Nakasendo trail

Hello,
Im planning to walk Nakasendo trail.i will arrive to Magome at 10 and plan to visit there 1-1.5 hour then the trail..i like taking photos too.so is it enough for 3 hours the hiking?i have to catch the 16.04 or 17.41 bus from Tsumago to Nagiso..and if i walk alone would it be problem,are there a lot of hikers in summer in weekday?is the path always clear?and at the end of july,if i start walking around noon,will it be too hot?thank you for answer^^

I cant really help you about the heat in summer (though it was quite warm when I went there is December) but I think you'll have plenty of time. Magome gets a bit tired after 20 minutes, maybe 45 tops. The walk took me a good 2 1/2 hours including a bit of time at the waterfall. I saw one other hiker on the way, but it would be busier on the weekend.

The walk is well marked and you wont get lost. I got a little confused at times but I am hopeless with directions and it was only where the walk crossed the roadway.

I did the beginning part of the trail in October 2013.
Not much help here, since for a number of reasons I started hiking late around 3 pm from Magome: it started getting dark quite early so I dropped back before getting to Tsumago to catch the bus.

I guess that 3 hrs should be enough. The path is clearly marked.
It's justa bit confusing when it overlaps with the caraway (and a bit unnerving, but there were very few cars…).

The part of the trail I did crossed some tree area, but it was not really shady and covered. I had the impression it could get very hot in summer, but maybe others have a better idea.

You can skip the bus from Tsumago to Nagiso if you want and just keep walking north out of town toward the castle site (the opposite end of town from which you arrived). The site itself is a turnoff to the left and it gives good views of Tsumago but there's not much up there except a flat top, information signs, and a shelter.

Going on toward Nagiso gets you past farm fields and houses to an old shrine area and then to a steam locomotive on display near Nagiso Station. Most of the Tsumago-Nagiso section is on pavement and small roads. I last walked it in the middle of June and it was hot but also raining off and on making it humid. I took a CC Lemon break in Tsumago and watched the bus tour people walk into town before continuing on to the castle site. Most people there are not walking the trail.

The only person I saw that day was the caretaker at the old Magome Pass checkpoint (just down from the pass). He gave me directions to the 2 waterfalls as they're off the trail. Even the tea house at the pass was closed as I went by. You can't get lost if you just walk uphill from Magome and downhill from the pass. Don't forget to ring the bells hanging in the woods "against the bears." I never saw one.

3 hours is plenty of time, unless you are a really slow walker. I did it in about 2.5 hours and I'm not young and not in shape and I took a lot of pictures along the way.

No problem walking alone, that's how I did it. I walked it May of last year on a weekday so it wasn't very busy at all. I'd say maybe I saw 20 other people on the Nakaendo when I was away from the towns.

The path is wide and very well marked so you won't get lost. As for heat, much of it is through forest so you will be in some shade and you can cool off at the waterfalls which are a bit past the halfway point when walking Magome to Tsumago.

Thanks for your advices;)
Anagumasan so are you saying walking from Tsumago to Nagiso has better views? I wanted to walk Nakasendo trail to feel the spirit that in ancient times people were walking there.but if it has not so much good views i consider again to walk there. And when i read the reports about trail,everyone was mentioning the tea house,im surprised to hear that it was closed..

The walk from Tsumago to Nagiso is just a nice walk through the countryside along the Nakasendo. Coming down from Magome Pass you're already low in the valley when you reach Tsumago so you don't get overlooking views unless you hike up to the old castle site. You just don't have to depend on making a scheduled bus and get to see a few more things along the way if you continue the hike to Nagiso.

The teahouse at Magome Pass just might not have been open yet as I passed by in the morning at 9 AM having caught the first bus up to Magome from Nakatsugawa. An advantage of leaving early is that I had the entire trail to myself except in the town areas. I had lunch across from Nagiso Station and then caught a local to Nakatsugawa where the expresses stop.