Kumano Kodo Part 2 – From Nachi to Koguchi

What?
Kumano Kodo (熊野古道) is a network of pilgrimage routes and is recognized as Unesco World Heritage. They connect the three grand shrines Kumano: Kumano Hongu Taisha, Kumano Nachi Taisha and Kumano Hayatama Taisha. The Ogumotori trail (大雲鳥越) together with the shorter Kogumotori trail (小雲鳥越) connect the Kumano Hongu Taisha and the Kumano Nachi Taisha. This last one is located right next to the Nachi Waterfall, the highest waterfall of Japan.
Where?
The trail head for us started at the Kumano Nachi Taisha. We rented a car and drove to Shingu Station (新宮駅). From there we boarded the train to get off at Nachi Station (那智駅) from where a short bus ride later we arrived at the shrine. Without car it might be best to take a limited express train from Nagoya to Kii-Katsuura (紀伊勝浦駅) and hop on the bus from that station.
URL
Tanabe City Kumano Tourism Bureau

So there we were again. The same team that a little less than half a year ago hiked the Nakahechi trail from Takijiri-Oji to Tsugizakura-Oji. This time we’d be taking a completely different route, not even coming close to where we last ended.
And there I was again. My previous visit to Nachi ended up in getting extremely lost and never finding the 2 waterfalls hidden behind Japan’s highest waterfall Nachi-no-Taki. The shrine that looks down on this waterfall is the start or end point of the Ogumotori trail of the Kumano Kodo. In my search for the 2 small waterfalls I actually hiked a very small part of this trail before. I was a bit afraid as I remember the ascent from the shrine to the abandoned park took me a while. But back then my condition clearly was worse than now as we went up without a problem. Actually, not at any point going up did we feel the Ogumotori was very demanding. We knew that starting from Koguchi and ending in Nachi though would be tougher as the start of that route would start with a relentless 800 meter ascent without any breather on the way. We would do that part going down, which is easier than going up, right?

Well, I can say that yes, going down is easier than going up. And I don’t envy anyone who does this trail in the opposite direction of our route. Because even though going down is easier, this was toughest descent I ever did. There’s barely any flat part, it just keeps on going down, steeply and slippery. The stones of the path have forgotten long ago what shape stairs should have. All this makes for one very tough and long descent.

The start at Kumano Nachi Taisha.

The greatest part of the trail looked like this.

Cherry blossoms at the abandoned park.

No, this slide was out of use.

The official site of the Kumano pilgrimage trails states that the Ogumotori part would take 7 to 9 hours. This is calculated very broadly. But it’s also not to be ignored completely. When at the highest point, we thought that we’d make it in 4 hours, maybe 4 and a half. But with the crazy last part of the trail it took us eventually around 6 hours. So going the other way around 7 to 8 hours might not be such a wildly exaggerated timing.

Whichever direction you take, there’s a sense of fulfillment finishing the (day) hike. But truth to be told, I would not recommend the Ogumotori trail to anyone. There is one spot where you have a view on what we thought was Taiji Bay. Putting aside any controversy happening in those waters, the view from afar was really beautiful. Otherwise the hike consist of 3 things: a stone path, a cedar forest and a stretch on asphalt that was too long. There’s really nothing much else too it.

Ideally we would have continued hiking the next day, but again we were short of time so we took the bus back to Shingu and drove towards Taiji Bay to visit what we had seen from above. References to dolphins and whales are legion which feels a bit strange given the way the local population treats these animals, but we drove passed that to a spot that used to be a whale lookout spot. From there we had some nice views on the surrounding coastlines.

Thanks to the great company I had this was again a trip I won’t forget soon, but all in all the destination this time was not really what I expected it to be.