Nakasendo

One of five centrally administered highways connecting Edo to the provinces during the Edo period, and along with the coastal Tokaido it served as a main artery between the eastern and western capitals. Its name means road through the mountains, a fitting description for the 80-kilometer stretch through the Kiso valley that inspired the opening of Shimazaki Toson's novel Before the Dawn. The route shifted frequently in response to floods and landslides, averaging 2.7 meters wide and widening at bends to accommodate palanquins. Local people maintained the earthen roadbed in lieu of taxes. Because no horse carts used the road, little of it was ever paved, and stretches of the original path survive today.