LIVE from the Camino Kumano Kodo Iseji Pilgrimage

[endlesstrail]

Started the pilgrimage yesterday (23rd March), walking from Ise Jingu Naiku to Tamaru. Took the train back to accommodation in Ise as there's nothing available in Tamaru. Was raining the whole day. Very easy and straight forward route all paved. Walked past Miyagawa Tsutsumi park but all the cherry blossoms were still in the buds stage.

 

[endlesstrail]

Walked from Tamaru to Tochihara in the rain today. Quite fairly well signposted and today had the first pass of the trail - Meki-toge pass. Very tame in comparison to what's to come in the next few days. Temperature is around 10 degrees. There's a guestbook at the downhill section of the pass. One other hiker passed thru about 3 days ago.

 

[pkonopka]

Kumano Kodo is next on my list! Keep going!

 

[Corned Beef]

How is the weather for this time of year? Warmer or wetter or ?

 

[Bradypus]

How is the weather for this time of year? Warmer or wetter or ?

Been seeing posts on Facebook groups for both the Kumano Kodo and the Shikoku circuit that it has been pretty cold recently. Someone posted this on the Kumano Kodo group a couple of hours ago.

 

[endlesstrail]

How is the weather for this time of year? Warmer or wetter or ?

I've not been in this region in Japan at this time of the year before, so I don' have anything to compare it against. Sorry.

That said, I was in Tokyo last year from 28th March and I experienced a couple of days of rain. I think temperature wise it was similar.

 

[endlesstrail]

Day 3 - Tochihara to Misedani. A rather relaxed 16km today. A very light drizzle which lasted the entire day. There's a section of the trail which included using a "service tunnel" to cross under the train tracks. The map alao mentioned to stick to the paved road if the tunnel is flooded, which was the case considering the amount of rain. It wasn't exactly "flooded", more like a fast flowing stream of water almost to ankle height and unless you have thick and high rubber boots on, your footwear is going to get wet.

On the plus side, staying on the paved detour also meant that I didn't have to cross the inter-town "route 42". It wasn't that difficult to cross as vehicles drove past in batches, presumably from a traffic light controlled junction fuether up.

There were some portions of this stage where i needed to walk along "Route 42". Most of the pavement was rather wide and protected from the traffic by either a concrete kerb or a metal barrier. Other than that, it's mostly walking on local roads with very light traffic.

 

[endlesstrail]

Day 04 - Misedani to Ise-kashiwazaka. 20.77km according to my watch. Another rainy day made the wall down Misesaka-toge pass rather tricky. It was streams and streams of water flowing non-stop.

Probably 15% - 20% was on dirt trails (up and down the pass) and the rest was on paved local roads. As with the past few days, I passed by numerous empty homes and shops. Some of them look very uninhabitable while others still look respectable. No idea if it's really abandoned or perhaps it is still too early in the year for the owners to return. Best guess is the former, due to depopulation and what not.

I did find myself in a quaint udon noodle shop run by an old lady. It looked straight out of the 80s or 90s. Very reasonably priced and delicious food. Don't see many such restaurants anymore and they will be less and less of them as time goes on.

 

[Corned Beef]

Are there the ubiquitous vending machines in the small villages?

 

[Rozenn]

Kumano Kodo is next on my list! Keep going!

Me too! Before i am 75!!

 

[endlesstrail]

Are there the ubiquitous vending machines in the small villages?

Yes. Quite a number of them have Family Mart convenience stores too, which have lots of yummy snacks available. Just need to check the Kumano Kodo maps ahead of time to be sure you'll be passing any of them during the day.

 

[endlesstrail]

Me too! Before i am 75!!

At the guesthouse on day 2, there was a Japanese doing the hike as well. He's 79 !

 

[endlesstrail]

Day 05 - Ise-kashiwazaka to Furusato. 26km according to my watch. Finally after 4 days of rain, the sun finally decided to come out of hiding. I decided to "celebrate" by walking the Tsuzurato-toge pass. This was the longer "original" trail, which has since been replaced by the shorter, easier Nisaka-toge pass. The reward for attempting the Tsuzurato-toge pass was photo opportunities with 2 waymarkers. The view from the pass was absolutely perfect too, all the way to the Kumano sea.

There were no restaurants or cafes along the route so I had to make a slight detour to a convenience shop to stock up on lunch items. I almost missed it and had to backtrack a couple of minutes, but it was worth it. Onigiri (Japanese rice balls) and sweet mochi at the top of the Tsuzurata-toge pass was definitely a highlight for me.

 

[linkster]

@endlesstrail your peeps want to see pics.

 

[SantiagoCruzB]

Have you met other pilgrims? Buen Camino!

 

[endlesstrail]

Have you met other pilgrims? Buen Camino!

