What Is Tsumago-juku? The 42nd Post Town and the Promise Not to Sell, Rent or Destroy
This guide is for visitors who want to know what Tsumago-juku is and why the old street looks as it does. It uses the pages of the Tsumago Tourism Association, which are written in Japanese and summarised here in English, and three English pages of the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO). All pages were read on 2026-10-04.
The association's history text and the JNTO pages give different figures in a few places, and this guide points those out.
The short answer
JNTO says Tsumago was the 42nd post town along the Nakasendo and is widely acknowledged as one of the best-preserved post towns in Japan. The association's history page agrees on the number. Of the 69 post towns of the Nakasendo, Tsumago was the 42nd counting from Edo. It flourished as a busy crossroads where the Nakasendo met the Ina road.
From decline to preservation
The association's history page says the post town lost its function after the Meiji era, when railways and new roads were built, and declined steadily. In the Showa era the townscape, which kept the look of the Edo period, was reassessed, and a preservation movement began here ahead of the rest of Japan. The page describes a population loss in the 1950s and 1960s, when young people left, and says the preservation of the settlement was proposed in 1965.
The page says a group of residents was founded in 1968 and that the residents agreed that Tsumago's tourism could rest only on preserving the post town landscape. The association's pages give the resulting designation as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings in 1976. JNTO gives the same year as a Nationally Designated Architectural Preservation Site.
Not selling, not renting, not destroying
The association states that residents decided to keep three principles for the post town and for the buildings, houses, farmland and forest along the old Nakasendo. The principles are not to sell, not to rent and not to destroy. It says the residents' charter is still kept today. JNTO says the residents also chose to ban cars along the main street during the day and to hide the power lines. The association adds that the utility poles were moved to the back of the street, and that cars are restricted inside the post town, with parking along National Route 256.
What you can see
JNTO says Tsumago has kept its honjin, the principal inn for VIPs, and its wakihonjin, the secondary inn for travellers of lower status. The main building of the wakihonjin dates back to the 19th century, and a museum teaches visitors about the area. JNTO's walking-trail feature names the Nagiso Town Museum, made up of the Wakihonjin Okuya, the History Museum and the Honjin, as a place to glimpse Edo life.
The association's group page lists a common ticket for the three museum facilities. The normal price is 700 yen for adults and 350 yen for children, with a 20 percent discount for groups of 20 or more. The page is undated, so treat the price as a guide only.
To take in the atmosphere, JNTO suggests staying at a minshuku or ryokan in town and walking the street after dark in the quiet of the mountains.
In the Edo period
The association's history text places Tsumago at the south-western end of the Kiso Valley, in a narrow mountain village about six kilometres long, along the Ara-ragi river. It says one family kept the honjin and another the wakihonjin through the Edo period, and that a record lists 7 large, 10 medium and 14 small inns. The text also says the post town had a village of 54 houses and 337 people in 1642.
The size of the street
The association's history text says the post town centre today runs for about one kilometre at an elevation of around 420 metres. In the same text, the Edo-period street is recorded as about 270 metres long, a size that it says hardly changed through the Edo period. The two figures describe different things, the present-day area and the historic street, so do not compare them directly.
What we could not verify, and therefore left out
- Museum opening hours and the current admission prices.
- Which lodgings are taking guests, since the association's stay page is a short page in Japanese.
- Any dates for festivals.
Related guides
- How Do You Get to Tsumago and Walk the Nakasendo from Magome?
- What Is the Nakasendo, and Which Post Towns Can You Visit Near Tsumago?
Sources
All URLs retrieved 2026-10-04.
- About town preservation (Tsumago Tourism Association, in Japanese) — (42nd post town, decline, preservation, three principles)
- Tours and groups (Tsumago Tourism Association, in Japanese) — (common ticket, group discount)
- The Nakasendo Rail Trail (JNTO) — (42nd post town, honjin, car ban, power lines)
- Discover Picturesque and Culture-rich Villages While Hiking Through the Nakasendo (JNTO) — (Nagiso Town Museum)
- Magome (Nakasendo) (JNTO) — (post towns as open-air museums)