Rediscovering Japan

Travel (Unno-Juku (Nagano))

by tomizuta

Row of lodgings at Unno-Juku

Unno-Juku is a lodging village, in Northern Nagano, and its row of historical lodging houses has been designated as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Historic Buildings. Juku comes from the kanji “Shuku” meaning lodging. In the Edo period, there were five main travel roads. The Tokaido was the route from Edo (Tokyo) to Kyoto (some say to Osaka). The name should be familiar from the bullet train between Tokyo and Shin-Osaka, the Tokaido Shinkansen. The other main roads were, Nakasendo (the most northern inland route from Edo to Kyoto, that goes through Kumagaya (Saitama), Annnaka (Gunma) and Saku (Nagano)), Nikko Kaido (from Edo to Nikko (Tochigi), where the founder of the Tokugawa Shogun Family, is remembered and worshipped at Toshogu (a World Heritage site), Oushuu Kaido which stems from Nikko Kaido at Utsunomiya (Tochigi) up to Shirakawa (Fukushima) and Koshuu Kaido from Edo to Kofu (Yamanashi) and then to Suwa where it joins the Nakasendo. 

On these roads, sign posts were erected every 4 kilometres, and lodging (Shukuba) every 8 kilometres (although depending on the location the interval could be as much as 16 kilometres) to assist the travelers. Shinjuku in Tokyo means “new lodging” and was the first Shukuba on the Koshuu Kaido. There are some well preserved Shukuba all designated as Important Preservation District for Groups of Historic Buildings other than Unno-juku, notably Magome-juku (Gifu), Inai-juku (Nagano) both on the Nakasendo. Typically, it is a long row of lodgings on both sides of the main road.

Poster explaining Unno-juku. You can see the lodgings marked by red on both sides of the main road in the map at the bottom. Top left is the museum in the middle of Unno-juku

Unno-juku is located on a major road called Kitaguni Kaido, ranking after the five main roads. Kitaguni Kaido stemmed off from what is now Karuizawa (Nagano) from Nakasendo to the north towards Niigata. A popular feature of the lodging of Unnno-juku is the fabulous Udatsu, a fire protection wall to prevent the spreading of fire from the lodging next door.

Main road of Unno-juku. Note the fabulous udatsu on the buildings on the left side

There is a museum in the middle of the Shukuba, worth visiting. The museum displays the lodging rooms as well as antique ornaments and tools owned by the former owners. We chatted with the curator who told us of a fire in the village, where Udatsu did a good job to prevent it from spreading. In the Meiji era, silkworm breeding flourished as silk became a big export item of Japan, and many Unno-juku Shukuba converted their lodging to silkworm breeding places. You can visit a former breeding place inside the museum. 

Map introducing the numerous breweries in Nagano prefecture

I will write more on Sake in Nagano prefecture, but it is worth noting that Nagano is one of the top brewing areas in Japan. About 15 kilometres south of Unno-juku is Saku city, renowned as a Sake brewing area. One of my favorites from the area is Hatsu-uguisu.

1.8 litre bottle of Hatsuuguisu honjozo from Saku on the left.

And about 7 kilometres west of the town centre but within Saku city is another minor former Shukuba called Motai-juku. Although there is not much reminiscence of the lodgings, there are two breweries in the hamlet also worth visiting.

Poster showing map of Motai-juku

Motai-juku. Not many lodgings are left.

They sell brands called Zenkoji-Hizoushu (Secret Sake of Zenkouji Temple, an ancient and most popular temple in Nagano city) and Misonotake, both very drinkable and worth a try.

1.8 litre bottle of Misonotake brewed in Motai-juku

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