As a matter of fact, yes. Yesterday at the top of Tsuzurato-toge while having my lunch 2 pilgrims arrived heading northwards. They mentioned that they did the kohechi and they encountered snow as well.

There were 2 other pilgrims who were staying at the same guesthouse as me headed southwards too.

 

[endlesstrail]

Day 06 - Furusato to Aiga. 20.8km according to my watch, including a 1km detour to my guesthouse.

Today can be considered relaxing compared to what's to come. 3 relatively low toges in succession. What made it tricky is the lack of a convenience store until I got past the 3 toges, which meant no trail lunch. At least there are quite a number of restaurant options in the 3 small villages before getting into Aiga town.

 

[Corned Beef]

Are you collecting the stamps from the little stamp boxes shown in pics?

 

[endlesstrail]

Are you collecting the stamps from the little stamp boxes shown in pics?

Yes. Unfortunately I did not know where to get the Iseji pilgrim booklet, so I'm just collecting them in my notebook of stamps.

There isn't that many stamps compared to the Kumano Kodo Nakahechi. It seems to only be on the pass where they have a stamp box.

 

[endlesstrail]

Day 7 - Aiga to Owase. Short but intense 9km up Magose-toge pass. It was a rather enjoyable walk on the stone path leading up to the pass. However, bwcause it rained very heavily the night before, there's quite a substantial amount of water flowing across and along the path at times. Very nice to look at but at the same time makes it rather slippery. Full concentration is required.

The sun came out at mid-day and I was rewarded with excellent views towards Owase town. When I reached Magose-toge pass, I decided to take the detour to Mt Tengurasan. That was a rather tricky climb with occasionally narrow but high steps. At the top of the mountain, there's a huge boulder with a steel ladder you can use to get up. Scary, but the view was amazing.

I think the downhill portion of Magose-toge pass is for me trickier than the uphill portion. Definitely glad I had a pair of hiking poles with me.

 

[endlesstrail]

Day 8 - "rest day". Mainly because I'll be out and about with only a daypack. No better time to attempt Mt Binshiyama than today. A 3 hour return trip from Magose-toge pass with lots of steps, but definitely worth it.

I also managed to visit the Komano Kodo centre just on the outskirts of town.

 

[endlesstrail]

Day 9 - arguably the toughest 21km with the 700m tall Yakiyama peak to contend with. Lots of steps up and down, mostly on ancient stone paths covered in moss.

This is the first time I'm seeing bear warning signs, but the locals don't seem too worried about it.

Yakiyama is an intense 700m climb up and down stretched over 8km, so it's definitely not gradual at all.

Not too long after that, there's srill 2 more toges to cross - Mikitoge and Hago-toge. Thankfully they were "little" in comparison.

 

[Corned Beef]

I have heard that the pilgrim monks that do this route have a staff with a bell attached to warn bears of their approach. Not sure I would want a bell ringing in my ear for such a long time.

But the alternative....

 

[endlesstrail]

I have heard that the pilgrim monks that do this route have a staff with a bell attached to warn bears of their approach. Not sure I would want a bell ringing in my ear for such a long time.

But the alternative....

I have seen a few locals on day hikers with a bell attached to their backpacks. Slightly further away from your ear compared to a staff.

I also see locals without the bell, so I'm not 100% sure what the true situation is like. The bear was last sighted in 2020, so who knows.

For me, I perodically do the "hiking pole clap". Not as annoying as a constant bell. No idea if it'll work.

 

[Bradypus]

I saw signs warning about bears on the Kohechi. The chances of actually meeting one are probably very remote. I kept my eyes open for other wildlife hazards too on the Nakahechi and Kohechi and spotted one live mamushi, several live boar in various sizes and one dead mukade. The thing that I really dreaded meeting were ōsuzumebachi but luckily in my time in Japan I met only one dead one. Those alone would be enough for me to time my walk early in the year!

 

[endlesstrail]

Day 10 - another tripletoge day. 20km says my watch.

2 big hills to climb, almost 400m high and 1 just about 200m high. Lots of ancient stone steps , some of which dated back to the Kamakura era. I can start smelling the salt.water as the trail approaches the Sea.

By mid-day, I stopped seeing bear warnings, so I guess that's a good thing?

Another day without passing a town with a Family Mart convenience store, but at least there's a local groceries store where I could get a quick bite to eat.

It's wonderful to slowly see the cherry blossoms starting to bloom.

 

[donalomahony]

Thanks for taking the time with your updates. When you get a moment you might indicate some costs please
average nights accommodation
a cup of coffee
a local beer
an average early evening meal

Thanks and Buen Camino

 

[endlesstrail]

Thanks for taking the time with your updates. When you get a moment you might indicate some costs please
average nights accommodation
a cup of coffee
a local beer
an average early evening meal

Thanks and Buen Camino

You're very welcome.

