Trail 02

The Kumano Kodo

Kii Peninsula, Wakayama — Japan

A pilgrimage road through the cedar forests of the Kii Peninsula, walked in the spring of 2023, between village inns and the shrines the route was cut to reach.

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Difficulty
Moderate
Best season
Mid-April

REPLACE THIS BODY TEXT. Two or three paragraphs about the walk as a whole - which route you took, how long it ran, why this one.

Setting out

REPLACE THIS TEXT. Where you started, how you got to the trailhead, who you walked with.

Still in the city, the day before.
Wisteria and late blossom - mid-April on the peninsula.

The inns

REPLACE THIS TEXT. The minshuku and ryokan along the route - arriving, the baths, the food, leaving early.

Dinner laid out on arrival.
A torii marking the way in.
“The journey itself is my home.”
Matsuo Basho

The old road

REPLACE THIS TEXT. What the walking was like - the stone steps, the cedar, the weather, how far each day ran.

Cedar, planted in ranks and left to grow.
A waymark on the route, and the valley it drops into.
The road through the hot spring village.

Down the valley

REPLACE THIS TEXT. The last stretch, and arriving.

The end of the road.