Youren2010
Active Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- 6/7, 2013 SJPP to Santiago-finisher-Muniz, 6/7, 2016 La Verna to Rome, 6/7/8, 2018 VDLP
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I learned about Kumano while researching Shikoku 88 temples walk. In the end, I decided to do Kumano in April and Vía de la Plata ftom Sevilla in Late June. Who else is going to be on the Kumano around that time?
We walked some of the Shukoko 88 temple route last year and then finished our trip by completing the Kumano Kodo.
For those in the planning stage you have probably already seen this but if not we found it invaluable:
http://www2.tb-kumano.jp/en/kumano-kodo/pdf/Kumano-Kodo-Nakahechi-Route-Maps-Complete.pdf
Hard copies can be found in the tourist offices in the area.
Hi MikeyC,
I am finding it difficult to decide whether to walk 88 temple route or Kumano Kudo. In your experience, which route did you like more and why? Also was it difficult to get by without speaking Japanese? and how much should i expect to spend on food and bed everyday?
Many thanks!!!
Hi
We walked from temple 68 to 88 which is all in the north of the island and is not representative of the whole route. The temples were fairly close together and there were many urban areas so options for lodging and food were probably greater than the more remote temple areas in the south.
We did a lot of planning using the Shikoku Japan 88 Route Guide which we also carried with us for the maps.
There is a wonderful site by a lady called Kat who has done many long distance walks and has daily blogs for all the Japanese routes as well as the Camino. It will give you much more detail than I can put here in the forum. You can find it at:
https://followingthearrows.com/
My wife and I typically paid Yen 3000 each per night and used a mix of hotels, hostels and zenkonyado. There are also some Henro Houses specifically for pilgrims which are Yen 2800 or so - just go to:
https://henrohouse.jp/en
We bought food in supermarkets for lunch - sushi, bread, rice balls etc... and would have a hot meal for dinner. Not expensive but there are a range of prices.
Bradypus has given some key points above which are all well observed.
We found the 88 route hard going. It was predominantly on roads or paved surfaces. The main disadvantage was there were very few walking pilgrims although we came across a lot of local pilgrims travelling by coach. There was no Camino type atmosphere with chatting to pilgrims or hearing Buen Camino from the locals. However, that may be to your liking and there is certainly a very positive reaction from some locals including some volunteers who offer roadside snacks and drinks.
The Kumano Kodo was for us a more pleasant experience. There were many more pilgrims and a lot of foreigners. The walking was more akin to parts of the Camino with forest paths etc... and certainly easier on the feet.
We walked in October and missed the typhoon season although we caught one in Osaka which was bad enough in an urban setting. Checking the best times of the year to walk is recommended.
I have recently returned from walking both the Shikoku 88 temple circuit and the Nakahechi Kumano Kodo. It is very difficult to compare the two as they are very different in nature and scale.
The full Shikoku circuit is over 1100km long. Most of it on roads though there are impressive off-road sections too. Those pilgrims who choose to walk it normally take 6 to 8 weeks to complete it. There are very few places which are the equivalent of Camino albergues: people usually either stay in commercial accommodation such as minshuku or ryokans with the alternative being camping or sleeping in the very basic shelters provided by some temples and by kind individuals along the way. The number of foreign pilgrims is steadily increasing but the great majority of walkers are Japanese. Little English is spoken in rural Shikoku but a few basic phrases in Japanese and the help of Google Translate on my phone were enough to make the journey possible. There is a great deal of generosity towards pilgrims and Japanese people are usually very courteous and aim to be helpful to visitors.
The Kumano Kodo routes are far shorter. The most popular one - the Nakahechi - is only 39km long. The extension to the Kumano Nachi Taisha adds another 30km or so to the journey. I only walked the Nakahechi route but I believe the two main routes are similar. Largely off-road paths through forest with a few small villages along the way. Many more foreign walkers. The Kumano Kodo is heavily promoted (extremely well) by the local tourist board. Accommodation is all commercial - no free temple shelters. Camping or sleeping in the forest shelters is officially discouraged. There is a great deal more signage in English. The tourist office will assist in booking accommodation and luggage transfers (expensive I believe). Altogether an easier business than walking the Shikoku pilgrimage but in some ways a more packaged and commercial experience.
Depends on what you hope to find on your walk. If you want plenty of company and the maximum number of accommodation options then probably from late March to June or late September and October. Winters are not severe but there can be snow and ice - especially on higher ground. Summers are very hot and wet and humid. There is also a risk of severe typhoon storms. I started my Shikoku walk on February 9th and finished in late March before walking the Kumano Kodo. I do not mind cold weather and loved the solitude. By the end of my time the number of walkers I was meeting had increased enormously. On the Kumano Kodo most were day walkers on short stages. It will never be like the Camino Frances though!Thanks for the tips. In your opinion, what time of the year is best to walk Kumano Kudo? I hear the Japanese summer is grilling hot and humid with lots of rain fall.
