From Nagiso to Nojiri, this section takes the Yogawa-michi Walking Trail with the Nenouetoge Pass. Starting with a steep uphill, the Nakasendo trail takes you through many fields and forests with the occasional group of peaceful residential houses. The day ended with a train ride from Nojiri to a decadent night in Narai.
DINK Details
New Nakasendō section, detour from the original
Difficulty: Easy Start: Nagiso End: Nojiri | Time¹: 5 hours 15 min Distance: 9.2 mi Elevation: 2,200 ft |
Towns²: 0 Food Prep: High | Tips: Leave early if starting from Tsumago Not many trains from Nojiri, plan ahead |
1. How long we took to walk it with breaks and all
2. Towns are places with food and restroom.
Was that a Monkey? I'm running.
The Start
As soon as we awoke, we ran to the balcony so we can stare at our backyard. We took a short break to pack up, shower, and then back to the balcony for the usual boss coffee. After crying from happiness, we headed to the bridge we have been staring at since yesterday.
The Plan
This final day took some planning. With the trail estimated at 4-5 hours from Nagiso (accounting for elevation time) and a train around 2:30 from Nojiri, we wanted to hit the trail around 9am. If we missed the 2:30 train, it would be 3 hours later for the next train (not out of luck but NOT convenient). If you are coming from Tsumago instead of Nagiso an extra hour or two is need (especially if you want to see the bridge in Nagiso)
The Walk
Leaving Nagiso- 9:15 am
We headed to the 7-11 to meet Christon, shop, and stock up sunscreen. With no towns in-between our path, we grabbed supplies for a picnic in the mountains.
The walk through town was interesting with routes through people's backyards and gardens. Soon we reached the trail head for Yogawa-michi Walking Trail with the Nenouetoge Pass
The Trail
This section is a detour from the original trail is now the official walking route for Nakasendō. It connects both postal stations and is a lot more scenic than the original route which was prone to flood and along noisy train tracks.
We started our ascent into the mountains accompanied by the usual bear warning signs.
The trail gave way to a nice mix of clearings with small clusters of houses and forest trails. We got to see a lot of farm animals; cows in the fields, ducks in a gated pond. Surprisingly, we found our only free water source on the Nakasendo (usually a common thing on the Camino). The next section had unique features like a boardwalk through a bamboo forest, stairs into a cavern, and a blown-out bridge.
At the half-way point, we found a casual picnic spot with benches. We shared some fresh berries, sando, jerky, and the worst canned highball I've every had and will have in my life.
The second part of the trail was wooded, shorter, and becomes all down hill. There was a detour (on this detour) along the route (as of 2023) that directed us to take paved road which was shut down to traffic.
After the detour, we reached a clearing, and the final destination was in site.
Destination - Nojiri
Town - 2:00 pm
We did it! 5 days of Nakasendo and we felt better than we did on our last walking holiday. Improvement! We checked out the train station, making sure the schedule was correct. We also checked out Potato Boy (the name of the vending machine, not the name of this cat).
Since we have some extra time before the train, we headed to the only place open, Cafe Kantana, for a bite.
Then it was time to ride to our next destinations. Neas and I to Narai for our decadent ryokan and Christon to Fukushima-juku to continue his walking holiday. We said our goodbyes and wished each other well.
Narai
If you saw pictures of a postal town, it was probably Narai. The largest of the postal towns, it was an unreal feeling walking down these streets.
We arrived as shops were closing but it was enough time to walk the length of the town. The town is famous for its beautifully crafted lacquer ware (we bought some lacquer ware sake cups). There was also a local distillery called Mars that had great whiskey and brandy. After exploring, we headed to our hotel for check-in.
Hotel - BYAKU Narai
There are no words for expressing how classy this ryokan was, we got lucky! Since this is a blog, here are some words.
Details
Amazing and classy. Very lucky to get a place here for the price
Our room had a record player and various art installations
Self -refreshing and filling tub
A complete record player
Little treats and free sparkling beverages
Room in separate building from the main reception
many many umbrellas
Shared onsen (tattoos allowed)
Link: https://byaku.site/
Check-in was easy. We got a tour of the facilities which included a; Public onsen, restaurant, bar, their own sake distillery, garden, and our room. Our room was HUGE, so a tour was needed. The room attendant showed us how to use our tub and gave use little snack gifts.
Byaku has these little tags hidden throughout the facility, like little easter eggs, with facts about the ryokan. Our attendant informed us we are encouraged to ask them questions about the tags if we want to learn more. It was so cute and the staff was so friendly.
After our hostess left, we were left in silence by the beauty of the room. Neas put on a record, we plated our snack, poured Mars brandy in the room's lacquer ware, and just sat there, trying to understand what was going on.
Tranquility.
We headed over to dinner.
Dinner - Kura at Byaku
At dinner, we were escorted to the dinner room and got seated at this stunning bar counter with a garden view. The chefs introduced us to the Kaiseki menu. We chose the sake and non-alcoholic (tea) pairings with the meal.
The courses were magnificent and everything was perfect.
Afterwards we checked out the bar to see whiskeys were from the area.
While we were finishing out nightcap it stared raining so we grab some umbrellas and walked down the enchanting street back to our room.
Goodbye to Our Last Postal Town
After our unforgettable stay, we woke up to a typhoon approaching. That wasn't going to stop us from enjoying our auto-maintained tub and record player until checkout.
Feeling refreshed, we packed up and headed down to leave. On the way out, to our surprise, we saw the same locals news crew from Tsumago!
We gave each other a big hello and they asked if they could get a full interview. Of course I would! Sadly, I cannot find it yet on the YouTube channel but ill reach out eventually.
As we headed out, we took a farewell look out this beautiful town and said goodbye. We were very lucky because the train we took was the last one out of town before everything shut down. Success!
Maps
AllTrails
Google Maps
Note: Does not follow walking trail
Maps on the Trail
