◆Rich Farm Village◆
Let's walk from Kajiashi to Kosatsuba, i.e. the site of the official bulletin bord.
We can not find the trace of Masugata on Kaido road now. Is it because they had been formed long before the stage-towns
of Nakasendo was built ?
However there is an old path approacing to Ganoji temple and Shaguji shrine. I suppose it was the oldest way of the road, because now it turns in a right angle before it gets together tothe road.
Walking about Kajiashi, we find out that it was growing in a deep relation with the traffic and the commercial circulation of Wada town along Nakasendo. It has been a rather rich farm village.
▲A house of Dashibari architecture
▲View in another angle
▲The house has a small Yakuimon gate. It had been greater than it is before the road was widened, I guess.
◆View Calling back Old Days◆
Some houses of the traditional architecture are standing along the road. Though its rooves have been changed from thatched one into tiled one, they has kept enough features to call back the old days.
The allocation their sites has kept the town-shapes ― the arangemant of houses along the road ― of those days. The condition that the town has been next to the stage-town and along Kaido road has influenced deeply the formation of a village.
As the road has been widened often, theier gardens facing it has gotten smaller.
◆Regret about the Fading◆
We would find some houses ruining along the road. They may have been out of life. If they had fallen down throughly it would be too expensive to rebuild them. I only hope to keep them as cultural assets telling us the history of Kaido.【see two pictures below】
▲Houses devastated
▲Out of life, but I hope them to be kept
◆旧街道めぐりの楽しみ◆
私は、背後に山尾根を背負っているため、緩やかに屈曲したり上下したりしてるこの道形がことのほか気に入っています。尾根丘陵が道と集落に割り込んできたり、逆に谷のような窪みと沢が横切ったりしてているこの姿が。
力任せに直線化したり、高みを削り凹みを埋め潰す今風の道は、便利で安全ですが、面白味に欠けます。しかも、運転者に速度を落とす謙虚さを失わせます。自然や歴史に対して一歩も二歩も譲る、そういう姿勢で旅をしたいものです。
▲View toward Kanmachi from Kosatsuba
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