Accommodation costs for me varies from 7000yen at the lowest and 18000yen at the fanciest. All my booked accommodation include dinner and breakfast.

I think you can expect a fresh cup coffee to be around 300yen based on memory? I am able to function with just the hot green tea in the mornings. You can get cheaper coffee from the vending machines. Probably 150yen thereabouts. Hot and cold options available.

Based on memory, a beer is probably 600yen.

Dinner for me is included in the price of accommodation. As for lunch, the lowest I've paid for a bownl of udon noodles is 700yen and the most is 1200yen for a set meal of udon noodles, a bowl of rice and fish tempura. You can absolutely cheap out by only getting the pre-packed rice balls and snacks from the convenience shops.

 

[VNwalking]

Scrolling through after the fact to digest more slowly later. Just wow. This has been on my list for some time...now even more so!

 

[endlesstrail]

Day 11 - Odomari to Atawa - 23.7km.

Apart from a small Matsumoto-toge at the start, the rest of the day was totally flat. I took one of the alternate routes starting from the entrance of the Onigajo national monument and climbed towards Matsumoto-toge via the "Cherry Blossom" trail. I'm probably a handful of days too early. Some of the flowers have started blooming but there's still buds if you look closely. Also saw several fallen trees sadly. Probably caused by the bad weather over a week ago?

Once I got down from Matsumoto-toge, it was flat and rather relaxing. There's the luon head rock that's along the route.

Also, because it's flat and mostly follows the coastline, it seems there are a couple of path options, depending on preference. There's the National Highway route 42, which is quite bust and not recommended. About 50m away from the road and running parallel to it, there's a dirt trail which I find to be quite nicw to walk on. Another 50m further and there's the barrier wall that you can also walk on. Tends to get a bit windy but the view is amazing. Every hundred metres or so there's an "exit" trail leading back to route 42. Very handy to pop back out for a meal at one of the restaurants.

 

[endlesstrail]

Day 12 - 10.8km. I started the Kumano Kodo with rain and I ended the Kumano Kodo with rain. LOL.

Mainly walking along quiet local roads. Nothing spectacular but at the same time, safe and relatively hazard free. I got excited once I crossed the bridge into Shingu, thus leaving Mie prefecture and entering Wakayama prefecture.

I stopped the tracking on my watch when I finally entered Hayatama Grand Shrine.

What an adventure. Hope you folks enjoyed it and will find the opportunity to do this walk in the near future. Support the local businesses and enjoy the amazing Japanese hospitality.

Cheers.

 

[dougfitz]

Thank you. I enjoyed following your journey.

 

[Simperegrina]

You're very welcome.

Accommodation costs for me varies from 7000yen at the lowest and 18000yen at the fanciest. All my booked accommodation include dinner and breakfast.

I think you can expect a fresh cup coffee to be around 300yen based on memory? I am able to function with just the hot green tea in the mornings. You can get cheaper coffee from the vending machines. Probably 150yen thereabouts. Hot and cold options available.

Based on memory, a beer is probably 600yen.

Dinner for me is included in the price of accommodation. As for lunch, the lowest I've paid for a bownl of udon noodles is 700yen and the most is 1200yen for a set meal of udon noodles, a bowl of rice and fish tempura. You can absolutely cheap out by only getting the pre-packed rice balls and snacks from the convenience shops.

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#nomnomnom

 

[Bradypus]

You can absolutely cheap out by only getting the pre-packed rice balls and snacks from the convenience shops.

The konbini are very useful. Probably half of my food when walking the Shikoku circuit came from them. Less on the Nakahechi and Kohechi Kumano Kodo only because they are more rural routes with fewer facilities. When passing through towns I learned to keep my eyes open for the gyudon restaurant chains - Sukiya, Matsuya and Yoshinoya in particular. Good simple food options at surprisingly low prices. Here is Matsuya's English-language menu as an example.

English Menu | Matsuya

www.matsuyafoods.co.jp

 

[donalomahony]

You're very welcome.

Accommodation costs for me varies from 7000yen at the lowest and 18000yen at the fanciest. All my booked accommodation include dinner and breakfast.

I think you can expect a fresh cup coffee to be around 300yen based on memory? I am able to function with just the hot green tea in the mornings. You can get cheaper coffee from the vending machines. Probably 150yen thereabouts. Hot and cold options available.

Based on memory, a beer is probably 600yen.

Dinner for me is included in the price of accommodation. As for lunch, the lowest I've paid for a bownl of udon noodles is 700yen and the most is 1200yen for a set meal of udon noodles, a bowl of rice and fish tempura. You can absolutely cheap out by only getting the pre-packed rice balls and snacks from the convenience shops.

View attachment 167254View attachment 167255View attachment 167256View attachment 167257View attachment 167258

Thank you