Kanazawa Nagano 14 Togakushi Shinto Shrine and the Ryokan

December 03, 2025

Kanazawa Nagano 14 Togakushi Shinto Shrine and the Ryokan

Nagano, we are back in the alps. This is going to be interesting since it’s the cheapest accommodation so far. It’s a ryokan, and when I made my reservation 3 months ago it’s all that was available. It’s owned by a lovely older couple. I arrive from the station, and want to drop my bags off. It’s located about 23 minutes from the station. When I arrive, I ask if I can leave my bags. The owner says no. I say please? She says yes, then laughs and says yes no yes no. Haha, then she gets angry. I am so confused, I pull out my phone and enter in, “can I leave both”.. her arms start waving, she then puts my room number on them and puts them in the corner and says. Check in 3:00, holding up three fingers.

I walk back to the station to look for the bus that takes us to Togakushi Shrine (Upper Shrine). There is a forest of 400 year old cedars, I’d like to see. I will have a limited amount of time there as it’s 10:00, the sun sets at 4:30, and the trip is approximately 1 1/2 hours. The next bus is sold out so we wait for the next, I’ll have 2 1/2 hours to walk to the main shrine beyond the cedars.

There are a lot of backpackers and campers that come to the area. There’s even a camp ground within the area. There’s also bears, bears that have attacked a few people, apparently bear attacks are on the rise so people wear bells as a deterrent against bear attacks. I had purchased a "fashion small bear bell" with a little bag, and a magnet to keep the ringer from sounding. How cute, it was on my backpack making light tinkling sounds.

When I arrived I had to buy another bell, I noticed everyone else's bell was bigger than mine and made more noise. I went to buy my bell, the salesperson said, small bell, big one better. The big one has a whistle as well how worried do I have to be about these bears? You can purchase this at a sports store across from the Nagano train station, and it's less than half of the one at Montbell, and it has a whistle attached, probably more practical.

The bus has dropped us off, at one point down the trail, it’s packed then there’s no one. I keep on and see a few more people it is stunning here. This is the beginning of the walk.

Again there are small streams, and the sound of water, intermingled with light bell sounds. In the distance there is a structure which I believe is the shrine, it is not. It is the entrance.

One thing about these shrines, no one is going to sneak up on them quickly.

These are the baby trees.

These are the 400 year old cedars. This section of the walk is called Cedar Promenade of Inner Togakushi. They are stunning, it is quiet, those little dots in the distance are the closest people to me. I'm glad I have bells. I slow down for a bit just to take it all in.

It's tough to see, but we are almost in the clouds here. The main shrine is another 20 minute walk, up crooked stone stairs. Finally we arrive, no pics inside the shrine please.

I am concerned about getting back in time, so I head back I take the path to Togakushi-Jinja Chusha which is a lesser shrine in the area further down the mountain. Once I arrive, I have to take two more sets of stairs. I'll be honest, I don't know how I'm doing all of this climbing. The pics are of the descent.