Kumano Kodo | Takijiri – Chikatsuyu – Hongu – Kawayu Onsen | Walking the trail in Summer! (Ep 1)

Kumano Kodo | Takijiri – Chikatsuyu – Hongu – Kawayu Onsen | Walking the trail in Summer! (Ep 1)

[Music] Hi, we are James and Stuart and we are traveling to the town of Tanab south of Asaka. Having caught the Shinansen down from Tokyo, Tanabi will be our starting point for a 4-day trip along the Kamano Codo. So, we’re at the Hotel Eltier in Tanab the night before we start our walk of the Kimano Codto. [Applause] Okay. Well, I guess this is where we’re having dinner cuz it says welcome. I didn’t feel I could film much here, but we had a great dinner with some friendly locals. Yeah. I hope it goes well. This is the Elier Hotel here in Pab. The Elier Hotel is only about 200 m from the railway station where we will catch a bus that takes us to Takajiri, the start of the walk. Good morning. So, here we are at Tanav and we’re standing outside the tourist information bureau which doesn’t open till 9:00 a.m. So, if you need any information from them, get it the night before. So, we dropped in when we arrived last night at uh or just the afternoon at 400 p.m. We’ve just handed over our luggage to the luggage transfer service. very easy. They had all of our destinations over the next 3 days on a tag. So, they check that with you and then apply it to your luggage and then hopefully we’ll see our luggage this afternoon at our first accommodations. I’m sure it’ll be fine. They said they’re very organized. Yeah. So, next to the tourist bureau there’s a 7-Eleven and so that’s a good place to stock up and get, you know, your rice triangles or um certainly water and umbrellas if you need it. So, the forecast today is for rain. So, we’re a bit it’s a bit daunting. Um, but we’ll do our best. We’ll do our best. There’s the 7-Eleven. That guy in the yellow shorts was the guy who took our luggage. So, today we’re going to try to walk to Chikatsuyu, which it says is a 6 to 8 hour walk from the sort of unofficial start of the trail, but there’s a an opt out point about 2 hours in. We’ll see how we go. We’ll see. Basically, it’s rain dependent. After today, the rain isn’t forecast to be too bad. So, this is kind of like the key day for us where we might get washed out. We basically decided to wear our gym gear, just essentially light gym clothes and gym shorts. It’ll all just dry off. It’ll all just dry up. It’s very hot and humid here. So, we’re uh it’s the 14th of July. 14th of July, so height of summer. And we’ve just come off a 12-day cruise, so we’re carrying some extra baggage as well around the middle. Every time I had an extra cake, I say, “It’s all right. I’m going to do the kimono codo. [Music] Okay, we’ve made it through the first step. We’ve got the bus from Tanab to Takajiro. We can see the Kimono Cotto information center, which is the start of the trail. It was 970 yen from Tanab to the Takajira stop. Not raining yet. Not raining yet. We’ll see how James, this looks so steep. Looks the hill. It’s very steep. Man, few shops to get you on your way. Okay, quick a quick pit stop in the tourist center and Stuart’s bought a walking pole. Hey, I’m going to rely on my $6 umbrella. We’ll see how far I see how far I get. We’ll see which one is more uh effective. Yes, we cross the road. And here is the start of the path now. And here is our first our first stamp. Okay, first stamp on the Kimono Cotto. Bit of a shrine, but I believe this is the start of the walk over here. Today we’re walking from Takajiri to Chikatsuyu, a distance of 13.3 km. There is over 1,000 m of elevation gain and about 500 m of descent, with the first kilometer being the steepest. Up we go. And just for the record, we started the hike at 9:35 a.m. So, I believe we’re coming up to the first well-known landmark, the Test of Faith. I don’t know. It looks like there’s a a little bit of a path up and over the top, but you can crawl through the cave and squeeze out the other side. You can do the cave, James. We’ve elected to do the path. Oh, no. You can do the cave. Our first wildlife, some sort of dung beetle. The question, of course, is what sort of dung is it? So, so far we’ve been uh walking up the ridge line. Yeah, about 45 minutes so far. And according to a sign back there, we’ve done well, we’ve probably done about8 of a K now of the 4K to just the next little town. Yeah, the 4K of our 14k day. We’ll see how we go. So, it looks like there’s the easy way and the hard way, but we’re going to give it a shot. There we go. Viewing point at the top of the hill. So there’s a little zigzag point takes. So found this little shrine here just as the rain starting. It’s not too heavy. Not too heavy. It’s okay. We’ll see how we go. Okay, approaching the end of the first section. 