Kumano Kodo, Japan

Prologue

The Kumano Kodo entices us to journey into a land of sacred mountains and venerated shrines. Kumano, the ancient name for the southern regions of Japan’s Kii Peninsula, is steeped in mystery and legend. The Kodo are the ‘old ways’ pilgrims have used for centuries. Following their footsteps, we’ll wind through the lush mountains to visit the three Grand Shrines of Kumano: Hongu, Nachi, and Hayatama.

We’re drawn to these Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes, which gained UNESCO World Heritage status in 2004. The UNESCO listing recognises the fusion of Shinto and Buddhist religions, the integrity of the pilgrimage routes, and the ancient and ongoing tradition of nature worship.

Like most modern-day pilgrims, we plan to walk the Nakahechi Route used by emperors and nobles from the 10th century onwards. Known as the ‘Imperial Route,’ it starts on the western coast of the Kii Peninsula and trails high into the mountains, the abode of the gods, before descending to the east coast.

Day 1: Takijiri to Chikatsuyu (13.3 km)

Our day starts with an early breakfast in Tanabe before the 40-minute bus ride to Takijiri, the trailhead for the Nakahechi route. As we travel into the mountains, we look out onto steep forested slopes and an imperial castle, high up on the ridge line in the distance.

Oji shrines are a feature of the Nakahechi route. These subsidiary shines of the Kumano Grand Shrines line the Kumano Kodo to protect and guide pilgrims. The first is Takijiri-oji. Located at the confluence of two sacred rivers, it’s the starting point of our pilgrimage. Once there were extensive halls, a bathhouse, lodgings for pilgrims, and residences for priests, priestesses and monks. During the golden age of the imperial route, pilgrims gathered to offer sutras, prayers, sumo & poetry to the gods. Even though this world is now lost, Takijiri-oji continues to mark the entrance to the realm of the divine.

Behind the shrine, a stone staircase climbs around a large rock to begin the ascent. A French pilgrim we met at the end of our Shikoku Pilgrimage said she found the first kilometre of the Kumano Kodo the hardest. Shouldering our backpacks, we climb steeply up through the forest, navigating tree roots and rocky ground ruptured by earthquakes and landslides.

For centuries, Japanese culture has deeply embedded the belief that deities (kami) are present in all things on Earth. In this section of the Kumano Kodo, the gods reside in the nearby trees, rocks, and caves. We’re soon short of breath but if the kami will it, the walking will be easier after the first tough kilometre.

Sunlight filters through the tree canopy. Frequent way markers guide our path and as the ground flattens out, we can appreciate the pink-flowering camellias lining the trail. We detour to a lookout for a brighter sky and a more expansive field of vision. The cloud clears and reveals an impressive range upon range of mountains. Also in view are areas of degraded forests, neglected as the number of forestry workers declined and now vulnerable to disease and devastation from landslides.

Back on the main trail, we pass small shrines, the remains of tea houses, sacred caves and an 800-year-old camphor tree. In Takahara, known as ‘Village in the Mist’, the productive vegetable gardens and logs colonised by shiitake mushrooms attest to a summer of hard work. A villager has assembled a shoe repair kit and left it with a sign inviting pilgrims to use it. In ancient times, this remote area was closed off by deep mountains, thick forests, sheer cliffs and cascading waterfalls. While open to the world this fine day, we sense the isolation winter brings, the snow erasing all human endeavour.

A small eclectic art gallery in what was a shrine. The unexpected pleasure of a pour-over coffee made by a barista working on a trestle table in a carpark. An afternoon of ascending and descending, following winding paths through the forest. Autumn tinging the leaves red and golden. The breeze cooling. Sheer cliff faces soaring up from the unfathomable depths of the chasm below.

Another detour takes us to the site of the Three-Fold Moon legend. On the 23rd day of the 11th month, a mountain ascetic returning from his pilgrimage to the Kumano Grand Shrines climbed Mt. Takao. At the summit, he witnessed a miraculous apparition. As the moon rose from behind the mountains, lunar forms appeared to its right and left, creating a divine three-fold moon. Considered a manifestation of three Kumano deities, it became an annual worship site with offerings of chestnuts, rice cakes and sutras.

