36°20′41″N138°39′03″E / 36.3446°N 138.6507°E /36.3446; 138.6507
TheUsui pass (碓氷峠,/ Usui-tōge) is amountain pass that lies betweenNagano andGunma Prefecture inJapan. It has served as one of the major transportation routes in central Japan since at least the eighth century.
The pass on the ancientTōsandō highway was described as early as the 8th century, in theNihon Shoki, asYamato Takeru went through the pass during his journey in eastern Japan. Later, theNakasendō, one of thefive routes of theEdo period maintained by theTokugawa shogunate (and one of the two that connectedEdo, modern-dayTokyo, toKyoto) followed the route through the pass.
The modernNational Route 18, which goes through the pass, serves as a major link between the populartourist spotKaruizawa and theKantō plain (includingTokyo). Abypass and anexpressway 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 racerKeiichi Tsuchiya[citation needed]. It was also featured in the racing mangaInitial D as the home course of the team Impact Blue where the protagonist Takumi Fujiwara races a SilEighty driven by Mako Sato.
TheShin'etsu Main Line railway went through the pass between 1893 and 1997. The 11.2 km pass segment, betweenYokokawa Station on the Gunma side andKaruizawa Station on the Nagano side, had been operated with therack-and-pinion railway system until 1963 when the line was rebuilt and new locomotives for non-rack operation were introduced. The new locomotives were theJNR Class EF63banking engines used for help in both ascending and descending the 6.7% (1 in 15) gradient line.[1] In 1997, the segment was closed due to opening of the newNagano Shinkansen (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 isavailable here
The prior-1963 line was featured in theRail Wars! episodes 8 and 9, where the characters take it with aDraisine.[2]
it was eventually decided to build the track at a steep grade of 66.7/1,000
Halfway into last week D4 wrestled their Little Draisine That Could to life and started their harrowing journey across the Usui Pass on a retired line.
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