This is part 2 of our November trip to the Kii Peninsula (紀伊半島), where we got to camp and ride bikes in Wakayama and Nara Prefectures.
This area is most known for the Kumano Kodo, a beautiful and spiritual pilgrimage trail for hiking. However, there are also some incredible roads for cycling! During these two days of riding, we first followed the the Kumano River to some famous shrines in Shingu. On the final day, we crossed the border into Nara Prefecture to ride on some rural gravel roads. We visit Hayatama Taisha and Hongu Taisha, two of the three main shrines making up the Kumano Sanzan.
You can watch part one about the first half of our weekend (with rides in Mie Prefecture and the white beaches of Shirahama) here: https://youtu.be/WiRpgC0fEq4?si=BLactXdxZ3ZXbmFM
Ride and Route information:
Day 3 ride to Shingu: https://www.strava.com/activities/10276867338
Day 4 gravel ride in Nara and Wakayama: https://www.strava.com/activities/10283758873
Jump to…
0:20 – start of the ride to Shingu
1:33 – Kamikura Jinja
3:02 – Asuka Jinja
3:37 – Hayatama Taisha
5:29 – start of final day
6:15 – final ride map
10:42 – Hongu Taisha
🎙️ Want to keep up with the rest of our adventures? We have a podcast! : https://www.ramblingramsbothams.com
Links for more info:
More about Wakayama prefecture: https://en.visitwakayama.jp/
Shingu City: https://www.shinguu.jp/en
Kumano Kodo: https://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/kumano-kodo/
Kumano Hayatama Taisha: http://kumanohayatama.jp/
Kumano Hongu Taisha: http://www.hongutaisha.jp/english/
Yoshino Kumano National Park: https://www.japan.travel/national-parks/parks/yoshino-kumano/
Kawayu Onsen: https://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/places/kawayu/
Ryujin Area: https://www.ryujin-kanko.jp/ryujin/
More videos about Japan Cycling here:
Riding from Kanazawa to Shirakawa-go: https://youtu.be/f-j3oMr7LEE
One Week Biking from Kanazawa to Matsumoto: https://youtu.be/OOgtL6N20mY?si=J1v3kpDlE6akcXN1
Biking the Highlands of Japan in Nagano: https://youtu.be/gdDsRhyQUPo?si=laJ0etHK0QaQKRdB
Noto Peninsula Cycling Tour: https://youtu.be/AtgQuM1PLaI
#japancycling #roadcycling #japanlife #jetprogramme #lifeinjapan #gravelride #cyclingroute #ramblingramsbothams #cycling #cyclinginjapan #自転車 ＃サイクリング #biketouring #wakayama #kiipeninsula #奈良県 #和歌山 #和歌山県 #紀伊半島 #kawayuonsen #川湯温泉 #熊野古道 #kumanokodo
Welcome to part two of our wakayama cycling weekend on the third day of our trip on the Key Peninsula we followed the Kam River to some famous shrines in shingu then on the final day we crossed the border inara prefecture to ride on some rural gravel roads once again we are starting our
Ride from the Campsite in Ka yanson so we’re going to shingu today which is on the Eastern side of the peninsula yesterday we were on the western side and there’s a few different shrines and temples down there at the start of the kamano Coto and hopefully
We’re going to be able to see some today the kokoto is an important spiritual route connecting a network of shrines in this area it is one of only two recognized world heritage site pilgrimage routes the communo to Santiago in Spain is the other the kamano Coto is a hiking only Trail but
Rather than being a single linear path there are several different routes to choose from you can collect stamps along the way from the temples and shrines on your spiritual pilgrimage it typically takes 4 to 6 days to complete the 14 to 21 km route options shingu the city
We’re headed to now is home to one of the three kamano main shrines haa our route was simple since we were just following the kamano river to the Pacific coast the name shingu means new Shrine and it’s said that the gods of kamano first landed on a rock on Mount kamikura
Located in shingu before establishing the three shrines of kamanu our first stop was that comic her a shrine from The [Applause] Legend there are 538 Stone steps to the go towa or the huge rock at the top that looks like a giant toad it’s there where the gods supposedly
Landed we didn’t make the journey to the top since we were in our cycling shoes and we still had a ways to bike but the view of shingu from the top is apparently really nice every year on February 6th there’s also a huge fire Festival here known as Oto Matsuri look at
This it’s a library next to the kamik shine was also a really cute youth [Applause] Library this Chinese style gate is the entrance to Juku Park W dedicated to the Chinese scholar Juku who is in shingu looking for the elixir of life oh my there he
Is we rode by lots of meon or oranges for sale on our way to the next shrine this is a sacred site believed to protect the river mouth from storms and floods it was registered as a world heritage site in 2016 and it’s said to be the location of where the gods of
Kono were divided and enshrined separately for the first time you can get Ghost shoing here as well as free stamps for anyone collecting them on the kokoto or just for your personal stamp collection finally we arrived at the haam TAA one of the three main commo shrines there’s also an impressive Nagi
Tree that’s almost 1 thousand years old at the front the main deities here are married couple so it’s a popular place for people to visit visit to wish for a healthy marriage haa along with hongu TAA and Nai TAA are collectively known as the kanano
