Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on September 17, 2019

In recent years, the demand for exclusive holiday experiences and responsible travel have grown in tandem. Walk Japan caters to the modern-day traveller’s needs with a series of tours across the Kunisaki Peninsula. These walking tours delve deep into the country’s culture, rich history and gastronomy, whilst providing rural areas of Japan with a sustainable and viable future with its established Community Project. For more information or to make your bookings for your next holiday, visit walkjapan.com

 

Kunisaki & Yufuin Walk

Commencing at Fukuoka’s Hakata Station and finishing at Yufuin, this route focuses on forest trails and provides an introduction to the Kunisaki Peninsula, one of Japan’s most beautiful yet least known areas, and Yufuin, one of Japan’s elegant onsen thermal hot spring resorts. The tour follows in the footsteps of monks who have walked through the mountains of the peninsula for more than 1,200 years. The ancient trails provide trails through sleepy hamlets, verdant forests, along craggy ridges and tower over the surrounding myriad valleys.

En route, travellers pass by stone Buddha statues, large and small, and also caves where monks once found shelter and meditated. The tour visits Usa Jingu, one of the greatest but least known of Japan’s great shrines; walks through Tashibu, a lovely village in a bucolic setting; makes a short yet steep climb to two ancient Buddha relief carvings on the face of a towering cliff; and also climbs to Itsutsuji-Fudo, the inner sanctum and one of the few structures to remain of a once important and powerful temple. During the climb, great views open up of the surrounding mountains and valleys and in clear weather, across to the Seto Inland Sea, the route by which Buddhism first arrived in Kunisaki from China, and Japan’s main island, Honshu.

You will stay on the peninsula for three nights at two different, delightful inns, both with onsen thermal hot spring baths. One is adjacent to Fuki-ji, one of Japan’s most beautiful temples. As with all Walk Japan tours, on the Kunisaki & Yufuin Walk you will be immersed in Japanese culture of the past and present, enjoy Japanese cooking at its best, luxuriate in hot springs and simply gaze at the beautiful scenery.

 

Kunisaki Retreat

The Kunisaki Retreat centres on the Kunisaki Peninsula with an emphasis on spiritual wellbeing. This tour is perfect for travellers who are keen to enjoy Japan in a relaxed fashion while closely interacting with the charming and friendly people of the country. Customers are guided through yoga, meditation and gentle walks through rural sceneries each day for a relaxing, spiritually engaging getaway. On most mornings, meditation is led by the young abbot of Fuki-ji, and a local instructor leads daily sessions of yoga and other forms of body work.

With its emphasis on local produce and cuisine, whether breakfast, lunch or dinner, dining here is an experience in itself. Local farming is on a small scale and includes a variety of crops including rice, soba, soybeans, wheat and a myriad vegetables and fruit. These, along with locally-caught fish, are the basis of the nutritious and tasty cuisine enjoyed each day. The Kunisaki Retreat also features activities such as making soba buckwheat noodles, ikebana flower arranging, chado tea ceremony, and Japanese taiko drumming.

 

Kunisaki Trek  

Walk Japan’s Kunisaki Trek follows in the footsteps of monks who have walked through the mountains of the peninsula for more than a thousand years. Mine-iri, the practice of traversing sacred mountain paths in prayer, has been part of the religious life of Kunisaki since the 9th century. Although now rare, mine-iri still continues today in Kuniskai, one of only a few places in Japan where it still occurs.

Designed for experienced trekkers, the route along ancient trails lined with stone Buddha statues passes through sleepy hamlets, verdant forests, along craggy ridges and over towering cliffs to caves where monks once sheltered. The tour concludes in Yufuin, a small up-market town in the shelter of the imposing Mount Yufu-dake, a dormant volcano. Many onsen hot springs are found here and the town has some of the finest ryokan inns, that Japan offers.

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