Sacred Trails of Japan

Despite lying at the heart of Nara’s ancient core, between the Todaiji and Kofukuji temples, this beautiful Meiji-era garden is invariably peaceful and offers the perfect place to recover from your jet lag. As well as am uplifting array of flowers, plants, rockeries and ponds, its grounds enclose the Neiraku Art Museum, with its world-class collection of oriental ceramics and bronzes. Near the entrance is the lovely ‘Sanshutei’ restaurant, where you can enjoy the leafy vistas over a pot of fine Japanese green tea served in traditional style on tatami mats.

Nara ranks among the most splendid cities in Asia, thanks to its extraordinary collection of antique buildings. Its centrepiece is the Todai-ji Temple, home to a 16-metre-tall, bronze Buddha. The world’s largest wooden building, the shrine now resides in a park where sika deer roam free, scrounging rice crackers off visitors. The nearby museum holds a hoard of precious antiquities from the 7th century Shōsōin Treasury. After lunch, catch a train to Ikaruga, on the city’s southwestern fringes, to visit two of Japan’s oldest and most beautiful temples – the UNESCO-listed Horyu-ji and Chugu-ji. The latter holds one of Japan’s national treasures, a Buddha statue whose beautific smile is often compared to that of the Mona Lisa.

Spend the day exploring the area’s many forest shrines, where for centuries the samurai used to come to learn esoteric secrets from the resident monks. Although sporting a veneer of modernity, the temples and pathways are still charged with the spiritual ambience of old Japan, especially when the mist swirls through its dense black cedar forests. In order to experience the magical atmosphere of Koyasan after dark, your two nights in the area will be spent at a simple pilgrims’ hostel, or ‘shukubo’ (in a private room with shared facilities), allowing you to attend dawn rituals in nearby shrines and temples.

Three of most important sights you’ll take in today are the 9th century Garan temple, the Kongobuji (headquarters of the Shingon sect), and mausoleum of Shingon’s founding father, Kobo Daishi at Okunoin. The paved approach to the mausoleum is lined by over 200,000 tombstones dating from various eras.

The Museum of Modern Art, which hosts the largest collection of contemporary Japanese prints in the country, and Kimiidera temple, whose scarlet shrines nestle amid dark cedar forest on the edge of the city, are other popular attractions in Wakayama. And don’t forget to try the famous local ramen – ‘chukba soba’, or ‘Chinese noodles’. The definitive version is served at Ide Shoten, a tiny, family-run diner whose ramen is legendary for its firm noodles and rich flavour, balanced with slivers of green onion, tangy fish cakes and a twist of refreshing pickled bamboo shoots.

One of the three oldest hot springs in Japan, Shirahama, on the southwest coast of the Kii peninsula, also boasts one of the country’s finest beaches – an irresistible combination for Japanese holidaymakers. The town is packed in high summer, but quiet in June and September.

On this first stage of the trail you’ll be covering 15km in around 7–8 hours, ending at Chikatsuyu-oji village, a pretty settlement scattered over the floor of a lush mountain basin where you’ll spend the night in a shukobo pilgrims’ lodge or B&B. On arrival, ease your tired legs in a steaming hot onsen tub before a traditional Japanese supper.

On this first stage of the trail you’ll be covering 15km in around 7–8 hours, ending at Chikatsuyu-oji village, a pretty settlement scattered over the floor of a lush mountain basin where you’ll spend the night in a shukobo pilgrims’ lodge or B&B. On arrival, ease your tired legs in a steaming hot onsen tub before a traditional Japanese supper.

Housed in a tiny wooden hut, this famous little hot spring is one of the oldest in the country. Pilgrims traditionally bathed before continuing up Mt Dainichi to the Hongu Taisha Shrine – pivotal point of the Kumano Kodo trail network and one of Japan’s most revered temples. The climb is quite strenuous in places but relatively short, taking around 1.5hrs to reach the temple from the bottom of the valley. Longer trails are also available should you wish to extend the day’s trekking.

Located close to the famous Nachi Falls, Seiganto-ji is a magical sight, with its golden finial rising against a backdrop of forested mountains and white water plunging from the top of a 133-metre (436-feet) high cliff. You’ll spend the night in a pilgrims’ hostel or B&B close by, which will enable you to witness the morning ritual performed by white-robed Shinto priests at the head of the falls, where the guardian kami spirit is believed to reside. The day’s walk is one of the hardest of the Kumano Kodo circuit, covers 14.5km and takes from 6–8hrs.

Famous as the site of the Grand Shrine (the most sacred Shinto temple in Japan), Ise sees streams of pilgrims year round. In the afternoon, wander over to Futamigaura Beach to see the famous ‘Wedded Rocks’ of Meoto Iwa, a pair of outcrops in the sea connected by a sacred rope. If time permits, another worthwhile attraction is Mikimoto Island, where cultured pearls were first created in the late 19th century, a fact commemorated by a museum packed full of jewel-encrusted curiosities.

Located 10km inland, the temple complex is set amid a dense forest of 300-year-old cedar and cypress trees. It has two main parts – the Inner and Outer shrines – and 123 lesser temples scattered over the surrounding hills, collectively known as ‘Ise Jingu’. Approached via a paved walkway, the walled Inner Shrine is the seat of Amaterasu Omikami – the Sun God and tutelary deity of Japan’s Imperial family. The temple’s beautiful wood and thatch buildings are modelled on ancient rice barns which are completely rebuilt every twenty years on an adjacent plot. It’s a wonderfully atmospheric assemblage, with white-robed Shinto priests bustling around conducting arcane rituals for the many pilgrims who pour through each day.