Thanks for the tips. In your opinion, what time of the year is best to walk Kumano Kudo? I hear the Japanese summer is grilling hot and humid with lots of rain fall.
Thanks for your reply. If I was to walk the Kumano Kudo, what is the best way to get to Tii-Tanabe? and is it necessary to carry a sleeping bag? thanks!
Coming from Shukoko we bought a regional rail pass. Tanabe is a couple of hours by train from Osaka.
Use www.hyperdia.com for train information.
We didn't take sleeping bags. Sleeping was japanese style on tatami mats even in communal rooms.
Coming from Shukoko we bought a regional rail pass. Tanabe is a couple of hours by train from Osaka..
If you just want a single rail ticket rather than a pass Hyperdia will show you two different options: the high-speed direct Kurushio trains that @MikeyC just mentioned (quite expensive) and a much slower but cheaper series of connecting local trains changing in a couple of towns. If you are in no rush the local trains are good and half the price and give you a chance to watch the scenery pass by at a gentler pace
1.Express train from Osaka to Kii Tanabe 2 hours, regular train 3 to 4 hoyr max, airport bus to Wakayama, change train to Tanaba no more than 4 hours. Info center open 9am to 6pm, in order to get your credential for your next day hike, you have to watch your time. I took 1:57pm express train out of Osaka KIX airport, arrival 3:29pm. If slower train or bus might not have enough time for info. 9am is too late for start. At Takijiri center same opening schedule.
2. Bilingual sign all along the road, same standard, every 500meter marked with a number, so if you see 20 means 15k, 26, 13k.Map listed those numbers. No Japanese is not a concern.
3. Accommodation opens for all, pilgrims or not. They were full, i could not book my first choice in two places; however, I was mainly alone on 3 days, the last day to Nashi, had to rely on bus to get to the trail head, only bus scheduled in the morning on sunday, ran into more people. I realized that when I took the earlier bus out the first day from Tanabe were 5 hikers including me, the next time from Yonume obsen just me. Ran into a big American women group, but nothing more, very peaceful.
4. 3 onsen villages and other main places can be booked through other regular hotel booking, I did JHopper Hostel in Yunome onsen, highly recommend, has its own outdoor hot spring. Japanese traditional home share bath and bathrooms. But what I got close to shops, bus stations. The one at Santo cafe, out of Koguchi gave us free hotspring ticket for bath, very nice, outdoor, indoor hot spring farcilite, 5 min walk.
5. Trails have lots of stone steps, elevation gain and loss at places, was hard on my knees.View attachment 41980View attachment 41982
The website has all the info you need, list of lodgings with descriptions and prices, bus schedules (lots of them), detailed route description for each section, booking luggage transfer and boat tours, how to get there snd etc, even guided walk. Really no need to go to any other site for info. I went to other website for booking is looking for lower price alternative. But the lodging at Nashi shan close to temples at waterfall is highly recommended, book for dinner and breakfast, that is what you saw from my pictures. Not just look nice, taste great. That place is the only option, but considering the room, the hot bath, food, really is reasonably priced, way beyond my expectation.
When you get your confirmed booking, you will get instruction, including bus info, you can also email office directly asking question, all in English. If your choice is booked, they will email you alternatives for you to choose.
You can download maps, lists and all. The only thing you really need to get from office in person is credential. I like the printed little guide book also than the downloaded copy.
One thing i learned is that in order to use luggage transfer, you have to book all of your lodging with them. Did I mention about tbis earlier?
I passed the other 2 onsen village on the bus, same bus route. Lots of lodgings at these three villages.
All in all, in all honestly it didnot feel a camino to me, but a beautiful hiking holiday and a training for my real camino for VdIP this summer, even though I had lots of quiet time for contemplation. The soul searching element I sensed from other pilgrims on the camino is missing, too. This is common when a short route mixed with tourists.
Never the less, you got to do it!
A sim card is very useful. Quite difficult and expensive to get one with voice calls though as a tourist. An odd quirk in Japanese law. Plenty of data-only ones though. I rented a sim for two months from Sakura Mobile and paid for 5GB of data. I also installed Skype on my phone, bought £5 of credit from them, and made a few voice calls through Skype. You can buy cheaper short term data-only sims on arrival. If I had not opted for Sakura Mobile my next choice would have been the Japan Travel SIM from iijmio. Almost all of the prepaid tourist sims are resellers and these sims mostly use the main national NTT Docomo network. Mobile coverage on the Kumano Kodo itself is quite limited but in other parts of the country it is very good.
https://www.sakuramobile.jp/short-term-sim-card-plans/
https://t.iijmio.jp/en/
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