Tomie's Cuisine

Nakatsugawa to Magome, here we come! 🚶‍♀️🚶

Day 9 of our Nakasendo hike continues, and part 2 is landing this weekend. We’re walking from Nakatsugawa to Magome in Gifu, one of the most loved stops on the whole trail.

On the way, we met other hikers and a few locals, and had some lovely chats. The views were pretty special too, with snow still sitting on top of the mountains. We also walked the Stone Pavement of Ochiai, a national historic site.

Part 2 goes live this weekend. Follow us so you don’t miss it, and tap the link in our bio to read Part 1 in the meantime 🏔️

#中山道

We walked into Nakatsugawa in March 2025, about as far from chestnut season as you can get. 🌰

But this is chestnut country. Nakatsugawa has grown chestnuts in its hills for centuries, and its famous kurikinton is just chestnuts and a little sugar, steamed, mashed and shaped back into a chestnut.

I grew up watching Kawakamiya’s adverts on TV in Aichi. On Day 9 of our Nakasendo walk, I finally stepped through their door, then visited Suya, another shop famous for its chestnut sweets.

Even in March, both shops still had a good selection of chestnut sweets, and we enjoyed them as treats along the way. What we tried is coming in the next post.

Full story on the blog, link in bio.

#栗きんとん #中津川 #中山道

Six right-angled corners. No castle. Nobody quite knows why. 🏯

Day 9 of our 19-day Nakasendo walk took us through Ooi post town in Gifu, the only post town on the whole road with six masugata, the zigzag corners built to slow down invading armies. Then on into Nakatsugawa for chestnut sweets and a plate of keichan, Gifu's soul food.

Day 9 was too big for one post, so this is Part 1: Ooi to Nakatsugawa. Part 2 takes us from Nakatsugawa up the Ochiai stone path to Magome.

Link in bio for the full article. 🗺️

#中山道

Not the tallest loaf, but I love this one 🍞. Bread flour mixed with rye, so it didn't rise as much, which is normal for rye breads. The crumb is small and even, which is exactly what I want: butter and peanut butter stay on the toast instead of falling through the holes. Perfect for sandwiches too. I'm still baking often and playing with different flour ratios. My basic sourdough recipe is on the blog; see the Sourdough link in my bio or my Stories 🌾

By day, you walk. By night, you need somewhere cosy to sleep. 🌙

On the Nakasendo, planning both halves was the part we spent the most time on! 69 post towns between Kyoto and Tokyo, and every evening the same question: where do we stop tonight?

We walked all 540km in early spring and wrote it all down for you: where we walked each day, where we slept each night, and the wrong turns we took so you don't have to.

In the field guide you'll find:
→ 21 GPX tracks, one for each day plus a full-journey file
→ Google My Maps links for every day
→ 19 honest accommodation reviews, with the real prices we paid, booking links and alternatives
→ 3-day and 7-day versions, for when three weeks off isn't realistic

Not sure yet? Sign up as a free member, and we'll email you a preview to download. It's free, and no card is needed.

The full guide is half price at £5 while we finish writing the last journal entries. Days 9–19 are still on their way, and we'll email you the moment they go live.

Planning your own walk? Tell us where you'd start in the comments. 🧡

Link in bio.

#中山道

Grew it, shelled it, roasted it, baked it 🌰🍐

Our pear and hazelnut frangipane tart is on the blog, and this one comes with a few things we learned along the way. We started with nearly 500g of hazelnuts in their shells and ended up with 200g of kernels. Homegrown hazelnuts also changed how much butter our frangipane needed!

On the blog you'll find:
🌰 How to shell, roast and grind your own hazelnuts, and how many in-shell hazelnuts you need
🧈 Why we use less butter than in a standard almond frangipane
🥧 What to do if your frangipane splits
🧊 How to store and freeze it

Full recipe: link in bio 🔗

Team shell-your-own or team shop-bought ground hazelnuts? Tell us below 👇

Twelve hundred years old, and still sacred. 🌲
On Day 8 of our 19-day Nakasendo walk from Hosokute to Ōi, this ancient cedar at Okute's Shinmei Shrine stopped us in our tracks. Storm damage brought it down, but instead of clearing it away, they left the trunk in place, sheltered under its own small roof and bound with shimenawa rope. It's still treated as sacred ground.
Getting there meant climbing through snow-quiet cedar forest and over Biwa Pass, where 730 metres of Edo-period stone paving survive almost exactly as travellers left them centuries ago. At the summit, a weathered Batō Kannon, guardian of the old road, still watches over travellers just as it has for centuries.
By the time we reached this rest stop near Ena, our packs (and our legs) had earned the break.
The full write-up of Day 8 is linked in bio, plus a free GPX track for the day.
If you're planning your own Nakasendo walk, we've released our Nakasendo Field Guide in EPUB and PDF. Each day includes everything you need to plan it yourself: distance, walking time, weather, post towns, downloadable GPX tracks, and the full story of what that day was really like. Get it now at a discount while we publish the last journal entries. 🗺️

#中山道

540km. 69 post towns. 19 days. Seven prefectures, Kyoto to Tokyo.

We covered the whole Nakasendo in early spring 2025 and wrote down everything: the route, every place we stayed, the wrong turns, and the bear bells we searched three towns to find.

It's a proper field guide now — and you can read part of it for free.

Sign up as a free member, and we'll email you a preview of the guide to download as an EPUB or PDF. No cost, no card.

Want the whole thing? It's half price at £5 while we finish writing the last journal entries:

→ The complete field guide, in EPUB and PDF
→ 21 GPX tracks — one per day plus a full-journey file, handcrafted and field-tested
→ Google My Maps links for every day
→ Our full accommodation guide: 19 honest reviews with real prices, booking links and alternatives
→ 3-day and 7-day versions, if three weeks off isn't realistic

Days 9–19 of the journal are still being written. Buy at £5 today, and you get everything that's ready now, plus an email the moment the rest goes live.

Link in bio.

#中山道

Every September, our garden hands us a basket of pears and a bowl of hazelnuts. 🍐🌰 (The hazel tree comes from our Tomie's Cuisine the Nobonsai garden at RHS Chelsea 2024, designed by .method 🌿)

This year's hazelnut haul was just under 500g in the shell. No packaging, no food miles, just what the garden gave us.

It can only mean one thing: our Pear and Hazelnut Frangipane Tart is coming back, as it does every year. The full recipe (with step-by-step photos, as always) is landing on the blog soon.

Have you ever picked a hazelnut straight from the tree? Swipe to see what they look like in their frilly husks 👉

Subscribe to our newsletter from the link in our bio, and you'll get the recipe the moment it's published!