Mitsukaidō, now part of the city of Jōsō in south-western Ibaraki, lies on the vast, flat Kanto plain north of Tokyo, beside the Kinugawa river. The landscape is one of rice paddies, irrigation channels, farmhouses with windbreak trees and long river embankments, under a big sky. To the north-east, Mount Tsukuba rises alone from the plain, its twin peaks visible from far away, and on clear winter days Mount Fuji can sometimes be seen far to the south-west.
The Kinugawa is usually a placid river, but in September 2015, heavy rains caused its embankment to break in Jōsō, flooding a large part of the city and forcing thousands of people to evacuate. The flood was one of the worst in recent Japanese history, and the embankments have since been rebuilt and strengthened. Riding along them today, it is hard to imagine the water spreading across the plain.
The paddies change with the seasons: flooded and mirror-like in spring, when rice is planted; lush and green in summer; golden in early autumn, before the harvest; and bare and brown in winter. Herons and egrets stalk the fields, and in the evening the croaking of frogs fills the air.
For riders, the plain offers flat, straight roads, with long views and little traffic away from the main routes. The embankment roads along the rivers are often scenic, though some are restricted to cyclists and pedestrians. Fuel and food are available in Jōsō and the surrounding towns. As a photo stop, the paddies with Mount Tsukuba in the background are lovely, especially at sunrise or sunset.