Kiso no Kakehashi

Kiso no Kakehashi was once one of the three most difficult points on the Nakasendo road, and it was said that "if only Kiso no Kakehashi, Ota Ferry, and Usui Pass did not exist."
It is also counted as one of the Kiso Hakkei, "Morning Mist at the Beach," and is widely known as a line from the "Kiso Bushi" song and the Nagano Prefectural Song, "Shinano no Kuni."
In 2016, it was certified as a "Japan Heritage" by the Agency for Cultural Affairs.
Kiso no Kakehashi is not a bridge spanning to the opposite bank, but a walkway built horizontally parallel to the cliff.
At the time, it was a simple bridge made of logs as pillars and planks laid sideways.
However, in 1647, a passerby dropped a torch and it burned down.
So, by order of the Oshu domain, a stone wall 102m long, 6.7m wide, and 13m high was constructed, and a 14.5m bridge was built in the middle.
(Later, the bridge section was also made into a stone wall.)
It is now designated a Nagano Prefecture historic site, and part of the stone wall remains preserved beneath the national highway, remaining a vestige of its former glory.

Many writers have also written poems about the area, such as Matsuo Basho's "Ivy and vines entwine the trees and their lives" (from "Sarashina Travelogue").
Currently, there are stone monuments to Matsuo Basho, Masaoka Shiki, and Taneda Santoka standing nearby the inn.