The is a

mountain pass A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...

that lies between Nagano and

Gunma Prefecture is a landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fuk ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It has served as one of the major transportation routes in central Japan since at least the eighth century.

Road

The pass on the ancient

Tōsandō is a Japanese geographical term. It means both an ancient division of the country and the main road running through it. It is part of the ''Gokishichidō'' system. It was situated along the central mountains of northern Honshu, specifically th ...

highway was described as early as the 8th century, in the ''

Nihon Shoki The or , sometimes translated as ''The Chronicles of Japan'', is the second-oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the , the oldest, and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeol ...

,'' as

Yamato Takeru , originally , was a Japanese folk hero and semi-legendary prince of the imperial dynasty, son of Emperor Keikō, who is traditionally counted as the 12th Emperor of Japan. The kanji spelling of his name varies: it appears in the ''Nihon Shoki'' ...

went through the pass during his journey in eastern Japan. Later, the

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the centrally administered Edo Five Routes, five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected the ''de facto'' ...

, one of the five routes of the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

maintained by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

(and one of the two that connected

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

, modern-day

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, to

Kyoto Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...

) followed the route through the pass. The modern National Route 18, which goes through the pass, serves as a major link between the popular

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity on ...

spot

Karuizawa is a resort town located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 20,323 in 9897 households, and a population density of 130 persons per km2. The total area of the town is . Originally, there was a stage station ( ...

and the

Kantō plain The , in the Kantō region of central Honshu, is the largest plain in Japan. Its 17,000 km2 covers more than half of the region extending over Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Tochigi Prefe ...

(including

). A bypass and an expressway now make the trip faster and safer. The original road still exists, but as of 2024 had been closed for several months because of a landslip between Karuizawa and Kumadaira. When open, the road is popular with cyclists because few motorcars attempt its 180 hairpin bends. The Usui Pass is the home course of drift racer

Keiichi Tsuchiya is a Japanese professional race car driver. He is known as the for his nontraditional use of drifting in non-drifting racing events and his role in popularizing drifting as a motorsport. In professional racing, he is a two-time 24 Hours of Le ...

. It was also featured in the racing manga ''

Initial D is a Japanese street racing manga series written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from 1995 to 2013, with the chapters collected into 48 volumes. The ...

'' as the home course of the team Impact Blue where the protagonist Takumi Fujiwara races a SilEighty driven by Mako Sato.

Railway

The

Shin'etsu Main Line The is a railway line, consisting of three geographically separated sections, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Japan. It was originally one continuous line connecting and via . Since the opening and later extension of ...

railway went through the pass between 1893 and 1997. The 11.2 km pass segment, between

Yokokawa Station is a railway station in the city of Annaka, Gunma, Japan, operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). Lines Yokokawa Station is a terminal station for its segment of the Shin'etsu Main Line, and is located 29.7 kilometers from the sta ...

on the Gunma side and

Karuizawa Station is a railway station in the town of Karuizawa, Nagano, Japan, operated jointly by the JR Group company East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and the Public–private partnership#Japan, third-sector railway operator Shinano Railway. Lines Kar ...

on the Nagano side, had been operated with the

rack-and-pinion railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with t ...

system until 1963 when the line was rebuilt and new locomotives for non-rack operation were introduced. The new locomotives were the

JNR Class EF63 The is a class of 1,500 V DC electric locomotives formerly operating in Japan. History A total of 25 Class EF63 locomotives were built between 1962 and 1976 exclusively for use as bankers (U.S. "helpers" or "pushers") on the steeply-graded Usu ...

banking engines used for help in both ascending and descending the 6.7% (1 in 15) gradient line. In 1997, the segment was closed due to opening of the new

Nagano Shinkansen The Hokuriku Shinkansen () is a high-speed Shinkansen railway line connecting Tokyo with Tsuruga in the Hokuriku region of Japan. It is jointly operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) and West Japan Railway Company (JR West). The fir ...

(Hokuriku Shinkansen) line that detours the pass with a long tunnel. A museum now stands on the site of the old locomotive shed at Yokokawa. A link to archival footage of the rack railway operation i
available here
The prior-1963 line was featured in the ''

Rail Wars! is a Japanese light novel series written by Takumi Toyoda with illustrations by Vania 600. 13 volumes have been published by Sohgeisha under their Sohgeisha Clear Bunko imprint; the series moved to Jitsugyo no Nihon Sha starting with the ...

'' episodes 8 and 9, where the characters take it with a

Draisine A draisine () is a light auxiliary rail vehicle, driven by service personnel, equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure. The eponymous term is derived from the German inventor Baron Karl D ...

References

{{Authority control Mountain passes of Japan Shin'etsu Main Line Railway lines opened in 1893 Railway lines closed in 1997 1893 establishments in Japan 1997 disestablishments in Japan