Japan’s famed and fanciful Shinkansen doesn’t run through Matsumoto, but it’s still a breeze to get here. Buses and trains departing from Shinjuku take a mere three hours to arrive. The train ride from Nagoya is even quicker. Traversing the massive mountains between here and Hida? No problem. Even Kyoto and Osaka are just a night bus away.

Far cry from the days of Edo, when everyone had to walk the rugged, sometimes treacherous paths known as kaido. These roads connected major cities in separate regions, winding through villages and castle towns and ‘shukuba’, post towns where people traveling these roads – everyone from traders to religious pilgrims to the feudal nobility – could eat and sleep.

During the Edo Era there were five major routes spreading outward from Nihonbashi Bridge in Edo (Tokyo). None of these five ‘Go-Kaido’ passed through Matsumoto although one of them, the Nakasendo mountain route between Edo and Kyoto, best known now for the preserved post towns of Narai, Tsumago and Magome, ran through Shiojiri, just to the south. But four other long and important kaido did pass through Matsumoto. And while they’ve either been paved over or simply lost to the march of time, visible evidence remains. Today we’re going to check out the vestiges of the past that remain along one of them.

The Zenkoji Kaido

In the city of Nagano is Zenko-ji, one of Japan’s oldest and most sacred temples. The first statue of Buddha ever brought to Japan is said to be hidden in its bowels (though no one is allowed to see it, making the whole story a bit suspect). Thus Zenko-ji has been an important pilgrimage site for over a thousand years.

There were two major roads leading up to the legendary first Buddha. One split off from the Nakasendo in eastern Nagano, in what is now Karuizawa. The other started south of Matsumoto, branching off the Nakasendo in Seba, just west of Shiojiri. This branch of the Zenko-ji Kaido is also known as the Hokkoku Nishi-Ohkan. Here we’ll simply call it the Zenkoji Kaido. (Don’t tell Karuizawa.)

Through Matsumoto, South to North

The Zenkoji Kaido cut an impressively straight line from Seba up to the Idegawa Ichi-ri-tsuka, on the banks of the Tagawa. The ’ri’ in that name refers to a unit of measurement used in the Edo Era, and equaled 3.927 kilometers (“approximately” say the authorities). Back then each successive ri along the kaido was indicated by an earthen mound with a tree growing on top. Predictably, these trees have long turned to mulch – though the offspring of one still stands down in Shiojiri. The Idegawa Ichi-ri-tsuka is memorialized by a painted wooden post, placed in a spot of dirt and debris in the approximate vicinity of where the actual tree-topped mound once stood.

Winding north, the old kaido crosses the Shiromi-bashi Bridge, a name meaning “bridge from where the castle can be seen”, I’ve read that this refers to being able to see Matsumoto Castle, though depending when this bridge was built it could conceivably refer to Igawa Castle, which was located just a few hundred meters west.

Further ahead and over the Tagawa River the Zenkoji Kaido reaches the Sakae-bashi Bridge. There’s no apparent indication now, but once upon a time the southern entrance to Matsumoto’s old castle town lie just across this bridge, on the north bank of the Susukigawa River.

This road leads straight to the front entrance of Matsumoto Castle. Along the way a few bits of the old kaido remain. A few steps down the first narrow lane on the right is the spot where stood the vermillion bird Suzaka, one of the Shijin-soh-oh (四神相応), the four protective deities placed at the north, south, east and west entrances to the town. Sadly, Suzaka has flown, replaced only by another painted wood post.

Just past this side road is a large white building with the distinctive black criss-cross pattern of the old style kura warehouses so prevalent along Nakamachi-dori (which we will see a little further up). These plaster-coated kura were commonly built during the latter part of the 19th Century in response to the fires that periodically ravaged the traditional wooden structures of Japan. If you’d like to find out just when this particular kura style building came into existence feel free to knock on the door.

Along this road you will also spot old wooden buildings that give the kaido a patina of timelessness. One more specific point to notice is the side street called Tenjin-koji, so called because Fukashi Shrine can be seen down at the end of the long straight narrow road.

Across busy Agata-no-mori Street and up Daimyo-cho-dori you’ll come to a T-shaped intersection. On the southwest corner you’ll see this shiny black stone marker:

A major traffic thoroughfare today, this intersection was equally significant during the days of the Edo Era Kaido. While the Zenkoji Kaido runs straight through this spot, another road, the Nomugi Kaido, runs off to the west and clear over the mountains. Along the way the Chikuni Kaido branches off and runs north, all the way to the Sea of Japan. We’ll explore both of these kaido, along with Matsumoto’s fourth major Edo Era route, the Hofukuji Kaido, in the following post.

On the northwest corner of this intersection you’ll see a rounded stone adorned with a shimenawa, the straw rope that hangs from the torii gates and prayer halls of Shinto shrines everywhere. This stone is called the Ushi-tsunagi-ishi (“cow tie stone”) because, as the sign explains, oxen burdened with goods being transported along the kaido were sometimes tied to this stone. You’d be forgiven for wondering if now and then an ox went missing.

The road we’ve been walking continues north, over the Sensai-bashi Bridge and through a gentle S-curve that follows the path of the square masu-gata gate of Matsumoto Castle’s Ote-mon. Before reaching the Sensai-bashi Bridge the Zenkoji-Kaido turns right and runs down Nakamachi-dori, Matsumoto’s old merchant street. Here is where you’ll see a preponderance of those fire-resistant kura, now housing shops and museums and places to eat and drink. If you only have time for one stretch of the Zenko-ji Kaido, this is the part to see.

After 500 meters of old kura (mixed in with some newer buildings as well as a couple of older ones) the kaido turns left and passes over the Metoba River via the Ohashi (or “Big Bridge”, which it may have been back then). From there the kaido crawls north out of town, through Okada-juku, past the fork in the road where the kaido to Edo broke off, and into the hills and on toward Zenko-ji Temple.

For all the kilometers along all the Kaido that once ran through this town, precious little remains physically. But here and there you’ll catch sight of a stone bridge, an aging house, a temple or a shrine or a simple post in the ground. And you’ll be reminded, perhaps, of the well-regarded, well-traveled roads that led to and through Matsumoto.