The Nakasendo is, of course, the road Sagara Souzou took with his First Patrol of the Sekihoutai when he was stopped at Shimosuwa and executed in March 1868. (Suzuki may have been sent to the Tokaido, the eastern road connecting Edo and Kyoto... not sure about that yet... no big deal since his Second Patrol was disbanded two weeks after it was created.) It's also known as the Tosando and the Kiso Kaido and it is *gorgeous*... so green ---
http://shupla.w-jp.net/english/japan/kiso/0812_2_e.html . Usui Toge (Pass) is said to be amazing (even to jaded Europeans & Americans traveling there in the late 1800's) and the incline was so steep (there and at Wada Pass), the first railroad to be started connecting Tokyo and Kyoto couldn't be completed via the Nakasendo, as planned. For one American's experience of Usui Toge as an early railroad passenger, check out (and it's a strange looking URL, I know)
http://www.blackmask.com/books12c/notodex.htm?http://www.blackmask.com/books12c/notocon.htm , written by Percival Lowell on one of his trips in Japan (the famous astronomer, who built Lowell Observatory here in my state of Arizona, was so fascinated with the "canals of Mars," and among the first to theorize the existence of Pluto).
For an *old* look at the road (ca. 1834-1842) and including Itabashi, mentioned with Kondou's execution), check out "Kiso Kaido Rokujuku Tsugi" ("The Sixty-Nine Stations on the Kiso Kaido") by Keisei Eisen and Ichiryusai-Hiroshige at
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~johnxyz/hiroshige/kisokaido/kisokaido_road_map.htm .
MissB, are you referring to when Kondou et al. left Edo as part of the Roushigumi in February 1863? And, could you give us the URL to the site you told us about (or that of Bee's site)? Thanks!
phil (as if anyone needs to be told, I'm the resident Sagara/Sekihoutai nut, but since we've been doing some introducing... )
warg3791 <
Warg3791@...> wrote:
The Nakasendo was one of two main roads that ran from Edo (Tokyo) to
Kyoto. On the day they set out it was raining according to
Toshizo.com.
Angrybee had a link on her site that I thought you might be
interested in. It gives a quick overview of the highway, but the real
treasure is the section on post towns. It follows the entire route of
the orginal road in reverse. You can get a good idea of the
experiences that the original Shinsengumi members would have had on
their journey as well as a glimpse into the daily life of people in
that era.
Unfortunately there is only one small mention of the Shinsengumi. It
talks very briefly about Kondo's execution in Itabashi (at Itabashi
Prison), the last post town before one reached Edo it seems.
-MissB
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