One day in mid-June, a line of hikers in climbing boots were seen tracing a 2-meter-wide cobblestone trail in a forest with backpacks.

In bygone days, visitors lined en masse on what is currently known as the Kumano Kodo ancient pilgrimage routes to reach the three Kumano Sanzan shrines.

The scene was likened to a “line of ants.”

Today, pilgrims on foot from across the world are still flocking to courses leading to holy destinations across the Kii Peninsula in western Japan. But these destinations are now inscribed collectively on the World Cultural Heritage list.

July marked the 20th anniversary of the registration of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range.

Encompassing the three prefectures of Wakayama, Nara and Mie, the cultural landscape represents not only the traditional worship of sanctified areas but also the harmonious fusion of Shinto and Buddhism.

Since it is rare for routes or paths to be accorded UNESCO World Heritage status, an increasing number of visitors from outside Japan are spending several days walking on these mountain trails.

The foreign visitor number has risen more than 10-fold since the site’s inclusion in the World Heritage list. But what is attracting so many pilgrims in particular?

WELCOMING TOURISTS FROM OVERSEAS

Figures from the Nakahechi Tourism Association in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture, show 80 percent of those traversing one of the Kumano Kodo, called Nakahechi, come from outside Japan at present.

Donrita McConnaoghey, 62, who traveled there with her family from the United States, planned to spend some 10 days to pay their respects at Kumano Hongu Taisha shrine and Mount Koyasan. Her aim was experiencing firsthand the pilgrimage on foot.

Jonas Marti, 31, from Switzerland, was impressed by the fact that he was undergoing the same experience as those from 1,000 years ago.

The World Heritage trek is made up of the three sacred mountainous destinations of Kumano Sanzan, Mount Koyasan and the Yoshino-Omine area, along with pilgrimage routes linking them.

Totaling 347.7 kilometers, the courses comprise Kumano Kodo, which consists of such trails as Nakahechi, Kohechi, Ohechi and Iseji. Alike among them are the Omine Okugakemichi route leading from Yoshino to Kumano Sanzan as well as the Koya pilgrimage path that includes the Choishimichi road.

After the sacred destinations and routes were added to the World Heritage list on July 7, 2004, the Tourism Bureau was set up in Tanabe in 2006 to promote sightseeing. This meant the local region was ready for embracing hordes of visitors.

The overseas tourist number started shooting up particularly in fiscal 2012 like the figure for visitors from other parts of Japan.

The Tourism Bureau arranged trip packages for 20,918 non-Japanese sightseers in fiscal 2023, 18 times that for fiscal 2012.

The pilgrimage trails in Japan are the only World Heritage “routes” throughout the globe alongside the Routes of Santiago de Compostela, which straddle Spain and France.

Working with a local government in Spain in 2015, the issuance of a communal pilgrimage notebook started. Upward of 6,700 individuals were registered as completing both the pilgrimage routes under the certificate framework as of the end of May this year.

An American named Tiara Hotra, who has traversed the holy courses in both Japan and Europe with her husband of 30 years, said she wanted to see how Kumano Kodo is different from the roads in Spain as Kumano Kodo is related to Buddhism and Shinto.

Mike Rhodes, 55, the Tourism Bureau’s specialized guide hailing from the United States, explained that the pilgrimage routes in Japan are proving popular even among people from other cultures.

He said the routes provide tourists with spiritual journeys in nature and mental and physical refreshment via visits to religious places.

"I think this is the understanding in many cultures that the Kumano Kodo is a soul-healing, spiritual walk in nature, a pilgrimage that can refresh the mind and body," Rhodes said. 

Makoto Motonaka, director of the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, who helped the pilgrimage courses to be designated as a World Heritage site, agreed.

“Their destinations are sacred places,” he said. “Despite their religious differences, visitors all appear to share the same spirit when they keep walking toward sanctuary destinations.”

PLEASURE PLUS PRAYER

The World Heritage site offers mountain ascetics with the grounds for hard training. Some ascetics are enthralled with the tradition of living spartan lifestyles and self-dedication for religious reasons. 

Noriya Shibata, 59, made his debut as a mountain ascetic 10 or so years ago.

He runs a cooking utensil business in Hyogo Prefecture on weekdays. He plays a shell trumpet as an ascetic guide under the name Jitsuei Shibata on holidays at the pilgrims’ lodging facility in the Zenki mountainous district along the Omine Okugakemichi trail in Shimokitayama, Nara Prefecture.

Around 20 years ago, Shibata enjoyed trail running to improve his physical and psychological abilities.

Shibata once tested his potential on Omine Okugakemichi. He encountered a group of mountain ascetics on the trip.

They were committing themselves to a training routine called “nishi no nozoki” in which participants supported by lifelines peer down a cliff from a sheer precipice.

Shibata was invited to try the practice. This made him realize that one’s ability can be stretched to the limits that way, convincing him to become an ascetic on his own.

Mountain ascetics were prohibited from carrying out training during the Meiji Era (1868-1912). The practice on Kumano Kodo was re-established 35 years ago, with the doors opened wide to the public.

As continuing to ascend mountains is part of ascetic training, Shibata almost got lost on a trail at night at one time. When Shibata became nearly unconscious during training, chirping insects sounded like sutra chanting to him.

Overcoming all these challenges, Shibata began describing himself as a mountain ascetic.

Shibata once felt a sense of accomplishment after completing a steep path while trail running, but this was now different.

“A feeling of prayer is another component of my walk currently,” he said.

Given that mountain ascetics helped local villagers with their expertise in medical herbs and other factors from olden days, Shibata is seeking a part that ascetics should play to contribute to society today.

As the first step, Shibata considers bringing Zenki deep in a mountain much closer to people like in the past.

He started organizing a festival two years earlier. A rice cake cooking party and a cleaning campaign are held during the year-end season as well.

Residents living nearby come to Zenki each time such an event is held.

(This article was written by Orina Sakakibara and Kenji Shimizu.)