Sanan we get to see hungu TAA later in the weekend but unfortunately we’ll have to come back to see Nai tasa which is the one that’s known for its stunning waterfall this River the kogawa is actually part of the prefecture border so while we were in wakayama M prefecture was just
On the other side we rode back along the same river but on the opposite Bank look at this waterfall and if you want to you can even rent one of these sauna tents and hang out in a sauna right next to the falls so on the way into town and shingu we
Were on the road across the river but honestly you should ride your bike on this side cuz the other side has so much more traffic and this is just as beautiful but more enjoyable because there’s no cars behind me we got back to the campsite with some food for dinner
Visited the bath again and went to bed early to prepare for the final day of riding hello good morning good morning it’s very cold okay so today we’re leaving our campsite but we’re going to drive to a hotel for our final night of this trip and before we get there we’re going to
Stop and ride for a little bit so I’m going to get dressed in my bike clothes and get ready to ride Tada now we’re ready to ride finally it’s still cold but it’s very pretty I have the lobster gloves on and zeb’s planned a very fun ride again
By the way this parking lot is across from the big Shrine and it’s free and it’s huge so definitely recommend from the kamu hongu TAA parking lot we followed Road 168 along the tatsukawa river and into Nara prefecture we then turned to follow the kiuno river as it climbed into the Forest A This Yanagi Moto bridge is part of a kamano Coto route as we followed Road 735 there were lots of peaceful onson spots along the cuno river the color on the trees is really nice out here this road feels very magical uh I don’t have a lot of GoPro footage because
Since we’ve been camping I haven’t been able to charge things very well it kind of reminds me of the forest and Princess monoke the studio gibl movie H it’s been really nice look how bright the leaves are it’s so pretty here the cuno became the Nonono River
But for most of this part of the ride the water was flowing far below us since we had been continuing to climb Higher soon Road 735 re-entered wakama prefecture and returned South onto a smaller road that paralleled 371 if we had continued straight we would have arrived at rin onen a peaceful Hot Spring Town on the Haka River this road turned out to be gravel which was a surprise but it was a
Beautiful Forest Road so we kept going hopefully left is correct oh the road continued to get more rough though I want know about this one I started getting worried that it wouldn’t be possible ahead this road is really beautiful it turned to gravel a while back it is
Making me a little nervous that we’re going to get to the end of it and not be able to get back onto the main road cuz we’re kind of far out here now so hopefully it connects we have plenty of daylight so that’s good in case we have to turn around I
Guess we’re doing it when we reached the Tunda River the gravel started to be smoother and more maintained which was a good sign look what we found a little Woodland Shrine I learned later that this is the kasuga shrine a friendly thing to come across in what seemed like the middle of
Nowhere shortly after the road became paved again we saw a car and knew that the road must be clear ahead look we’re back on pavement ah it connected what a nice place we crossed the Tunda River and we were suddenly back on a main road again
Road 311 which we would follow back to the Kano River we did it we’re back in the same parking lot it’s significantly more busy now and yeah it feels really good to be done we couldn’t leave without a visit to the kumano honga TAA our second of
The kumano szan shrines that we would get to see this weekend and the head Shrine of over 3,000 Kono shrines across this country you’ll see this three-legged Crow symbol known as yatagarasu at East of the kumano San these sacred crows are said to be the messengers of the Gods
They inhabit the Sun and can guide humans to unknown lands in fact Legends describe yatagarasu as being the one who led jimu said to be the first emperor of Japan through the mountains to establish his Country the Crow’s three legs also symbolize Heaven Earth and humanity and they can stand for the three Kono Clans II Suzuki and inomoto If you’ve also completed the commo to Santiago in Spain you can be certified here as a dual Pilgrim for completing both originally this Shrine was a kilometer away but it was moved in 1889 because of flooding there’s a huge 33 M tall Tory gate that’s still at o noada the original
Location there are so many places in this area that we didn’t get to explore and I feel like we hardly scratched the service on what the Key Peninsula has to offer I feel like that we got to bike and Camp here but I also hope that we
Can return again soon to enjoy it even more thanks for watching and feel free to subscribe so you can see where we go on the next Ride
2 Comments
No faith in the route planning I see 🙁
Another awesome video…