寐覺蕎麥店之圖

About this print

This picture shows a soba (buckwheat noodle) shop that once stood near Nezame no Toko in the town of Agematsu, Nagano Prefecture. "Nezame" in the title is written with older characters. The picture comes from Saiyu Kaido Zue (Pictures of the Road West), a manuscript copied out by hand, and it is not a woodblock nishiki-e. The records do not say who drew it or when.

Nezame no Toko, "the bed of awakening," is a scenic spot south of Agematsu on the Nakasendo road, where the Kiso River has carved the granite. Its name is said to come from a legend that Urashima Taro, back from the Dragon Palace, opened his treasure box here and woke from his dream. Nearby is Rinsenji temple, which keeps the Urashima legend alive. Travelers on the Nakasendo stopped here, and soba was the local specialty.

Nezame no Toko was designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty in 1923, and in 2020 (Reiwa 2) it became part of Chuo Alps Quasi-National Park. Nearby is Echizenya, an old soba shop that traces its founding to 1624. The title does not tell us which shop is in the picture.

Glossary