Narai and Kiso-Fukushima 奈良井と木曽福島 Photo Gallery by Matthew Haswell at pbase.com

Narai and Kiso-Fukushima 奈良井と木曽福島

A pair of small towns along the Chūō line in Nagano-ken, Narai and Kiso-Fukushima were once important post towns along the Nakasendō leading from Edo to Kyōto. While much of Kiso-Fukushima is now modern, Narai has been carefully maintained as a nationally-designated architectural preserve. The most prosperous and also highest in elevation of the eleven juku on the Kisoji - a smaller trade route across the Kiso Valley down to Magome - Narai flourished as the last stop before the difficult Torii Pass. Fukushima-juku, the 37th station on the Nakasendō and the center of modern Kiso-Fukushima, hosted one of the road's four sekisho (tax and inspection offices) and marked the midway point between the old capitals.

Autumn foliage in the hills over Kiso-Fukushima	The 'Nice Holiday Kisoji' arrives at Narai	Platform sign, Narai station	Rail lines heading up the valley
Houses and foliage overlooking the station	Entering the old streets of Narai	Daytripping tourists walking down the lane	Persimmons hung outside a machiya
Couple walking past the old houses	Neatly kept plants at the doorstep	Signboard and yellow foliage	Wooden lantern and bench outside a house
Ceramic tanuki and flowers	View down the street towards the station	Grasshopper decoration on a stone lantern	Crowded path with autumn foliage beyond
Signboard above a lacquerware shop	A lull along the main street	Flowers along a housefront	Autumn leaves peeking above the roofline
Festive fall display outside a teahouse	Chestnut display	Teahouse signboard and lantern	Narai's old machiya against the autumn hills
Calligraphy and bouquet on a storefront	Pair of old houses beneath the hills	Banner outside a minshuku	Rustic restaurant storefront
Bend in the main street	Path up to Daihō-ji	Yellow maple leaves and decorative banner	The wide stretch of the Naka-machi
Fiery foliage and row of machiya	Restaurant in Naka-machi	South end of Naka-machi with hills beyond	Hanging straining basket and plant
Lantern outside a minshuku	Festive autumn colors	Shizume-jinja	Stone lantern overlooking the town
Vermilion torii at the entrance to Shizume-jinja	Persimmon hung beneath the eaves	View over the rooftops to the hills	Small shrine at the edge of Naka-machi
Decorative paper umbrella and conical hat	Origami and pinecone decorations	Stepping out of the station in Kiso-Fukushima	Kiso-Fukushima station
Lantern globes along a main street, Kiso-Fukushima	Autumn colors on the mountainside	Hillside looming over Kiso-Fukushima	A quiet street in central Kiso-Fukushima
Snow in the mountains beyond the rail tracks	Restored buildings in Ue-no-dan	Afternoon shadows along the historic stretch	Daitsū-ji off Ue-no-dan
Alley between a set of kura in Ue-no-dan	Old washing fountain in Ue-no-dan	Streetlamp against the changing hills	Old shopfront in Ue-no-dan
Jumble of houses overlooking the Kiso-gawa	Seihō�-ji	Red and yellow maple leaves beside the temple	Wire chaos above a town street
Fukushima Sekisho-ato	Golden foliage beside the old sekisho	Sekisho-mon	Entrance to Kōzen-ji
Entering Kōzen-ji's grounds	Fiery Japanese maple in the grounds	Garden outside the temple	Japanese maple leaves and stone marker
Zen garden in Kōzen-ji	Looking over the stone garden	Moss garden off the main temple hall	Contemplative corner of the garden
Main hall at Kōzen-ji	Jizō statue and bell tower	Rooftops of Kiso-Fukushima and Japan Alps	Evening's first strands over the Kiso River

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