I heard that the area from the north end of Hachimanjinja shrine to Kitsunezaka is called Hara. In Japanese Hara means a grass field.
  There are some houses of traditional style along the road from front of the shrine to the schools. But most of them look out of life and have begun to get devastated.
  I hope them to be kept, for they are the elements of the traditional view along Kaido.

▲Small but garaceful house in old style

▲The house have a stable air

◆View of mMountain Village◆

  As Wada is on a highland of altitugde 800m, there we find some thatched houses preparing for the freezing coldness and snowfall. We would find one of them in Hara area along the road. It is of the old style, having a big gate keeping grace.
  It looks for me also out of life. it must be conserved as a cultural asset.

▲An old house suitable to cold climate

  The area is on the steep slope, facing south and getting good sunshine, from Yoritoge pass (its altitude over 1200m) to Yodagawa river. Nakasendo goes parallel with the altitude-lines.
  Then the west side of the road is higher than the east.
  To keep the surfaceof the road flat, the height gap must be sustained with stone-walls. They sustain the site of houses on the west side.

  After passing by the schools, we would arraived at Kitsunezaka, the name of which came from a nickname of soldiers watching all night on the slope. It was a fox. The night watching was called Nezumi, i.e. to keep watching without sleeping, in Japanese. Nezumi means a mouse or a rat. The animal against a mouse is a fox.
  Thinking about such a history, I suppose that the slope was much steeper and shorter than it is now. It was a natural bank for defence needing the night watching soldiers in the war age.