The trail descends steeply until it flattens and follows a creek for a time. Then a short climb takes us to Hashiori-toge Pass with its moss-green stone statues, including one of Emperor Kazan as a boy, astride a horse and a cow. He was the first to make an Imperial Pilgrimage to Kumano, oft-walked thereafter by emperors and their hundreds-strong entourages in the 11th and 12th centuries. By the late 15th century, most pilgrims were commoners, including artists looking for inspiration and monks travelling for spiritual enlightenment.

By day’s end, we have eight stamps in our pilgrim’s credential; all gathered from Oji shrines and small, shine-shaped wooden structures that house a stamp and a stamp pad. Our accommodation for the evening is Happiness Chikatsuyu, a traditional Japanese-style cottage set in a beautiful garden. We are the only ones here, savouring the charm, solitude, and delicious bento box dinner delivered by our host.

Day 2: Chikatsuyu to Yunomine Onsen (24.3 km)

After breakfast with other pilgrims in Chikatsuyu village, we start today’s climb into a land where wolves were once considered the gods of the mountains. The Kii Peninsula was their last known habitat before being declared extinct in 1905.

Climbing up, we look out upon the ‘sleeping beauty mountain’, so named because its outline resembles the profile of a young woman lying on her back. At Tsugizakura-oji, the branches of the ancient cedars all point south, towards Nachi Falls. The spring below is one of Japan’s most famous waters: Crystalline Clear, Inundating the Trail: Mountain Spring Water.

An old highway takes us from Tsugizakura-oji to Kobiro-toge Pass. From here, we enter the forest. As we ascend and descend, we pass the ruins of teahouses, shrines, and settlements. Doyukawa Hamlet was abandoned after flourishing as a rest station for nobles throughout the Muromachi period (1336-1575), a time of great cultural growth that saw the development of tea ceremony, flower arranging, Nō theatre and Zen Buddhist ink painting. By 1972, the forestry settlement of Michinogawa had only eight households. Before the villagers relocated, they planted cedars and cypresses on the remains of their fields. In 2011, a typhoon caused a massive landslide; the landscape is now so altered that even with an interpretative sign, it’s difficult to imagine a thriving village here.

This afternoon’s walk follows a recurring pattern: a long climb up to a mountain pass, down through forests, across a body of water, and up to another pass until we come to a vermillion Shinto torii gate marking the entrance to Hosshinmon-oji, the outermost threshold of Hongu’s sacred precincts. Many gates along the Kumano Kodo are physical markers of the stages of spiritual rituals. Hosshinmon-oji is the ‘gate of the awakening of the aspiration to enlightenment’, one of the most important gates.

Clearing the forest, we emerge into the light and a string of isolated mountain villages, small orderly tea plantations, terraced fields, and gnarled persimmon trees. A swimming pool hewn out of rock is graced by trees ablaze with autumnal splendour and the ground is splashed red with fallen maple leaves. A sign warns of bears and the houses display folk-art carvings of spirit creatures. A stall sells glasses of pink shiso juice. It’s refreshing and tastes like mint infused with citrus, cinnamon, and basil.

We pass through ghost settlements on a path lined with small Jizo statues. These Bodhisattvas have achieved enlightenment but postponed Buddhahood to help others, especially children and travellers. Near Fushiogami-oji, we glimpse a grand shrine in the valley below. Knowing it closes at 5 pm, we push on to Hongu, the first of the three Grand Shrines of the Kumano Kodo. Religious pilgrims have travelled between the shrines for over 1,000 years. We walk the same well-trodden path, descending via a long stone staircase through the forest to the shrine.

Openness and acceptance were fundamental to the Kumano faith. Unlike many other sites in Japan, anyone was welcome in Kumano regardless of sect, class or gender. We pay our respects to the deities at this austerely beautiful shrine with sweeping cypress bark roofs and towering trees, before seeking out the Kumano Hongu Heritage Centre. Here, ‘Dual Pilgrim’ status is granted to people who have walked both the Kumano Kodo and Spain’s Camino de Santiago, the only pilgrimage routes recognised as World Heritage sites by UNESCO. Both originated in the 10th century, have been walked by millions of pilgrims, and are culturally, spiritually and economically important to their countries.

Our Dual Pilgrim status is warmly acknowledged with a certificate, a commemorative pin and a gold scallop shell, all featuring the sacred three-legged raven. This Shinto deity symbolises guidance and divine intervention. Returning to Hongu Shrine, we participate in a ‘Dual Pilgrim Taiko Ceremony’. Under the guidance of a Shinto priest, we drum on the sacred Taiko, its power reverberating deep within us. The drum has been used in Shinto ceremonies since ancient times; as well as calling upon the kami, the sound of the drumming sanctifies rituals and marks their beginning and end.

