Hiking Japan’s Nakasendo Trail: Yabuhara to Narai | LESSER KNOWN Post Towns | 中山道, 長野県
Hello everybody and welcome to today’s video. Lucky us, we are back here on the Nagasendo Trail. Yes, this is a trail that I was on about four years ago and it is the old trail that used to connect Kyoto with Tokyo or Edeto in the olden day period. But now I am going to be hiking a different part. Last time I did the tsumago mago part, but now I am going to be going from Yabuhara to Naray post town. So I am starting this day here at Yabuhara and I’m going to be making the trek to Nai. So wish me well as we get back on the Nakasendo, taking in the history and enjoying the walk along the way. Let’s go to Nai post town on the Nakasendo. There are very few trains that get to Yabuhara, but they do lead directly from Nakatsugawa, so it is relatively easy to get here. And we are going to be heading over the mountains here to get to the next post town. Now, Yabuhara doesn’t have that much that is preserved about it. So, as you can see here, it doesn’t look so old post towny. But the place that we are going to called Naray is one of the most wellpreserved post towns here on the Nakasendo. So I’m going to be really excited to see that once we get there. I’m estimating it’ll take um a little bit over 3 hours to get there. It is right in the middle of the summer and the afternoon. So we are hiking this in the hottest time of the day, but it is just about 1:30. We are here at Yabuhara station and we’ll be walking over the Tori Toge Pass to get to Nai Station. So after exiting the station, we have turned right and are heading down this little slope to go underneath the tracks. It has been a little bit confusing, but after getting out of the station, went under the underpass, turned right, turned right, and now I’m on a little small street. So, going to walk this for a little bit and see if it is going in the right direction. We have just come to a locomotive. Okay, here’s a locomotive. He’s up here. There is a little bridge ahead of us. There is a cemetery off to our left. We are going to follow that route. Show them where the station was. And we came from the station which was just beyond this building. Wow, look at the right side has green. We have some bright white clouds and blue in the sky and a cemetery on the left side of us. Hopefully we are on the correct path because there have been not much signage to tell us otherwise a little green path to the tall ride pass. We will go underneath. There’s a 100 meter detour to the Yabuhara Ginga. Let’s go take a quick look. Here we are at the shrine. So, this behind me is the Yabuhara Shrine. Now we’re going backtracking the way we came to get back on the trail towards the main pass. Oh, and we have a train. Here’s the train coming from Naray. Hello. Hello. 2.3 kilometers to get to the Tory Pass. It’s estimating about 70 minutes from here. We are walking up and up gradually. And the nice part is that we haven’t run into a single soul. So maybe it’s because right now is the hottest time of the day to be hiking. Or maybe everyone’s at Magome and Sumago where it’s so busy that they’re not here yet. So, kind of enjoying a little bit of peace to ourselves right now. One of the really nice things that I’ve come across so far is that there’s lots of little water fountains and that is a place where you can fill up your water bottle and kind of cool down a little bit. And the water is super cold. So, really, really refreshing. We are at the 1.9 km sign to Tori Pass and this is in the road to give us a little detour for a pedestrian path. So we will take this. That is because they’re doing construction on part of it. So they want us to walk on a pedestrian road. Following the signs for the pedestrian road. Looks like we have some forest ahead. Shade. So, we are at an altitude of 1,000 meters and now we can see going into the forested area. Got a ladybug on his face. Hello, little man. We have entered a very peaceful cobblestone part of the trail. I’m sure this is super slippery when it gets wet, but luckily for us, it is a day of only sunshine, but definitely not a route you want to be dragging your suitcase through. So, don’t bring one. And we also are in a bear area. So, we definitely should have brought bearbells, but there is one here that we can ring before passing to alert the bears. [Music] We’re here, bears. I am for sure sweating. But good news is we have 900 meters to the tori to pass and we have come 2.8 kilometers from Yavajara station. Cheers to this Aquarius keeping us quenched along the way. And from here we have a great view of how much distance we have come so far because below us is Yabuhara and the station that we