100 meters to go. The rain’s coming down. It’s not too bad. It’s quite comfortable. We’ve got our We’ve got our umbrellas and we’re coping okay. Right. So yes, this is the little village. I forget the name now. [Music] Okay, so there’s a little gallery and rest point here. Okay, so after a brief refreshment stop, uh we’ve committed. We’ve decided to go all the way to Chikatsuyu in the rain. In the rain. It’s a three to three and a half hour hike. Probably twice the distance that we’ve already done, but not as steep. We’ve done the steepest bit, but we’re about only about a third of the way there in terms of uh distance, but it’s we’ve only been going an hour and a half. It took us less than 2 hours to do that sector where the advice is that it takes 2 to 3 hours. So, we’re and we’re not going terribly fast, but but we’re not carrying packs, big packs. We’re just carrying day packs. That would make a difference. So there is the path and we’ll follow that path till we get to Chikatsuyu. Okay, so we found a little shelter here. We’re only about 20 minutes along the road to Chikatsuyu or the path to Chikatsuyu, but we thought we’d stop under the shelter and have our lunch, which is essentially one of those rice triangles. Mine’s tuna and mayo, so it probably wouldn’t last too much longer. When you say rice triangle, I say seaweed triangle. It’s like a seaweed triangle. Yeah. Yeah. It’s rice wrapped rice wrapped in seaweed. Yep. So, there’s a strange little uh welling here or shelter. Not quite sure what it is. The rain’s actually stopped. It rained pretty heavily there for um 20 minutes and so we took shelter under someone’s lean who stable. Um but then it eased off and uh let’s just hope it’s not going to be too heavy for the next 2 and 1 half hours. It’s not going to take too much uh camera work cuz it’s a basically we’ve got the cameras in ziplockc bags and watertight bags and it’s a bit of a process getting them in and out and through the mists we find another little shrine. We’ve done another stamp. There’s a stamp in there. We just stamped our uh passports. That’s the uh Kamano Codo Trail passports. Not our actual passport. Not our No, we didn’t stamp our Australian passports. Well, we’ve made it to a rest stop. It’s a rest stop. It’s also It’s also a bus stop, but the bus doesn’t come for about 30 or 40 minutes. It’s uh been raining pretty much constantly with varying in intensity. The path is getting slipperier and slipperier, and our legs are getting more and more tired. Uh we’re only about 1 and a half km, I think, from Chikatuyu. uh and our accommodation. So the question is, do we rejoin the park and walk for 30 minutes or so? 30 to 40 minutes in the rain, someone’s not so sure. Or do we sit here damp, wait for a bus, and wait for a bus, which may or may not come on time, or do we find a way to get a taxi? Well, Stuart said, and get a taxi, but I I know that feels kind of I don’t want to get a taxi. one and a half km from the and I’ve not seen any taxis up here. Uh but it’s look, it’s been a really good day. It has it’s been a great day. I’m glad we we committed to it. About about 10 minutes out of the last stop, Takahara, it really started raining. Um but we found a little shed to rest in and it only lasted about 20 minutes that heavy rain. A godsend are these umbrellas. Yeah, definitely get the big clear umbrellas. Big clear umbrellas. Don’t get the the ones that fold down in half, whatever. The big clear umbrellas give you a nice canopy and uh it keeps your pack backpack dry as well. And they’ve made it quite quite doable. Yeah. Without the umbrellas, I don’t think I would have coped. Yeah. And we were fortunate that we started the day with one uh and found another one that had been left behind in one of the rest areas. So, we Yeah. Somebody donated it. Yes. Well, we donated a lift to buy. Um, but uh yeah, so we’ve been using two of these big clear umbrellas which cost $5. So $5 well spent. Uh we’ve been wearing very light clothes, basically our gym clothes, which has been a good choice cuz they just dry so quickly. But my shoes are pretty softened now. Yeah, my shoes and my feet are wet. And Stuart says he thinks he’s got blisters. Um yeah. Anyway, we’ll just see how this rain goes and then we’ll make a decision about either bus or walk the last 1 and a halfk. Okay, so the decision was made to keep walking and so we did and we’ve walked another only 20 minutes, half an hour and now we can see Chikatsuyu, the metropolis of Chikatsuyu stretching out before us. Wow, what a sense of achievement it is. It is 3:45. 3:45. So I think what did I say? We left at about 9:35 I think. So 6 hours 10 minutes. 6 hours 10 minutes which is within expectations. They say 6 to 8 hours to do the uh teira to Chikatu walk. And ours was pretty slow trek given the rain. Lots of people going past us that were younger and fitter and more steady on their feet. From this point, it was another 20 minutes to walk through the town of Chikatsuyu and find our accommodation at Sen Retreat. Okay, so we are in our accommodations at Chikatsuyu. We’re at Sen Retreat, Chikatsuyu, which is a series of converted shipping containers. We have a single shipping container. It’s very efficient is probably the best way to describe it. Pretty tight, but there’s two single beds. There’s a little uh kitchenet here behind me. Uh and there is a bathroom. There’s bathroom with a lovely shower. Very nice shower actually. Very There we go. There I am. Mirror, basin, and your full-on Japanese toilet. Now, with the full-on Japanese toilet that we just had to use Google Translate with to work out how