Japan Hiking Highlights: The Kumano Kodo and the Nakasendo Trail

Make your way to the tour hotel in the centre of Kyoto in the evening. There will be a Welcome Dinner at a nearby restaurant (as usual, drinks with dinner are not included and should be paid for separately).

Overnight at the hotel.

Today travel with your guide by private vehicle to the Kiyotaki area into the northern precincts of Arashiyama, replete with temples and shrines including Adashino Nenbutsuji Temple with its hundreds of statues of disciples of Buddha.

Our walk also takes us past gorges, small local craft shops, temple precincts, and through Arashiyama’s famed bamboo grove, and eventually brings us to Tenryu-ji, Arashiyama’s most significant temple. In the afternoon, we return to Kyoto by private vehicle for a special treat — lunch with a Geiko or Maiko (Geisha or apprentice geisha)!

Following our special lunch, enjoy some free time in Kyoto to relax or to make your own discoveries of the city and to make your own way back to the hotel by public transportation. We then meet again in the early evening for a walking tour of the Gion district, home to a number of tea houses. Tonight, dinner is on your own for you to make your own choices. Your guide will be happy to assist with recommendations.

Walking: 6.6 km/ 4.1 miles, 130m/ 427 feet ascent/descent, 2.5 hours
Gear: Hiking boots, water bottle, wet weather clothing

We will travel south from Kyoto along the coast by train to Tanabe (about 3 hours), then transfer by local bus (about 40 minutes) to Takijiri, at the beginning of the Nakahechi, part of the network of ancient pilgrimage trails known as the Kumano Kodo, or Kumano Ancient Trail.

Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Kumano Kodo became popular from the 11th century as a place of pilgrimage from Kyoto by Emperors. The Kii Peninsula, which extends south from Nara and Osaka, has long been considered sacred in Japan as the entrance to the land of Yomi, the mythical afterworld.

It is also the site of the three sacred shrines of Kumano, the Kumano Sanzan.

We continue with a 2-hour hike to the small mountain-top village of Takahara, where we stop for the night. For some departures, after appreciating the beautiful views over the mountaintops, we travel onward by private vehicle to Yunomine Onsen.

Walking: 4.5 km / 2.8 miles, 370 m / 1,200 ft ascent, 175m / 575 ft descent; about 2 hours
Gear/clothing: Hiking boots, water bottle, wet weather clothing.

Today we will hike scenic sections of the Kumano Kodo trail, passing ridge-top villages and oji shrines. Nobles would rest at these sub-shrines to refresh themselves and compose poems.

We travel to Hosshinmon-oji by local bus and descend to Hongu Grand Shrine. The symbol of the shrine is the mythological three-legged raven, representing the Hongu, Nachi, and Hayatama shrines — the same motif as the one used by the Japan Football Association. The three-legged crow was in mythology sent to guide Emperor Jimmu, on his journey from Kumano to the Yamato Plain.

This morning, we’ll send our bags on ahead to the Nakasendo, so we can travel hands-free today. We rise early to transfer by local bus to the Kumano River where we board a traditional wooden flat-bottomed boat to take us on a gentle ride along the Kumano River to the Hayatama Taisha Shrine, just as Imperial pilgrims did in olden times. We will enjoy some time to visit the shrine, one of the 3 temples of pilgrimage on the Kumano Kodo, and have lunch, before traveling onward to Nachi san by bus and train.

We’ll walk the Daimonzaka approach to Nachi-taki (waterfall) and Nachi Taisha (Grand Shrine), one of the three ‘Grand Shrines of Kumano’. From Nachi-san, we travel to Kii Katsuura, a fishing port, and our hotel on Katsuura Bay.

This morning, we travel by train to the Kiso Valley. En route we enjoy an ekiben lunch. Then following our arrival in Nakatsugawa we enjoy walking through the old preserved area of Nakatsugawa-juku and onward to a preserved paved portion of the trail on route to Ochiai.

Our next walk on the Nakasendo Trail is from Magome to Tsumago over the Magome-toge Pass, one of the most challenging parts of the Nakasendo, 801m above sea level. The Nakasendo Trail had 69 post towns, numbered from Edo (Tokyo) and Magome is the 43rd.

Tsumago is the 42nd Nakasendo post town. It is truly evocative of a traditional Nakasendo post town from the late Edo period. We’ll enjoy some time in Tsumago before we continue on to Nagiso to board the train to our accommodation in Kiso Fukushima


Walking: 12 km / 7.5 miles, 326m / 1069 ft ascent, 430m / 1410 ft descent, 4 hours
Gear/clothing: Hiking boots, water bottle, wet weather clothing.

This morning our inn drives us back to Kiso Fukushima where we will enjoy a chance to visit the old Checkpoint Museum, the Yamamura Magistrate’s House. The Checkpoint at Fukushima was one of a series along the trail, monitoring and controlling the passage of travellers along the Nakasendo. In particular, they were on the lookout for wives seeking to join their husbands and potential insurgents. We also visit the Yamamura Magistrate’s House. The Yamamura family was once a powerful local family that was in control of guarding at the Fukushima Checkpoint.

Then, we travel by train from Kiso Fukushima to Yabuhara, the start of today’s Nakasendo Trail walk. Yabuhara flourished as a post town during the feudal Edo period, though almost no original buildings remain due to repeated fires in the past. Between Yabuhara and your destination, Narai, the trail climbs the Torii-toge Pass, one of the hardest parts of the Nakasendo.

Narai was once known as “Narai of 1000 inns,” as this was the most prosperous of the 69 post towns along the Nakasendo Trail. Travellers prepared or recovered in the many inns here before and after tackling the steep Torii-toge. In contrast with Yabuhara, residents of Narai chose to renovate their historic houses and impose strict rules on ownership and use.

Walking, 6.2 km / 3.9 miles, 344m / 1128 ft ascent, 270m / 885 ft descent, 3 hours
Gear/clothing: Hiking boots, water bottle, wet weather clothing.

Travel by train to Matsumoto in Nagano prefecture. Matsumoto is known for its castle, often referred to as the ‘crow castle’ due to its dark exterior. It is ringed by a moat replete with koi and offers beautiful views of the Shinshu area.

We’ll visit the city’s preserved streets, where kura or former storehouse buildings have been transformed into shops and restaurants.

We will also enjoy a visit to a miso producer where we learn about the importance of this soy and rice-based ingredient in Japanese cuisine and enjoy lunch before boarding our onward train to Tokyo. Tonight's dinner is on your own.

This morning, we discover 2 sides of the capital – old Edo and modern Tokyo. We begin by exploring the site of the former Edo Castle, now the Imperial East Garden. When the garden is closed, we will instead walk along the moat of the Imperial Palace for a view of the Emperor’s residence.

We then continue on to Asakusa, home to Sensoji Temple and the traditional shops and arcades of Asakusa. We then catapult forward in time to Harajuku, the source of many cutting-edge fashion trends.

We finish with a walk to the bright lights of Shibuya and see the famed Shibuya scramble before our farewell dinner this evening.

Your tour ends today following breakfast. On our final day, your guide will assist you with arranging your transfer to the airport by limousine bus.