Day 5
Kumano Kodo Hike
2016-04-16 Saturday
Yunomine Onsen / Kii-Katsuura
Walk from Koguchi to Nachi Grand Shrine:
We had an early breakfast, at 6:45, since we needed an early start to face the steepest and toughest segment of the trail. We, again, had a typical Japanese breakfast. But this time skipped the usual grilled fish, as none of us could not face it this early in the morning. Two or our fellow hikers are skipping today's hike, they will take a combination of public transportation, bus, train and bus to meet us at our destination, the Nachi Grand Shrine We’ll meet them there and take a bus together to our new hotel.
At 7:30 we boarded taxis that took us to the trailhead, packing lunch provided by the inn, and started walking at 8:20. We immediately started going up and up, straight up to cross a pass at a net elevation of 850m. It took us 2.5 hours to walk the 5 Km to the pass. The path had many stairways made with irregular stones forming uneven steps, some low, others quite high. Some of the stairs had water trickling over them with the stones were covered in moss, making the path quite slippery and treacherous.
One of our many breaks:
At the pass there is a plaque with the comment of a famous Japanese poet, Fujiwara Teika, that was composed about this segment of the trail when he made the pilgrimage in 1201:
"This route is very rough and difficult; it's impossible to describe how tough it is. " My feelings exactly! 
The next 10Km were up and down hills until the last 2 Km, when we had to descend about 800 meters on another rough stone stairway. At one point we stopped for lunch at a shelter where the trail intersects a road. There we met a pilgrim who had just finished walking the entire Shikoku 88 Temple circuit in Shikoku and was now walking the entire length of the Kumano Kodo trail.
The ubiquitous Jizo statue, for the god that guides stillborns to heavens. He also helps travelers find their way.
View from one of the mountain peaks:
We finally reached the Grand Shrine complex, I could not hike a mile further. It is beautiful, located in a grove of tall and ancient trees and next to the second highest waterfall in Japan.
After touring the Grand Shrine we met up with our two colleagues and took a public bus to the coastal town Kii-Katsura where we took a ferry to the hotel on a private island, where we’ll spend tonight and tomorrow night.. The hotel is in a large modern building but it's a traditional Japanese hotel, catering to Japanese clients. We were the only westerners around.
Hotel:
Hotel ferry:
Our room:
As soon as we checked into our room, an ancient looking Japanese woman, barely 4 feet tall, came in to pour us hot green tea. She gave us a double take and returned with larger yukatas for me and Delio, who got the largest available.
Before dinner we hit the onsen for a hot bath. Dinner was fantastic, one of the top five we had so far in Japan.