Nakasendo

The Nakasendo was one of five major highways connecting Kyoto and Edo during the Tokugawa period. Unlike its coastal counterpart the Tokaido, this inland route wound through the mountainous heart of central Japan — and several of its post towns survive in remarkable condition today.

The most popular stretch runs between Magome and Tsumago, an eight-kilometre walk through cedar forests, farmland, and a pair of villages where wooden lattice buildings and stone paths look much as they did 200 years ago. Electricity lines are buried, cars are restricted, and the only sounds are birdsong and the creak of traditional watermill wheels.