Kunisaki Trek (trip)
Kunisaki Trek
- Fukuoka Airport, Fukuoka, Japan
- Active & Adventure
| from $2,840* per person | 8 Days | February-July |
| Comfort accommodations | Exertion level: 3 | |
| Operator: Walk Japan Limited | 12 people max | |
The Kunisaki Peninsula is nestled into the western end of Japan's Inland Sea on Kyushu, the most westerly island of the Japanese archipelago. But the peninsula may as well have fallen off the map, for few Japanese, and even fewer foreigners, know of its existence. Modern Japan has left this quiet haven of rural life largely untouched. It was, though, for many centuries an important centre of Shugendo, the earliest form of Buddhism in Japan and quite different to the 'newer' Zen Buddhism. Shugendo is a syncretism of the indigenous, animistic Shinto religion and Buddhism brought from China and Korea. Kunisaki's once-powerful religious institutions are long gone, but delightful temples and wayside shrines are some reminders of its deeply religious past.
Kunisaki stone Buddhas
'Mine-iri', a monk's practice of traversing sacred mountain paths in prayer, has been part of the religious life of Kunisaki since about 800 A.D. Although now rare, the practice still continues today in Kuniskai, one of only a few places in Japan where it still does so. Our trek follows in the monk's footsteps. Occasionally we pass through picturesque hamlets and temple grounds, but otherwise our trek is largely offroad on little-known mountain paths. The climbs are usually short but they can be steep and require a degree of stamina to reach the peaks. Once there, though, the rewards include tremendous views and, as we negotiate narrow ridges and bridges, heady thrills. A reasonable head for heights is necessary.
Just south of Kunisaki is the seaside resort town of Beppu, famous in Japan for its onsen, or hot springs. We spend a night here relaxing and enjoying the nightlife before ascending Mount Yufudake the next day. Our lunch at the top of this extinct volcano is enjoyed with a backdrop of grandstand views over Kunisaki, Beppu, Yufuin and beyond. Yufuin is a small, up-market town in the shelter of the towering Mount Yufudake. Many of Japan's top writers have found, and still find, a haven here to put pen to paper. Perhaps because of this, the town boasts some of the finest ryokan, Japanese-style inns, that Japan offers. It is also ideal for some browsing and shopping.
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Locations visited/nearby
Japan
Special information
- Accommodates certain types of disabilities. Contact the operator for more information.
Itinerary
Day 1The tour group meets in Fukuoka at 12:30 pm before travelling by the award-winning Sonic Express train for a one-and-half-hour journey to Usa (pronounced 'Ousa'), the 'gateway' to Kunisaki. We visit Usa Jingu, an ancient and impressive Shinto shrine, that was instrumental in the development of Buddhism on Kunisaki. Our nearby Japanese inn for the night has the first of many onsen, thermal hot springs, we enjoy throughout the tour. Dinner, taken in our inn, is a Japanese feast of locally caught fish and locally grown farm produce.
Dinner provided.
Day 2
After breakfast at our inn a taxi will take us on a 25 minute journey to our start point at the heart of the Kunisaki Peninsula. Luggage, aside from backpacks, is taken on to our evening's lodgings by taxi.
Very soon after the start of the trek we find ourselves in verdant forest and remote countryside. We visit some secluded temples before lunch in a small, rural restaurant. The afternoon's trekking includes a short but stiff climb up to Mumyo-bashi, a spectacularly perched bridge between two crags. A cliff-hugging descent brings us down to road level and our last temple for the day. From here it is a 45 minute walk to a well deserved thermal hot spring and our lodgings for the night. 6 hours walking of approx. 10.5 km.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner provided.
Day 3
Main luggage sent on by taxi. We travel by minibus a short distance to the beginning of Nakayama Senkyo, a ridge climb that takes us up to some spectacular views over the surrounding countryside and the Seto Inland Sea. Lunch is a delicious bento box. Beyond here we wind our way up over a pass before descending to a quiet hamlet before meeting our transport to nearby Imi Port. Given enough time before our ferry departs for Hime-shima we will visit a local craft and coffee shop. Hime-shima, a small island, is 20 minutes away on the ferry and our inn for the night is a short walk from the quay. The island is a delightful place with the main settlement a maze of streets, houses and little vegetable plots. Our dinner is focused on locally caught, fresh fish from some of the best fishing grounds in the Inland Sea. 5 hours walking of approx. 8 km.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner provided.
Day 4
We return by ferry to Imi Port. After sending our luggage on, we have lunch at a local restaurant before catching a public bus to the start of today's trek. We soon pass through the grounds of a long-gone temple. Little is left of this once-powerful institution except stone Buddha statues and hundreds of monks' gravestones. The latter include Ninmon's last resting place. Nimon was the monk that is reputed to have first brought Buddhism to Kunisaki some 1,100 years ago. A climb to Itsutsu-tsuji Fudo provides impressive views across the Inland Sea to Honshu and Shikoku, respectively Japan's first and fourth main islands. We also have a grandstand view of Hime-shima. On through forests to Monjusen-ji (ji = temple), a temple perched on a cliff face. 4 hours walking of approx. 8 km.
Breakfast and dinner provided.
Day 5
If the priest is in residence, and for those who wish, up at dawn to join him in prayer and for a rare visit into a hidden cave for some holy spring water. Otherwise, there is time after breakfast to climb a cliff overlooking the temple, or just relax and soak up the atmosphere. As usual our main luggage is forwarded by taxi to our evening's lodgings before we start our trek. Today we pass through virgin forests and cedar plantations before we descend to an old village and join a little-used old track to Futago-ji, the principal temple on Kunisaki.
After lunch at a local restaurant a minibus pick us up to take us to nearby our lodgings for the night, another onsen. The lodgings here, though, are dominated by the rare attraction of a giant, 65cm reflecting telescope. A Japanese evening meal is followed, weather permitting, by an opportunity to look at the stars above Kunisaki through the telescope. The skies here are frequently very clear and a cloudless night can provide spectacular vistas of the heavens. 4 hours walking of approx. 7 km.
Breakfast and dinner provided.
Kumano Magaibutsu Day 6
An easier day of walking but no less spectacular. A taxi takes us the short distance to the beginning of today's walk on Nokogiri-yama, a short but impressive ridge trek. We finish at the Kumano Magaibutsu, the largest Buddha relief carvings in Japan.
Rejoining our taxi, we journey into the charming castle town of Kitsuki for lunch in one of its restaurants. This is followed by a short guided tour around this quiet town's old samurai quarter, featuring buildings from feudal Edo Japan. En route to the spa town of Yufuin we visit a sake brewery for a sample or two. Our lodging is a delightful ryokan, Japanese inn, in the middle of town. 3 hours walking of approx. 3.5 km.
Breakfast and dinner provided.
Day 7
We take a taxi to the start of our climb, at 700m, of Mount Yufudake (1,583m). At the mountain's peak a grand panorama across Kyushu to an active volcano and Beppu Bay awaits us, and makes a wondrous backdrop to lunch. For the adventurous an optional guided trek continues around the crater of this extinct volcano before we all head down for our walk into Yufuin. Here we spend the night in an upper-class ryokan, a traditional Japanese-style inn. Reinvogorating thermal hot spring baths here are followed by another Japanese feast for dinner. 6 hours walking of approx. 10 km.
Breakfast and dinner provided.
Day 8
The tour ends after a Japanese breakfast. Travel back to Fukuoka Airport by direct express coach from Yufuin, or onward travel elsewhere in Japan by air and rail is easily accomplished.
Breakfast provided.
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