Japan - Matsumoto and the Kiso Valley

After quite a journey from Mt Fuji, travelling by bus to Kofu and changing to a local train, we arrived relatively late into Matsumoto. We had decided to stop off in Matsumoto to check out the famous black castle - known as the Crow Castle - and visit the highly recommended Kiso valley.

Samurai time

We decided to stay in an ABnB apartment in the centre of town for a couple of nights. It was well proportioned and it was nice to have our own space again. We found a local supermarket and found that they discounted (yellow stickers!!!!) most of the fresh food at about 7pm, so got ourselves a plate of sashimi and sushi. The cold was also taking its toll on us. We had been in +30 heat for the previous 4 months and so the shock of sub 10C was a little too much. So we went in search of some gloves. In Japan they have amazing 100Yen stores. They are similar to £1 or 99p shops in the UK, but much cheaper and have a great range. It didn't take us time to find one nearby and locate some gloves (for 200Y). They were a god-send and were to come in very handy over the next week or so as you will find out.

Nice castle

The Kiso Valley

We woke early to visit the Kiso valley as it was going to be a long day and to buy ourselves a Seishun 18 Kippu ticket - which translates as a Youthful 18 Ticket. 

The Kiso train

The Seishun 18 Kippu ticket is a seasonally available railway ticket, which gives you five days of unlimited, nationwide travel on local and rapid JR (Japan Railways) trains for only 11,850 yen, or 2,370 yen per day! The ticket consists of effectively 5 separate tickets which account for 1 travel day, therefore the ticket could be used by one person on 5 days or 5 people on one day. This can be a huge saving, as for example our tickets to Kiso were going to be over 3000yen each, so we used two of the tickets and planned when we would use them in the rest of our trip. The only thing with these tickets is that it is an odd number - which is a pain when there are two of you. They can only be used on local or rapid trains and only makes sense if your journeys add up to over 2,370 yen. Anyway back to Kiso.

The Kiso valley

The Kiso Valley became an important trade route between Edo and Kyoto in to Edo period when it was amalgamated with other routes in the formation of the 500 km long Nakasendo. Due to restrictions of movement, it was necessary for people to stay in the valley and so villages or 'post towns' developed every few kilometres for travelers to eat and rest. Several of these post towns, in particular Magome, Tsumago and Narai, have been preserved including the walking routes between them, making the area a perfect day or overnight stay.

Beautiful morning

We arrived early and decided to get off the train and catch a bus to Tsumago and then walk back a Nagiso station before heading to Narai in the afternoon, and finally back to Matsumoto in the evening.

The railway journey was spectacular. You are surrounded by high rising mountains, lush forests and alpine meadows and a crashing river below. It was beautiful!

Tsumago village

Manicured gardens

Tsumago is a lovely little village and well worth the visit, especially early in the morning as there was no-one there. The buildings are traditional wooden buildings and there has been an effort to keep telephone lines and cables hidden to retain the look. 

Local crafts

There are a number of traditional crafts and food (we were not fans of the rice balls) on sale, and there is the opportunity to go into or at least peek into some of the old buildings. There area is known for its lacquer wear - bowls, chop sticks and plates - and so there was a lot of choice of very good quality and reasonable prices compared to other areas we had and would visit.

Blossoms are coming

After an hour or so, we started our walk back to the train station and head to Narai as it was going to be about 3 hours. The walk was well worth it.

We took a slight detour to check out an old castle (just the mound remains) and then followed the route through the trees, along streams and past little villages. It was a great walk and very well sign posted, so you can't go wrong.

Tasting local food

Soon we were back at the train station and after stopping briefly to take a look at the old steam engine nearby, we were back on the train heading to Narai.

An old locomotive

Narai is a similar village, but much bigger than Tsumago. There were lots of shops and places to have snacks and after following the map looking at the various sites in the village, such as the free standing wooden bridge - very impressive - we had had our fill and decided to head back to Matsumoto.

Wondering down the high street in Narai

Beautiful wooden bridge in Narai

The Kiso valley is a great day out and well worth the side trip.

Matsumoto Castle

Waking early again, we went to visit Matsumoto castle. The castle is famous for its colour, and is one of the oldest in Japan. The colour looks spectacular against the blue sky and the mountains in the background. The red bridge and cherry blossoms, which were starting to appear, gave lovely contrast.

Matsumoto castle - The Crow Castle

We decided to go inside as it was our first castle. To be honest there wasn't much inside, but it was interesting to see the construction and how a Japanese castle is set up.

Inside the castle

After a few hours of taking photos and looking around we were ready to move on. On our way back to pick up our bags, as we were heading to Nagano in the afternoon, we stopped by the traditional shopping street, known as Kaeru street or Frog street.

The frog street

The story goes that the shop owners names the street Kaeru as 'come back street' but the alternative meaning is 'Frog' and therefore soon the shops decided to sell frogs as a reason for people to visit. It worked, and now there are a number of small shops full of frog stuff - frog umbrellas, frog statues, frog pencils - everything. It was nice, but didn't take long to check out, so we were soon back at the apartment, picked up our bags and headed to the train.

The Crow Castle

Matsumoto was nice, but we wouldn't say it was in our top 5. The Kiso valley was fascinating and can be used as a journey break on the way to Nagoya or from it to Matsumoto/Nagano.

Next stop was the mountains... and maybe some skiing.