview of Narai town, located along the Kiso River.

Narai is a well preserved post-town along the Old Nakasendo Highway, like Magome and Tsumago. There are no modern buildings and the look and feel is almost like Tsumago. One feature of the houses in Narai is that the second floor roof is longer and overhangs the first. These eaves extend further to overhang the entire building and protect the interior from rain. The same design and practice of using stones to hold down the metal roof sheets could be also seen on some buildings.

School kid walking home from school. All the day trippers had practically vanished after 4 PM and most shops were shuttered.