Our main activity for this trip was to walk the 熊野古道 Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Trails, which are ancient pilgrimage trails on Japan’s Kii Peninsula, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site along with the sacred sites they connect.
The trails offer various trekking options, ranging from half-day strolls to multi-day treks. Since we aren’t the most active couple, we opted for the easier half-day walks, on the Nakahechi pilgrimage route. The route starts from Tanabe on the western coast of the Kii Peninsula and traverses east into the mountains towards the three famous Kumano grand shrines, namely 熊野本宮大社 Kumano Hongu Taisha, 熊野速玉大社 Kumano Hayatama Taisha and 那智大社 Nachi Taisha.
To prepare for our first walk, we stayed at 民宿 すみ家 Minshuku Sumiya. It was at a perfect location with a bus stop right outside. For dinner, we went next door to ときわや Tokiwaya.
The なす田楽 Miso Glazed Eggplant (¥850) was da-bomb! The 熊野牛の水炊き Kumano Beef Mizutaki hotpot (¥2800) was hearty and heartwarming, and we enjoyed the 天ぷら盛り合わせ Assorted Tempura (¥2000), and チキン南蛮 Nanban Chicken (¥950) too! Very happy that our first meal at 川湯温泉 Kawayu Onsen was so delicious~
Day 1: Hike to 熊野本宮大社 Kumano Hongu Taisha
After a hearty breakfast, we took the local bus (¥520/pax) to 発心門王子 Hosshinmon-Oji, where we began the pilgrimage trail.
After nearly 4 hours with a pit stop, we reached the 熊野本宮大社 Kumano Hongu Taisha, where we enjoyed our hearty bento lunch prepared in advanced by Minshuku Sumiya, which included the local delight 目張り寿司 Mehari-zushi, aka rice balls wrapped in pickled leaf mustard green. Initially, we found the food rather salty, but later realised that it was intentional to prevent heat exhaustion.
Next, we went to see the 大斎原大鳥居 Kumano Hongu Taisha Otorii close up, before having tea break at ガラス屋・茶房「靖」. It was a lovely place to chill where we could look out to the Otorii. Spent ¥1400 here on a cake set and two drinks.
When we felt well-rested, we made our way back to Minsu Sumiya and checked out the outdoor foot bath.
There were quite a few tourists who were digging holes just beside the river to enjoy a hot soak.
It felt quite surreal to have bubbly hot water and cold river water just side by side! Such an amazing experience 🙂
We opted for the yummy dinner in the minsu so that we can continue to chillax and have an early rest to prepare for the next day’s hike.
Day 2: Hike to 熊野速玉大社 Kumano Hayatama Taisha
Today, we checked out of the minsu and made our way to the 熊野川川舟 Kumanogawa River Boat Cruise by bus (¥870 per pax). The boat ride would follow the journey taken by pilgrims in the past who did that Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route between 熊野本宮大社 Kumano Hongu Taisha in Hongu and 熊野速玉大社 Kumano Hayatama Taisha in Shingu. We had a talented English-speaking guide with us on the traditional boat tour. Not only did she pointed out and explained the interesting sights along the way, she also played the flute fluently midway to let us have a feel of the past! After the boat ride, it was a short hike to 熊野速玉大社 Kumano Hayatama Taisha.
We bumped into the same group of Chinese tourists that we met yesterday, and decided not to hike further to see the 神倉神社 Kamikura-jinja. We did try to view it from afar, but could barely make it out 😛
Lunch was at ポポット Popotto where we had 2 different lunch sets (¥800 to ¥1000). Simple and affordable, with a bit of retro vibes.
As there was still time before the train ride, we had a super delicious あんバタースコーン Azuki Butter Scone (¥350) at Cafe 丹福 Tanpuku, along with some Iced Americano (¥450) and Hot Amber Tea (¥550). The saltiness from the huge chunk of cold butter and sweetness from the red beans complemented the savory scone really well!
We then took the scenic train ride to 紀伊勝浦駅 Kii-Katsuura Station, and had some tomato juice (¥450), iced coffee (¥450) and cheese cake (¥450) at the old-school 東洋亭 Toyotei while waiting to check in.
Dinner at 焼肉ダイニング和 Kazu was lovely, where we tried ヘレ Hire Chateaubriand beef from Kobe (¥1850), ロース Rosu Chuck Roll beef from Kumano (¥1650), タン Beef Tongue (¥950), ホルモン盛り合わせ Offal Platter (¥700), juicy and refreshing トマト Tomato (¥400) and 2 Oolong Tea (¥300 each). English and pictorial menu were available, making it easier for ordering. We had a great time here 🙂
Day 3: Hike to 那智大社 Nachi Taisha
For our final hike, we took a local bus to 大門坂 Daimon-Zaka bus stop from 紀伊勝浦駅 Kii-Katsuura Bus Interchange (¥430 per pax). We were really glad that we picked up the free walking sticks at the starting point, because there were so many steps in the forest hike! We could simply drop them off at the taisha when we were done.
We enjoyed an interesting experience of walking through a tree trunk with our written wishes on a tablet at the 那智大社 Nachi Taisha (¥300 each). Another highlight of the hike was the beautiful view of the pagoda with the 那智の滝 Nachi Falls.
Since we were early, we decided to check out the 勝浦漁港にぎわい市場 Katsuura Gyoko Nigiwai-Ichiba, where we had a late breakfast with a view of the port.
After checking out of the hotel, we discovered that the shops do not quite open according to Google maps timings, and we finally managed to pack some bento lunch from まぐろ料理ますだや Masuda-Ya.
It took some frantic gesturing to let them know that we were rushing to catch the train and they still managed to pack such a pretty bento for us! The train ride to 白浜駅 Shirahama Station was very scenic!
With this, we bade farewell to 熊野古道 Kumano Kodo. We were really glad that we tried something different for this trip 🙂 Hubby said he had exercised enough for the year… hahahaha!
Eat.Eat.Walk.Walk . 吃吃走走 