Nanairi Trailhead

This trailhead marks the start of the Aizu-Numata Kaido, a historic trade route linking present-day Fukushima and Gunma Prefectures. The name Nanairi means the seventh stream, counting from the village of Hinoemata. A small wooden shrine in the thicket at the trailhead is dedicated to a yamanokami, a mountain deity, where villagers historically prayed before heading into the hills for hunting, logging, or fishing. Until the 1970s, farmers built seasonal huts near these mountain fields and stayed through summer to cultivate buckwheat, foxtail millet, and barnyard millet. The practice of dezukuri farming shaped this landscape for centuries.