The Nakasendo Project

The Nakasendo Project provides an immersive historical and cultural guide to traveling the Nakasendo Road, created over 400 years ago from Tokyo (Edo) to Kyoto. It blends historical context and cultural perspectives with a practical guide to traveling the road while guiding the reader through the events and traditions that formed Japan during the Tokugawa Period and the legacy it leaves today. The 500-kilometer journey will take readers from the heart of Tokyo at Nihonbashi Bridge through the fields of the Kanto Plain, up through steep mountain passes and the stunning beauty of the Central Japanese Alps to the rice fields and lowlands surrounding Lake Biwa before ending at Sanjobashi Bridge in Kyoto. Leaning heavily on the experiences and stories of the travelers of the time and the author’s first-hand experience on the road, the Nakasendo Project takes the reader on the journey of a people who, after over 150 years of war and violence, emerged from their formerly isolated provinces to embark on a discovery of their emerging nation.