The garden around our Ryokan Hotel Komanoyu
We had a rest day in Kiso-Fukushima, one of the major post towns on the Kiso Road in the seventeenth century.
Many cafes and hostel/hotels for travellers along the Nakasendo Trail.
Several sections of the town still have traditional houses from the Edo period
The fast flowing Kiso River flows through the town.
We found a small festival museum with a video in English explaining Kiso’s most popular celebration.
The festival is on 22nd July and involves tossing a shrine. It is based on a local legend of two brothers, Tokai and Sokai, retreating down a hill carrying a shrine. They drop it and it tumbles to the bottom.
The Tourist Office recommended the Takaseke Museum.
Nineteen generations of one family have lived in this house, including samurais, medicine producers, even to the Shogun, and more recently an author and poet. The granddaughter of the author, Toson Shimazaki, still lives in the house and explained the collection.
Family portraits
In the 1600s the Shogun ordered the Takaseke family to take charge of the town’s checkpoint, monitoring the movement of travellers along the Nakasendo Way. The checkpoint gate still exists outside their home.
An artist’s impression at the time
Some temples and shrines in the town
Some other things that caught my eye. Lacquer ware originated in Kiso
Lunch in a friendly cafe. A change to have a small serving and something of our own choice.
There are two things shrouded in Japanese secret cultural business - eating etiquette, which Japanese are too polite to correct and Japanese bathing in onsens. Feeling nervous I ventured forth towards the onsen, I pushed the lift button, the door opened - six giggling Japanese ladies appeared en route to the onsen. It felt like a scene from the Mikado. I jumped in and followed their every move.
The real cast
Another meal of endless dishes tonight. The main course was finely sliced pork and beef cooked in soy milk.
Back on the walking trail tomorrow.
M&M
1 comment:
You are certainly having a great experience in Japan. There's something new and different at every turn. Hope the weather cools down for you..... JulieJ
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