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The most southerly of the Kisoji's eleven juku is steeply raked MAGOME , 55km south of Narai. Standing 800m up in the hills above the Kiso valley, Magome means "horse basket", because this was where travellers on the Nakasendo were forced to leave their nags before tackling the mountainous stretch of road ahead. Plaster and wooden buildings line either side of the stone-flagged path - many of the wooden roofs are still held down by stone. Despite appearances, most of the town's buildings date from the twentieth century, the village having suffered a history of fires, the most recent being in 1915, when 42 houses burnt to the ground. Magome is famous for its native son, Toson Shimazaki (1872-1943), an author whose historical novel, Yoake Mae ( Before the Dawn ), put the town on Japan's literary map. In the middle of the village, the Toson Kinenkan (daily 8.30am-4.30pm; Y500) celebrates the life of the author, and makes a pretty place to stroll around. The reverentially displayed fragments of Toson's life are labelled in Japanese only. To start the hike to Tsumago continue up the hill, past the kosatsu , the old town noticeboard on which the shogunate posted rules and regulations. The most notorious rule condemned to death anyone found illegally logging trees in the forests. The steepest part of the three-hour hike is over once you've reached the Magome-toge (pass), where there's an old teahouse is beside the road and a stone monument engraved with a lyrical verse by the haiku master Masaoka Shiki . From here, the route enters the forest and later passes two waterfalls, 4-dake and Me-dake. The closest train station to Magome is in the town of Nakatsugawa, just across the border in Aichi-ken, a 55-minute journey northeast of Nagoya by limited express. Buses to Nakatsugawa also run from Nagoya. The bus journey up to Magome from outside Nakatsugawa Station (Y530) takes around thirty minutes. Magome's tourist information office (daily 8.30am-5pm; tel 0264/59-2336), opposite the Toson Kinenkan, has an English map of the area, and the staff (who probably won't speak English) can help with accommodation bookings at the village's numerous minshuku. Two good places to stay are Sakanoie (tel 0264/59-2148; Y15,000-20,000), which has a giant waterwheel outside, and Tajimaya (tel 0264/59-2048; Y15,000-20,000), further up the hill towards the information office - both places include two meals in their rates.
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