What it’s like to hike Japan’s sacred Kumano Kodo trail
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This tranquil walking route that takes in waterfalls, temples and hot springs is the perfect antidote to Japan’s overtourism, as John Kampfner discovers. Tucking into our tofu hotpot at the end of our first day’s hike, our host started to play music. His three-stringed instrument, the sanshin, resembles a banjo, except that its body is covered in snakeskin. People say it carries the voice of the deities, which seemed appropriate as we were on the Kumano Kodo, Japan’s ancient pilgrimage route.
![[Nachi Waterfall on the Kumano Kodo trail, Japan]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/17/11/082_Nachi-Waterfall.jpg)
Kohei Yuri explained to us that he and his wife had come to the Kii Peninsula to get away from the noise of urban Japanese life. Their minshuku, or family-run guesthouse, is one of a small number of overnight spots on a trail that is Japan’s equivalent of Spain’s Camino de Santiago, the legendary long-distance walking route.
![[The cobblestone Daimonzaka slope on the Kumano Kodo walking trail]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/17/11/Daimonzaka-slope_The_Kumano_Kodo_Pilgrimage_Routes.jpg)
Except in Spain you don’t get to nurse your tired feet in the hot springs of Kawayu Onsen, a geological thermal wonder located on the Ōta River. As we navigated the steam and slippery steps, we met two women from a city near Shanghai who say they come here as often as they can to escape the demands of work and the pressure to get married back home. There’s something about lying under the stars in the middle of winter to get conversations going with strangers.
![[Kumano Nachi Taisha on the Kumano Kodo walking trail]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/17/11/086_Kumano-Nachi-TaishaSeiganto-ji-Temple-%281%29-%281%29.jpg)