came. So we are already high up in the mountains making our way to the top of the pass. Woo! We have made it so far already. Oh boy. What is this ahead of us? I see a huge snaking line of stairs up the mountain. No wonder why there’s a table down here for you to rest at. It says we have 600 m to the peak. Okay, we are going to be taking the stairs up to Tak Ginga. It is a flight of stairs, 80 m. And I I wanted to take the route on the right, but this is a short detour so we can show you what it’s like. Be sure to give this video a like and subscribe so I can keep doing this content and sweating my butt off to show you guys some cool places in Japan. Oh boy, these are some large steps. Here’s the shrine. took a lot of energy to get up to because the stairs were so tall. But we will come to the front of it over here. So, that was a pretty cool shrine that we went to. But if you’re coming the same direction that I did, you don’t have to go up the super steep stairs. You can just take the nice side path and then go up to the shrine from the other side. But definitely take a little stop. It is a really cool little spot. And now we are heading back on the route 450 m until the pass. A little update. So, we originally were at the cobblestone area. We climbed a lot of switchbacks and got to the area where there is the take ginger shrine. Now we have walked a little bit to this toi to pass and we are about halfway until Naray pretty much after that shrine. It has been either flat or downhill and it is very cool under these trees. So it is nice. So we are nearing in on the end of our walk. We have just a few more meters left until we reach Naray. But we have reached the cobblestone area. So just like when we were coming from the Abuhara, this part also has some nice cobblestones to walk through. But watch your step and enjoy this nice scenery with the towering trees overhead. Here we are at the Narajuku lookout right outside of the post town. This means we have successfully made it across the pass and into the other area. Woohoo. 0.15 kilometers to Naray Juku. And we are out of the forest walking on this large large paved road of Naray Juku. In just a few minutes, we should be entering the beautiful, wellpreserved area of this post town. So, buckle up cuz we are about to see some beautiful historic buildings here in Marai. First up, we have Shizume Shrine, a nice spread to gate. This shrine is surrounded by towering trees. And it is just after 400 p.m. We have entered into the historic area of Naray Juko. You can see on the left and right we are surrounded by these dark wooden buildings. Some of them are cafes and restaurants. Other of them are souvenir shops. and some of them are accommodations. So, we will be staying overnight here in Naray. Was able to get a lodge. So, looking forward to spending the night in the cozy streets. And in front of us, we have the temple. This is the Gyokuru Zan Chenji Temple. And here we are at our lodging for tonight. [Music] Good morning everyone. Yesterday we hiked from Yabuhara and enjoyed a nice overnight stay here in Naray, a post town along the Nakasendo road. Once all the daytime tourists left, the town’s atmosphere was spectacular, especially with the golden lanterns that lit the street. Now I’m off for a morning stroll to see some of the shrines and temples around the town before heading out. [Music] [Music] In Nai, after you arrive, you can enjoy seeing the different omiyag souvenir stores and adventuring all of the little streets. There are little shrines, little temples, and little shops to be seen. I hope you enjoyed coming with me on this journey. It was really fun to walk all the way from Yabuhara, even though it was very hot, but we made it and had another great trip here on the Nakasendo. So, if you like this video, don’t forget to give it a like and subscribe, and I’ll see you on the next journey.
Today, we are in Nagano walking along the Nakasendo (中山道) route from Yabuhara to Narai.
On this overnight trip, I’ll share how to access the area and what it’s like to hike around this lesser-known route. Off the beaten path from Japan’s “typical” tourist destinations, if you like the outdoors/nature/hiking, this area is somewhere you have to visit!
Yabuhara to Narai blog post: coming soon on https://www.marisaroundtheworld.com/
Tsumago to Magome blog post: https://www.marisaroundtheworld.com/solo-hiking-the-nakasendo-trail-complete-guide-and-itinerary/
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00:00 Yabuhara-juku
08:50 Ontake Shrine
10:48 Narai View Point
11:30 Narai-juku
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1 Comment
Looks like a beautiful, peaceful hike. Thanks for your video 🙂