A walking tour of the Kiso Valley offers glimpses of the golden age of Japans great printmakers.
(Ukiyo-e means, roughly, pictures of a floating world.)
Courtesy of Walk Japan (2)
Still, parts of the Nakasendo remain intact.
Buildings in the Edo Period style in the town of Magome, Japan.Credit:BenLevyPhotography/iStockphoto/Getty Images
Todays Nakasendo is often more of an idea than a physical route, at times indistinguishable from modern roads.
Sipping my cold brew, I studied the woodblock version of the town.
At a tiny bakery called Wachinoya we boughtoyaki(skillet-fried buckwheat buns) filled with bitter wild mugwort.
From left: Nagataki, a ryokan in Nakatsugawa; stone paving along the Nakasendō.Courtesy of Walk Japan (2)
I wondered how they could derive any spiritual sustenance at such a distance.
Only later did I remember the nearby clearing where wed stopped to rest.
It hadnt looked like much.
Keisai Eisen’s woodcut of a comb-seller’s shop in Narai.Pictures From History/Universal Images Group/Getty Images
The ukiyo-e Nakasendo exists only on paper.
A woodcut of the road south of Tsumago by Utagawa Hiroshige.Heritage Images/Getty Images
From left: snowcapped Mount Ontake; close up of Wachinoya’s oyaki.From left: Courtesy of Walk Japan; Courtesy of Nagiso Tourism Association
