November 7-8, 2023: Matsumoto and Nakasendo Way

 

Matsomoto Castle reflected in the moat at night

“When you look at Japanese traditional architecture, you have to look at Japanese culture and its relationship with nature. You can actually live in a harmonious, close contact with nature – this very unique to Japan.” — Tadao Ando

We slipped the bonds of Tokyo and were off to Matsumoto by train. Matsumoto is located in the Matsumoto Basin of central Nagano Prefecture surrounded by mountains and is acclaimed for its beautiful views. It is a city of about 250,000 people and  is a regional commercial center noted for traditional woodworking and silk spinning, electronics and its dairy industry. Seasonal tourism to the surrounding mountains and hot spring resorts is also an important source of local income. But like most tourist from foreign countries, we came to see the Raven Castle, an impressive 400 year old structure accented by being black and white. Most castles in Japan have been torn down or rebuilt with only a few original structures remaining and this is one of them.  This castle can be entered and climbed to the top in a series of narrow wooden stairwells that are a bit treacherous. Obviously, there aren't many personal injury attorneys in Matsumoto! 

In addition to the harrowing stairs, the inside of the castle, once a military fortress, is a military museum. 

A look out onto the city of Matsumoto from the highest floor of the castle

Denizen of the moat

Fall colors were brilliant on our visit

The castle by day

Matsumoto has a lot of nice tourist shops and good food as well. We ate at a soba shop where we saw the noodle "artist" rolling out dough in the morning. The frog seems to be the mascot of the city. There is a legend regarding the frog, but I am not sure what it is :(. 

A pretty duck in from the moat

This statue has something to do with the frog legend. There are frogs for sale in the tourist shops and along the streets. These folks are frog-crazy. 

Soba noodles being rolled out in an observation window. 

At the jazz kissa in Asakusa, the owner told us to visit the kissa in Matsumoto called Eonta. In addition to being a nice space to play jazz records/CDs, numerous jazz greats have actually visited this kissa and signed the wall. 

Jazz kissa Eonta. About 10 seats total. Whiskey, coffee and jazz. 

There were numerous jazz great signatures including Chick Corea, Bill Evans and others. 

One thing were are seeing a lot of in parks right now is competition for chrysanthemums which were the symbol of the Meiji empire. They're gorgeous!

We got up early today to make our way by train and bus and walk on the Nakasendo Way. This is the old route during the Edo Period from Tokyo to Kyoto, over the rivers and mountains and through the woods.  The hike we took today was between Magome to Nagiso. The walk itself is only about 8 km but between walking to buses and then on to catch the bullet train to Kyoto, we walked about 10 miles, much of it up and down, like in the Smokies. It was beautiful with the fall colors. The total distance of the walk is about 330 miles, but most people only walk the Kiso Valley which is considerably shorter. We got only one day on the trail, but enjoyed it immensely. 

Buddhist and Shinto shrines are everywhere. 88,000 in Japan. This god protects travellers so appropriate for the Nakasendo Way. 

Happy hikers

Another Buddhist shrine. This one is Kannon, god of compassion

The streams remind us alot of the Smokies. This one was running fast and full of bleached white rocks.

There were theoretically bears in the forest and there were bells along the way to ring presumably to let the bears know you were in the hood. Then there were statues here and there with bears carrying a sake barrel. Cute, but weird.

Dog sculpture on someone's porch.

Fall colors on the trail

Definitely reminded us of home. 

We crossed a lot of bridges over the streams.

The maples are the most colorful

A free tea room on the trail

The kettle's on the boil

Fall colors at a Tori gate Shinto shrine

Persimmons drying at a traditional Japanese house

Magone streets

Rice paddy

We got a chance to ride the famous bullet train for about an hour between Nagoya and Kyoto. The speed of the train is over 200 mph and makes for a short, hard to photograph trip!

We arrived in Kyoto after dark. We ate in the station which is almost spaceship-like and huge. 

The actual meal we had

The plastic food display outside the restaurant. Plastic food is very important in Japan :)

The hallway of Kyoto station photographed from the 9th floor. There are 11 floors in all. 

A connector bridge in the Kyoto train station

We ended up the evening with a grand look at the Kyoto Tower. It was a long day with lots of walking but we enjoyed all the experiences from the ancient path to the bullet train. 

“If you are a Westerner and you spend enough time in Japan—and you speak Japanese—you will eventually be told that you cannot truly understand the Japanese. Only the Japanese can understand themselves.” — Marie Mutsuki Mockett

Paul's Ponderings:  This was quite the varied couple of days out and about in Japan.   Matusmoto was a nice area and we had a nice visit to a jazz kissa and then a tasty meal in a noodle shop.  The next day, it was a bit of a train ride into some lovely mountain territory, followed by a great walk, albeit a long one and a bit steep at times, in the area.   Then there was another Japanese meal in a good mall restaurant, albeit one on top of a zillion dollar Kyoto rail station.    By the end of the day, we were pretty ready for some rest.    This trip just gets better and better and proves what a great place to visit Japan is -- we are ready to return and we've not even finished this trip.