Omihachiman, Nakasendo

Travelling to Nakasendo, one of the first things I had to learn is that many of the post-towns go by different names today. During the Edo period, the towns had -juku or -shuku on the end of their name, indicating it was a post-town. For instance, the very first post town after leaving Kyoto was known as Otsu-juku (#69). Today, it is just simply known as Otsu. 

Otsu was and still is an important town due to its proximity to Lake Biwa, the largest body of freshwater in Japan. Otsu was also Japan’s capital for a brief period during the 7th century. 

The next stop was Kusatsu-juku (#68), now Kusatsu, a very busy town because it was at the junction of two major highways, Nakasendo and Tokaido, which ran along the southern coast of Honshu Island. Being an important station, it had 74 inns. One of them has been restored and turned into a museum whilst another is a restaurant known for its soba buckwheat noodles. 

Moriyama-juku (#67), now Moriyama, was a day’s travel from Kyoto and many travellers preferred this station over Kusatsu-juku which was always busy. Very few old buildings survive. One of them was once a sake brewery during the Edo period, then the childhood home of former Prime Minister Sosuke Uno and now it operates as a museum. 

On my way to Omihachiman, previously known as Musa-juku (#66), I passed Mount Mikami, which is often nicknamed Omi Fuji due to its conical shape and similarity to Mount Fuji. However, Mount Mikami is really only a hilltop at 1417ft (432m) and doesn’t compare to Japan’s most sacred mountain. 

When Musa-juku was a post-town, the surrounding countryside was relatively flat with several rivers needing to be crossed. One such river, the Hino-gawa, was traversed via a pontoon bridge made of wooden planks, tied together with ropes and supported by a series of boats. The pontoon bridge is long gone now but the path leading to the old location still exists. 

Several houses and waki-honjin have survived that can be viewed by meandering through the north end of Shinmachi Street or from Haku’un-bashi Bridge. The canal that flows beneath the bridge had a dual purpose. First, as a moat protecting the Hachimanyama-jo Castle and secondly, as a transport route connecting the town to Lake Biwa. 

I look forward to taking a slow boat cruise on the canal after my stroll through the old town and some lunch. Always a fan of tempura, I dream of large golden battered prawns and crisp tempura vegetables dipped in delicious tentsuyu sauce.