Kumano Kudo

Sunday fared to be an easier day than Saturday. I stayed in Yunomine Onsen a 20 minute bus ride from the Kumano Hongu Heritage centre. The first bus out was at 8 am and I sensed that there would be to many people staying in Yunomine to accommodate everyone on the bus. I was staying across the street from the bus stop and by 7:30 people were starting to line up for the bus so I got outside and was about 8th in line. By the time the bus came there must have been 45 people waiting for the bus which when it arrived was already half full. Only 15 of us got on and I later heard that some of the people had to wait for 2 buses. Not a great way to start one's day for those who had to wait. I decided to try to pace myself a little better today. Walk slower, more breaks and a slightly longer lunch. The Kogumotori section of the hike, day 4 from Kumano Hongu Taisha was easier than day 3. 13 km, 670 metre gain and 690 metre loss. It was a pleasant hike through ceder forests. Along the trail there were poem stones. Poems that had been written through the ages about the pilgrimage. I translated one which read about a local spring: Crystalline Clear
Inundating the trail
Mountain Spring Water

It captured the moment.

I was passed by 2 trail runners Kerri and Jason who I met at the end of the day and were from Portland Oregon. I walked after lunch with Robert a retired social worker from Vernon, chatted with couples from Reading Pennsylvania and St Louis and a young man from Adelaide Australia. It made the day go very quickly. There were a couple of rest areas with benches along the way. I finished 2 pm. There was a coffee shop in Koguchi where I treated myself to a decaf tea and doughnut.

Again I was staying off trail at a hotel known as Takeda Green Onsen. In fact, approximately 15 of us pretty well the entire cafe were staying at Takada Green. The instructions were to call the accommodation from a local pay so that they could send a shuttle and Jason the trail runner was good enough to take the initiative and call the resort. They picked us up and drove us 30 minutes to the middle of nowhere in a very rural forested area to an Onsen Hotel. It was very pretty but also felt a little like a murder mystery as it was so remote.

Monday was the 5th and last day of our hike. It reputedly was the most difficult which was a little worrying after day 3 however the majority of the people had only walked 17 km that day. From Koguchi to Kumano Naichi Taisha was only 14 km but had an elevation gain of 1260 metres and a loss of 930. In the first 5 km there was a gain of 900 metres. Fairview Mtn beside Lake Louise has a 1000 metre elevation gain and I struggled doing that 5 years ago so I was a little worried.

A bus took us back in the morning to Koguchi and we were off by 8:10. Those who had stayed on the trail were off by 715. I tried to start very slowly letting the faster walkers by. They were calling for rain but it held off however it was spookingly misty and very humid. Normally I don't sweat but that was not the case. The steps seemed to go up endlessly. I caught up to a group of guided hikers and walked with them. The women were fitter than the men. I made it to the top of the Echizen Toge pass, the highest point in the trail by 10:30 and was just soaking from the humidity and perspiration. The trail leveled out somewhat but there were still ups and downs. I was by myself for much of the time and it was rather mystical walking through the ceders in the mist.I passed a sign dedicated to the Sai-no-Kawara Jizo a spirit believed to live in the area that helped children and travellers pass into the after life and protect them from evel Oni demons also known to live in the area. I passed small shrines and left small offerings of coins. If I was ever to meet a demon or spirit it would have been on that part of the trail. Parts of the trail and path had beautiful hues of green from the moss and vegetation and yes they were slippery. Just before the Funami jaya teahouse remains and my descent to the finish, I was all alone and found myself walking through the myst in an area known as Moja no Dei, the Abode of the dead where people would meet the troubled spirits of their ancestors. By now it had become very foggy and felt very eerie and I half thought for several minutes that I would have a paranormal experience. The feeling had passed by the time I had made it to the teahouse where there were other hikers taking a break. I descended into Kumano Nachi Taisha and the completion of the Kumano Kodo. I posed with a beautiful Pogoda to mark my completion. It was 2 pm. I lacked the enthusiasm to wander the shrine complex. The day was much more about the journey rather than the destination. I still had to walk a km to the bus stop which I felt compelled to get to so I wouldn't have to stand for the 50 minute bus ride to Katsuura. On the bus I was reunited with Robert from Vernon and 2 friends from the Bay area. They were impressed with the difficulty of the Kumano Kodo and thought that if you could do the Kumano one would have no trouble with Camino. I think that I had underestimated the difficulty of the hike and had done little training unlike for other multiple day hikes I had done. When I arrived at Katsuura I had to walk another 1.5 km around the harbour to the Hotel Urashima only to learn later that there was a shuttle boat that could have taken me across the harbour. Kumano Travel who I booked the tour through had been very sparse on details for much of the trip and there had been no directions to take the shuttle boat in their directions. The hotel was massive consisting of 3 large buildings built into the rock and connected by tunnels. After 5 days of hiking, I desperately needed to do laundry which thankfully they had. They had a beautiful Onsen built in a cave. I got in trouble from an elderly Japanese woman who worked in the men's change room for forgetting to remove my slippers. It seemed quite odd having a female change room attendant. The Onsen felt great as I was stiffening up from the walk. I went for a beautiful buffet supper where I met Kerri and Jason. I was pretty exhausted so I went to sleep on my futon at 8:30 and curiously dreamt of my parents.Read more