A few months ago, I traveled back in time. I drove to Nagano Prefecture to walk along the Nakasendo Highway. The Nakasendo was a road that went from Kyoto to Edo hundreds of years ago. All along the road were little towns where government officials and farmers lived. Two of these towns still exist: Magome and Tsumago.
Ever since I moved to Japan, I’ve wanted to visit Magome. That’s because I once wrote a short story that was set there. A publisher asked me for a story during the Heian period of Japan’s history. I didn’t know much about that time, so I read the Tale of Genji, and did some research on the internet.
I discovered the town of Magome online. When I wrote my story, I had no idea that someday I would actually visit the place. Since then, I learned that Magome probably didn’t exist during the Heian period. I also discovered the famous Japanese writer Shimazaki Toson. He set his novel, “Before the Dawn,” in Magome, his childhood home.
I was thrilled to learn about this book recently and I found an English translation. It is a fascinating look at life in Magome during the Meiji restoration. For anyone interested in that time, I recommend it.
Magome itself is a beautiful little town. It sits in the mountains that border Gifu and Nagano. The Nakasendo, climbs a mountain pass and crosses into Nagano. Along the way, there are two lovely waterfalls. There are also gorgeous old farmhouses.
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| From Japan 2009 |
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| From Japan 2009 |
A stretch of the Nakasendo winding through the trees.
I stopped to chat with an old woman who was picking some of the flowers that grew around her home. We talked about our vegetable gardens and she told me that her children had all grown and moved to Tokyo. While we talked, dozens of Japanese tourists passed us by. She bowed to each of them as they walked along.
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| From Japan 2009 |
From the number of tourists, it was obvious that people love the countryside. This is probably true in every country. But last year, the number of people worldwide who live in cities was greater than those living in the country for the first time. People everywhere are leaving the rural life. Everyone knows the city is where the jobs are.
It is easy for me to romanticize country living, especially because I lived in a city like New York for so long. I like watching vegetables grow and hearing the frogs croak at night. Still, life in Magome would not be possible without all those tourists from the city keeping it alive. I wish there was a way for people to live in the countryside, keep rural life going, and make enough money to live.
After I walked to Tsumago, I was very hungry. I ate a plate of cold soba noodles with tempura. The noodles, made from buckwheat that was grown in the cold Nagano climate, were delicious. The Nakasendo hike was a great trip through old Japan. I could almost feel the ghosts of the samurai, merchants, and farmers who walked it before me.
I was glad to see the setting of the story I had written, and the world of Mr. Toson. But I saw even more in the eyes of the old timers who still live in Magome and Tsumago.
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| From Japan 2009 |