to flash it. There’s the little kitchenet. Stuart is modeling the uh kimono style pajamas that they provided here. Very nice. Uh we’ve also got a little bento box dinner. Uh there’s also conveniently a co-op across the road. So I was able to go over and grab some extra supplies. Um so it’s not the standard comm Kano Cotto uh night where you spend the night uh you know in a little old lady’s house and she cooks you a 17 course dinner. Uh we opted for modern and efficient and so we’ve got the bento box uh dinner. M very nice. [Music] That was our accommodations last night. Very comfortable. It was too. We didn’t get to use the upstairs. This would have been our recreational area had it not been pouring with rain all night. Oh, here comes Stuart now up onto our luxury patio. Great. Would have been great, but it stopped raining an hour ago. It’s not going to rain for 8 hours. So, we’ve got this full sunny day and Chikatuyu is shining. [Music] go up on the bakery. Okay, day two. Fresh shirts, fresh socks, sunny skies. We’ve got uh breakfast included, which is at a local cafe. So, we’re heading there first and then we’re going to do two separate sort of 7 km stretches of the path today to try and fit in some of the highlights today because it looks like the rest of the week’s going to be a real wash out. There’s a typhoon off the coast which is going to going to bring even more rain across. So, let’s make the most of today. It’s spectacular. Beautiful. Spectacular compared to yesterday. Sunny, it’s great. Today we plan to walk from Chikatsuyu to the Kabiro Oji where we will take a bus to Hosinon Oji and from there walk the sector to Hongu. A total of 14 km. Okay, we think this is our breakfast venue. Should be called Hashior Ja. There we go. Looks good to me. Our breakfast awaits. [Music] Being chatsuyo. [Music] Mhm. Sun’s out. It’s daggy hat day. Well, we’ve just had breakfast, but that would be handy to know about. Oh, well, you said this would be an easier day. Well, it’s not that easy. And uh look, it’s a good workout. We’re 2K in, but it’s been it’s been about a 45° angle up. So far, it has, but on a nice uh paved path, so that’s actually good on the feet. But uh sunny day means you just pour sweat. Oh, yeah. It’s like beautiful skies but uh bit bit steamy. So it is like working out the Turkish bath. Very steamy but doing well so far. Yeah, really good. Started an hour and a half earlier today than we did yesterday. But because all the villages are in the valleys, the first thing you do, of course, is climb up to a ridge line. Lots of good walking along these forest roads. So, as soon as you get out of the sun, you get a lovely cool breeze that comes through the trees. It’s actually beautiful today. Yeah. Such a big difference from yesterday. [Music] We go up. Okay. So, here is an OG and would like to get a stamp, but I suspect you need to climb up to get it. Oh, no. You don’t. There’s the little stamp boxes at the bottom of the steps. Victoria gave beautiful sign. It is lovely. Some steps. Almost every kimono cotto video I watched researching they everyone came to this point and they uh and they thought, “Oh, I don’t know. I’ve done enough climbing.” But the thing is the stamp box the stamp box is over here. You don’t need to climb up to get your stamp. All right. So, we didn’t film any of these yesterday. We got seven stamps, but we didn’t film them. So, there’s our seven stamps, otherwise known as the seven seals. Mhm. So, we pull out the stamp. Yep. Stamp pad. Hopefully, these ones are okay. Yep. Do one do this one first. So, this is the seal of Sugakura OG. It’s pretty faint that one, but it’ll be okay. Show us the stamp. Show us the stamp that I just stamped. Okay, I can see that. One booklet for us each. If we get all the stamps and then we do the sister trail in Spain, we will get a certificate. There we go. Oh, well done. [Music] Well done. Thank you. So, we are at the Cabro OG resting place. Slight glitch in the plans. We were going to get a bus from just down the road here, and we think we’ve missed it by about 6 minutes. We met some people coming up from the bus stop who’ arrived on the bus. That’s okay. There’s another bus, although it’s not for an hour and 40. Uh, but we think we’ve got a little loop track we can do, and we can go and collect a couple of stamps that we missed uh on the way, or one that we didn’t quite get to. Um, so that’s fine. It’s a win. It’s a win. We started the day an hour earlier than yesterday. It’s only It’s only 9:50. Yeah. Well, it’s 10. Yes. 10:00 a.m. now. So, that’s right. The early start buys us a rest and we get a couple more stamps. Yes. We’ve barely begun. [Music] Okay. [Music] H. It’s been a well-maintained shrine. [Music] Well, while we wait for the bus, we’re having um some protein bars, which aren’t very filling. Sort of like a Twix bar, but it’s actually the only food we’ve got until we find some sort of vending machine or shop. That’s fine. We don’t need a lot of stuff. Not that we need food. Anyway, it’s about um it’s about 11:00 a.m., I think. bit before 11:00 a.m. So, we’re at the bus stop. Slight confusion because initially I I went to the one on the other side of the road, but