A Nakasendo post town in Nagiso, Kiso-gun, Nagano. As the pioneering example of the first effort to preserve townscapes under the three principles of "don't sell, don't rent, don't destroy," it was designated the first National Important Traditional Buildings Preservation District (1976). Inns, merchant houses, and public notice boards along the cobblestone highway are preserved in their original …

Tsumago-juku was established around 1601 as the 42nd post town on the Nakasendo highway, when the Edo shogunate undertook systematic development of major roads. Situated along the Kiso road, a vital section linking Edo and Kyoto, the town prospered throughout the Edo period as a bustling rest stop f…