We glance up and see a rainbow arcing across the sky. Later, in Yunomine Onsen, we soak in a deep, hot mineral bath before wandering through the dark village. Steam rises from hot springs as people cook food in the boiling river.

Day 3: Yunomine Onsen to Koguchi (19 km)

From Yunomine Onsen, we catch a bus to the trailhead at Ukegawa. Today’s walk, known as the Kogumotori-goe route, is the first day of a two-day trek to Nachi, the second of the three Grand Shrines. With only 13 kilometres in the day, we sit and enjoy a relaxed breakfast of French toast and coffee at a delightful, old-style Japanese cafe before setting off.

From the Kumanogawa River, we walk through the backyards of isolated houses before climbing into cedar and cypress forests. Ferns grow luxuriantly by the side of the trail as we walk up to Hyakkengura lookout. From here, we have a breathtaking view of the ‘3,600 peaks of Kumano’. To the northwest lies the Hatenashi mountain range. To the southwest is Mt Oto; at 1,122 metres it’s the highest mountain in the southern Kii Peninsula.

The wind carries a strange, intoxicating fragrance. Felled trees lie across each other on the steep slopes. We pause at the ruins of a teahouse, one of the many that line the track between Hongu and Nachi. This one is named after a giant cherry tree (Sakura-chaya). When the owners saw pilgrims approaching from far off in the distance they would start cooking mochi cakes and boiling water for tea.

We spend most of the day deep within the sanctuary of the forest, a world of poetry-engraved rocks, weathered Buddhas and small shrines where people leave coins and place stones. As we descend into the valley, the Akagigawa River comes into view. Deep pools form where it meanders; in other parts, it’s shallow and rocky. The wind rages then abates. Japanese kites glide and soar, their distinctive sharp whistle piercing the silence. A shadow, then a brush of a wing tip, as a kite swoops and snatches an onigiri from a pilgrim’s hand. The outcome is a bloodied pilgrim, a frenzied bird, and a discarded onigiri (nori-wrapped rice ball).

Near the river are the prayer tablets left as offerings by Yamabushi, mountain ascetics who walk the trail for spiritual training. Across the bridge lies the small mountain village of Koguchi. We arrive at the converted high school where we’ll spend the evening and enjoy a hot bath as the sun streams through the bathhouse’s windows. Afterwards, we wander to the general store. It has almost no stock but the woman serving beams at us, full of good cheer and thrilled to show off her collection of kitsch Australian souvenirs (plastic koalas in the main). At the lodge, the in-house dinner is generous, and there’s beer and saki to counter the school canteen ambience that lingers in the room.

Day 4: Koguchi to Katsuura (14.5 km)

This morning, we glanced at the gradient profile of the long, steep climb to today’s first mountain pass and understood why it’s regarded as one of the toughest sections of the Nakahechi.

Birds sing in the trees high above a rock inscribed with three encircled Sanskrit symbols: the Buddha of Compassion, the Bodhisattva of Mercy, and the Medicine Buddha. Legend has it that the local Shinto deities who gathered here to chat were manifestations of these three Buddhist figures.

Jizos and moss-covered mounds. The ghost contours of abandoned rice paddies; the ground inundated with brackish, black water. A long, steady, five-kilometre climb to Echizen-toge Pass. Some regard it as a ‘body-breaking slope’ but taken gently, it has its delights. From the Pass, the highest point of our pilgrimage, the path descends and ascends until it reaches Moja-no-Deai, the ‘Abode of the Dead’. Since ancient times, it’s believed that spirits inhabit this section of the trail where the boundary between one world and the next is blurred.

High up on Funami-toge Pass, we are awestruck by the infinitely blue Pacific Ocean, its islands, rugged coastline, sheltered inlets, and the tuna fishing port of Katsuura. As we eat lunch, we chat with two Italian pilgrims and take in the shimmering beauty of the vista. Other pilgrims walk past without stopping, eyes only on what lies ahead: Nachi, the second grand shine of the Kumano Kodo.

