Kisokaidô: Midono - Station 41

Utagawa Hiroshige - Series of the 69 stations of the Kisokaido: Station Midono (42nd print) (Midono)

© Trustees of the British Museum

After leaving Nojiri, travelers had to negociate a narrow, dangerous road along the Kiso river until the valley broadened again at Midono. There was enough space for fields and this was a prosperous post station. In a pastoral scene, Hiroshige shows figures in a sloping field with the thatched roofs (1) of the station on the skyline to the left. A traveller in a sedge hat (2) walks downhill past a woman (3) with her child in tow, bringing refreshments to farmers working in the fields. Behind her, a farmer (4) works with his hoe. On the green hill is a small path winding upwards to a pair of torii gates (5) that lead to a Shinto shrine. The pink and white plum blossoms (6) indicate that the scene is set in spring.

This print was not modified, although the quality of the printing worsened as the editions progressed. The kanji (characters) used for Midono (7) (三渡野) are different from the ones used in 18^th century or from the ones used today (三留野).

(Source: The 69 stations of the Kisokaido, Sebastian Izzard, Brazillier 2008

Kawase Hasui - Miya-toge Pass (Aquarelle dated 1950 used for a future print)

And now ?

Leaving Nojiri, there is the possibility to go to Midono through the mountain and the Kakizore Gorge, a superb hike. It has a steep start and peaks near an onsen in a small hamlet (Yakiyama no yu) and the beautiful waterfall Uchi no taki. After the onsen, the road is all downhill, meeting the Kiso river valley just before Midono.

The more traditional itinerary follows the Kiso valley towards the town of Nagiso. We are at 313km/195mi from Edo. What was Midono station is now the northern part of Nagiso which has been destroyed in a huge fire in 1881 and there are no inns left. But the Buddhist temple Togaku-ji was spared. It has a large collection of statues by the monk and sculptor Enku (1632-1695). Enku carved his statues of Buddhist deities and Shinto gods from almost any piece of wood he could find, from driftwood to roots and tree trunks. His "primitive" statues are full of positive energy (see below).

The town was then rebuilt around the new train station which boosted the economic development of the valley. Then a first electric power station was built in 1915, but is not in service anymore. The Momosuke-bashi, a magnificent wooden bridge built in 1922 originally for small trolleys is now only used by those crossing on foot.

An watercolor and two prints by Kawase Hasui show us the atmosphere in these narrow valleys of the Japanese Alps. After Midono, leaving the narrow Kiso valley, we head via a pass towards the stations of Magome and Tsumago. This mountainous path is the most beautiful of the journey, thanks to the careful renovation of the road and of the stations as we will see in the following pages.....