This is part three of our Nakasendo Way Trek. Go back to parts one or two.
Suhara
Our next leg of the Nakasendo Way began at the pretty post-town village of Suhara, where the main street is lined with traditional buildings. Along this street is a traditional Japanese minshuku (guesthouse), and we had rented it for the night. No, no, you say, surely you booked a room in the minshuku? No, I say, we booked the whole thing, all seven rooms. The owner does not run the place like an inn where dinner and breakfast are served, but rather it’s run like a vacation rental where you meet the owner to get the key and meet again for check-out. Here we are waiting in front of the minshuku for the owner to let us in.
The inside of the minshuku was like a museum: a firepit, ricepaper screens, and tatami mats on the floor. The place was soaked in history, and we could only imagine the travelers who would have stayed here in days long gone by. It’s definitely one of the most special places we’ve stayed in our travels. In an annex at the back were a modern kitchen and bathroom.
There was no central heating due to the age of the building. Rather, the owner showed us how to work a butane space-heater. We fenced off one area of the building with rice-paper screens, and we managed to get it reasonably comfortable. It took a while to get the chill off, though.
For dinner we bought some packaged foods from the 7-eleven down by the highway and cooked them up in the kitchen. In all, our stay at the minshuku felt more like camping than it did like staying in a hotel. It was all good fun, though.
In one area of the minshuku were a bunch of pamphlets including a stack of maps of the Nakasendo Way. I immediately recognized the value of the maps and took one. I studied it thoroughly in preparation for the next day’s hike. The space heater ran out of gas at 5 am, but we were snug in our bedrolls.
Suhara to Nojiri
We woke up to heavy frost outside, and bright clear skies. We started our day by visiting Joshoji temple on the outskirts of Suhara.
A tour group of Japanese walkers was just leaving the temple, and the caretaker let us in. In the tatami area of the temple there were very ancient-looking decorations of cranes on the walls. In Japan, cranes are a symbol of longevity and good luck.
After the temple we set off down the trail, aided by my new map. We hiked parallel to the train tracks for a bit.
We crossed the Ina River and entered a village. Here we spotted a Coffee Boss vending machine. Now, I should stop to explain a little about vending machines in Japan. They can be found on most street corners and they dispense both hot and cold drinks. The hot coffee is not hot water mixed with instant coffee; rather, it’s coffee in a metal can that’s pre-heated. There are a number of different brands around, but the one I like is called Coffee Boss. So, while walking down the trail in a caffeine-deprived state I was delighted to spot this vending machine.
As we opened the cans and enjoyed the hot liquid, a gentleman came along who offered to take our picture.
Just down the road my map told us to take a left turn, to the south, up a small country road heading into the hills. There is a signpost in Japanese, but this turn is easy to miss.
Shady areas were still frosty, but as soon as the sun touched the ground things warmed up quickly.
The scenery was wonderful, and we enjoyed the crisp autumn weather. The persimmon trees were holding on to their fruit even though the leaves had dropped.
The country road led into a hanging valley with tiered rice paddies. Small farms dotted the valley bottom. I’m guessing that this valley is a tilted caldera, and that we were walking around the central uplift in a clockwise manner.
There was a small temple in the hanging valley where we ran into the Japanese walking tour again. We said Konichiwa (hello) to them and the walkers bowed to us in return.
We continued along the road, which now headed in a downhill direction, back to the main Kiso valley. A babbling brook flowed beside the road. The scenery was delightful, and we were happy to be where we were. To us, this is what travel is all about. Pretty countryside, friendly people, and enjoying some nice weather. We were thankful to have a good map, or else we would have missed this wonderful valley.
Back down in the main valley we stopped at the Okawa train station to use the washrooms. When we were ready to go we saw the Japanese walkers come towards us again! This time there were deep bows and big smiles from all of the two dozen or so hikers. The tour leader spoke some English, and told us how he’d traveled across Canada and the US with a Greyhound bus pass, taking long overnight bus journeys to save on accommodation costs.
We said goodbye to the walkers and continued on. We hiked a short section of highway, and then turned on a country road that led towards the village of Nojiri.
Catching the train at Nojiri.
Continue to part four of our Nakasendo hike.
Logistics
We hiked this section in 2017. It is a short hike – only 7.1 km. We walked from Nagiso to Tsumago later that day (see next blog post). One could also hike this section in reverse (northbound) to end up at the minshuku at the end of the day.
We booked the Suhara minshuku trough booking.com.