More tea house ruins, including those of Naboritate-jaya. It was the last teahouse before Nachi and served as a marketplace for people from coastal villages and merchants from inland to meet and trade their wares. The golden age of the Kumano teahouses was during the Edo period (1603 – 1867). From 1868, the Meiji Restoration ushered in profound religious and social changes across Japan, causing a dramatic decline in the number of pilgrims. One by one the teahouses closed and now all that remains are the memories held in the half-buried ruins.

A final descent takes us to Nachi Kogen Park where we walk through cedar and cypress trees to arrive at the hallowed Nachi Grand Shrine. This shrine and the nearby Seiganto-ji (‘Temple of Passage to the Blue Shore’) formed a single Shinto-Buddhist institution until the Meiji government ordered the separation of Shinto shrines from Buddhist temples. Far from the capital, the two spiritual structures here retained a connection, continuing to represent harmony in the presence of nature.

Nachi is the head shrine for over 4,000 Kumano shrines. Its religious origins lay in the ancient nature worship of the high waterfall called Nachi-no-Otaki, used for aesthetic training by mountain monks. At 133 metres, it’s the tallest waterfall in Japan and is visible from far out at sea. It’s a striking backdrop to the nearby three-storey vermilion pagoda, iconic in appearance despite undergoing restoration.

Painted vermilion, forest green, white and gold, the colourful buildings of the Nachi shrine are sheltered by the boughs of the ancient camphor tree that spread over the shrine’s roof. Pilgrims can be reborn by walking through the hollow trunk of this 1,000-year-old sacred tree. If you write your wishes on a wooden plaque and hold it as you enter the tree, your wishes will come true. We walk the enchanting 600-metre cobblestoned path below the shrine. Lined with primeval forest, it’s one of the most pristine areas of the Kumano Kodo.

At day’s end, we board a bus for the half-hour journey to Katsuura. The 70-kilometre walking component of our Kumano Kodo is done. All that remains is to visit Hayatama, the last of the Grand Shrines.

Day 5: Katsuura to Hayatama Grand Shrine and return to Katsuura (by bus/train)

We wake up early and walk to the port to watch the daily tuna auction. Outside of Tokyo, this is the largest fish market in Japan. The buyers are mainly from Kyoto and Osaka; restaurateurs and fishmongers eager to buy the finest tuna caught in the Kuroshio Ocean Current. The auction is a silent, tense affair. Buyers carefully inspect rows of tuna, judging their value and eyeing the competition before writing their offer on a slate. The auctioneer gathers the crowd around and announces the winning bid for each fish. There are no triumphant shouts or fist-pumping; the successful bidders bring in wooden or polystyrene boxes, pack their tuna with ice, and leave.

We have breakfast with a young Chinese artist and several Siamese cats who appear to rule the quirky retro cafe. After a stroll through town, we catch a bus to Shingū to visit Hayatame, the third Grand Shrine of the Kumano Kodo. According to an ancient myth, the Kumano deities first descended to earth on a rock not far from the shrine.

Shielded by ancient trees and full of bird song, Hayatama Grand Shrine sits at the mouth of the Kumano River where the water from the sacred Kii Mountains empties into the Pacific Ocean. The nature in and around the shrine is an integral part of its cycle of rituals. The main deities are husband and wife, Kumano Kayatama no Okami and Kumano Fusumi no Okami. It’s no coincidence that the symmetrical shape of the leaves of the 800-year-old Nagi tree brings good luck to married couples. There’s almost no one about when we visit. We breathe in the calm air of a shrine ensconced in the forest, its lacquered vermilion pavilions glowing in the soft morning light.

On our way to the station to catch the train back to Katsuura, we stop at a cafe for coffee and cake. When we get up to leave, the proprietor presents us with an osettai of sweet treats. Receiving gifts is common for pilgrims on the Shikoku Pilgrimage, but it’s an unexpected pleasure on the Kumano Kodo.

Back in Katsuura, we soak in an onsen on the ocean’s edge and reflect on our days on the Kumano Kodo. Mysterious to us at first, the Shinto/Buddhism fusion that shaped the belief systems, culture and traditions of the Kii Peninsula came into clearer focus as we walked from coast to coast on ancient pilgrimage routes, found peace deep within lush forests, gazed out on a sea of holy mountains, wandered through isolated mountain villages, and drummed the sacred Taiko in the realm of the gods.

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If you’d like more Japan pilgrimage stories, read about our Shikoku Pilgrimage Stage 1, Japan, or perhaps the other half of our duel pilgrim status walking the Camino Francés, Spain.