Old Routes of Japan: Tracking down Japan off the beaten path from the eyes of a Japanese native

The picture is 松代(Matsushiro inn town) in Nagano city,  taken by me in September 2023.  The name “Hokkoku Kaido”(北国街道) refers to several routes which includes: 1) Eastern Nagano-western Niigata prefecture route. 2) Eastern Shiga - Fukui route. 3) Eastern Shiga - Fukui - Toyama - Niigata - Akita route. 4) Shiojiri - Nagano route.  According to my research, there is a significant overlap between  Hokkoku Kaido route 1) and Zenkoji Kaido route, which leads travelers to Zenkoji temple in downtown Nagano city.  Here in my blog, I am taking the route 1), therefore I named this series as “Hokkoku Kaido/Zenkoji Kaido series” in order to avoid confusion with other routes with “Hokkoku Kaido” name.  Starting point of the east:  Oiwake  (追分) - today’s Karuizawa town. Komoro (小諸) - Komoro city Tanaka (田中) and Unno (海野) - today’s Tomi city. These two inn towns were considered as one big inn town. Unno is certified as a Preservation District for Groups of Tradi...