I’m glad I read the sign cuz that was the wrong side. [Music] So at Hashin Monoji Stewart is putting in the stamps after sort of a bus right here. Two buses took about 30 minutes. Oh, that’s a good stamp. There we go. So we’ve skipped out a section and we’re going to do the last the highlights from Hashimanoji down to Hongu. [Music] Some interesting owl art. [Music] Even behind the trees, these little markers that appear along the trail, there’s a marker every 500 m. So if you’re going from marker 65 to marker 75, you know that you’re going 5 km. This is Mitsunomi Oji. So the trail takes us up. [Music] We’re getting there. Sure is warm. Shooting it again in 4K. [Music] Steps up to the panorama. That was preach. Got our next stamp to put in Fushi Yogami. Hoji. Okay. Over this bridge takes us over the road. One of the highlights of this section of the walk is the view down to the giant Otorii in Hongu. [Music] And so we’ve emerged in Hongu. So, a few things to see here and then we’ll get the bus to our accommodations. And that’s where the trail emerges from the forest after about a 6 or 7k walk through the lovely Japanese forest. So, we just gave ourselves another stamp in the book as we approach yet another tory gate. [Music] Fantastic. What a sight. [Music] So the Kimono Codo, the trail sort of ends up at this shrine that we’ve just been walking through. You sort of end up at the rear of it and you walk you walk through the rear. So it’s kind of strange bit. Um but if you come from the other direction, I assume from the town you’re passing through the big uh you’ll come up through the stairs to gate. And there it is, the biggest Tory gate in the world. It’s even better once you’ve got the sky behind it. Beautiful sea of rice waving in the wind. And I think this will be our last stamp for today. There we go. Right here on the river side to swing around. You can see the river flowing through there. Well, we have made it to our accommodations which is at Kauaiu Onsen and we have a western room here once again because I wanted a mattress. Uh Stuart is making himself comfortable in his kimono. There he is down there. Tada. Pretty basic room. Fascinating looking hotel. Lots to explore. There is an indoor onson which is male and female gender separated but there’s also an outdoor onson which is essentially I think beside the river or in the river where the natural spring waters flow but our room also includes includes a hot tub on the on the balcony which is very private and Stuart’s already poached himself in there for 5 or 10 minutes. Highly sulfurous. He smells like sulfur eggs now. That’s all part of the attraction James. It’s all part of the deal. Mhm. Sorry. the attraction of the of you or the attraction of the the process. The attraction of the process. Attraction of the process. You’re meant to appreciate the sulfur smell. And anyway, we clocked up another 30,000 steps today. Um different sort of day today. Hotter because of the the sun was out, but the walk we took wasn’t as aggressive. Not not as much ups and downs, but just as long. Okay. Uh so we made it through to Hongu and saw the shrines and the Victoria gate. So now a lovely night relaxing here at Kauai Onson and we’ll have to decide what to do tomorrow because we believe the weather is closing in again. I should add that we’ve been using a luggage service. So our luggage is sent ahead of us every day. We leave it out in the morning and it’s here when we get to our accommodation each night which is very useful. So all we need to take during the day is you know water bottles and hats and sunglasses. So, this is our included dinner at tonight’s accommodation. It’s a Chevoo hot pot night. So, you can just grab what you want. Different broths and uh comes with a sashimi entree or appetizer I should say for the Americans. [Music] And we’re sizzling some beef and with a view of the onson at the window. [Music] We booked our accommodation, meals, and luggage transfer services directly via the Kimano Travel website. The website is a little clunky, but you get to choose your accommodation and meal preferences. It took them 2 months to confirm our booking, and we got our confirmation about a month before the start of our walk. The total price came in at about half what the commercial tour companies will charge to make the same bookings on your behalf. After we got our confirmation, we also bought a guide book and maps directly from Kimano Travel as well, and they were posted to us. It was a very easy process. In our next video, our plans are disrupted somewhat by the weather, but we continue on to see the Kumano shrines at Shingu and Nachi. [Music] Here [Music] we are. [Music]

We are James and Stuart and we are walking the Kumano Kodo trail!
You can see our other Japan videos here: https://youtu.be/FVwmQQ4e7z4
We booked accommodation and luggage transfer ourselves directly via the Kumano Travel website. https://www.kumano-travel.com/en

00:00 Tanabe
02:50 Takijiri to Takahara
06:15 Takahara to Chikatsuyu
11:34 Sen Retreat Chikatsuyu
13:40 Chikatsuyu to Kobiro-oji
19:52 Hosshinmon-oji to Hongu
23:48 Kawayu Onsen
26:06 How to book

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