Nakasendo Trail, Day 2

Today was a long day of walking, but enjoyable (nearly 12 miles).  We spent most of our time on roads, with a few forest paths.  We had an early Japanese style breakfast and immediately began walking.  It was nice to be out before the day-trippers arrived.  We walked through the rest of Tsumago getting a good view of the traditional architecture.  None of the shops were open yet.  

We then began ascending but diverted to the site of the Tsumago Castle.  It provided a great view back down in the town.  

The castle was successfully defended by 170 men against a Tokugawa force of 5000 in late 1500s.  However, a later Tokugawa Shogun ordered it destruction, so only a few monuments mark the location.  We saw the mountain top later on the hike and could see why it was such a great spot.  It overlooks the confluence of two rivers and thus has a view in three directions (valleys).

We then "stair-stepped" up a side valley out of the original Kiso Valley route.  This diversion was created in 21 days by 5,000 workers due to blockage of the original route by rain and flooding in 1733.  The Princess Naminomiya was on her way to marry Shogun Tokugawa Ieshige.  The route makes a left turn and climbs over the Nenouetouge Pass to 836 meters (2980 feet by my watch).  We came down on a winding road into Nojiri, one of the post towns and back to the Kiso Valley.

A little reminder of an English walk

We caught the train to Kiso-Fukushima, a ride of about 35 minutes.  We used a public phone (wow) to call our inn for the night, who came and picked us up.  We are at Komanoyu Ryokan, at over 3,000 feet elevation in a narrow side valley up from the main Kiso Valley.  We were met by very friendly staff who showed us the layout (dining room and bathing areas) and our room.  They even made green tea for us in our room.  While having tea, I spotted a spouting mountain and after some research and conversation with a staff person, now know that it Mt Ontake.  It erupted in September 2014, killing 47 people (hikers) and is still steaming.  

After tea, we took baths and a soak in the outside "onsen" (pool).  Don't think too hard on this, but I am sitting in a kmono in the lobby drinking a draft beer with slippers on, about to go in for dinner.  (Photos are not possible).

Dinner was another great meal in the Japanese style.  We started with appetizers of trout sashimi, "cheese sandwich with radish, egg custard, panni cotta with tofu, vegetables, carp, followed with several broth bowls, hot pot beef with onions and cabbage, beef roll up with sprouts, then rice, miso soup and soba noodles, finishing with banana ice cream.   The portions are always small, presented in their individual dish, and with wonderful flavors.  We shared a sake decanter.  The green tea was tasty and we now know that it is not steeped like black tea.  The hot water is poured over the leaves and the tea is immediately poured out into cups.

Tomorrow will be a short walk but with some significant elevation gain - the guide says it is "the most challenging section of the trail."