Kumano Kodou (Day 22)

Today we went on a grade wide field trip on the Kumano Kodou.  Kumano Kodou means Bear's old road.  The Kumano Kodou is an old pilgrimage route that is located in my prefecture.  It goes to the Nachi falls (very far away).  It has been around since the 11th century.  Samurai went on it to the Nachi falls which has a very large shrine.  It goes through the mountains.
Our route today was from Kainan to the Miyahara school building which is approximately 13 km.

Overall hike route

This year it is extremely hot for this time of year.  The path in some areas of the trail were not really paths and more like clearings with some footsteps on it.  It was also very skinny in some places, and if you stepped the wrong way you could fall down the entire mountain.  There were also many ojizou san's.  I'm not exactly sure how to explain what that is.

Ojizou San

Some of the areas were clearings while others were shaded with bamboo and other trees.  The trail is almost always on a mountain.  It consisted of climbing up and down 2 mountains.  Many people had to drop out because of heat stroke or dehydration.  Only one person from my group dropped out.  It was very satisfying to complete the walk with my group.  Afterwards I went to Okuwa to get an ice cream with Miguel, and went home.

The view from the beginning of the climb 

The bamboo

The dangerous path downhill 

A shrine with toy swords for some reason

My shaved ice that had an entire lemon slice in it!!