The event of Walking 130km of Kiiji Route with Guide, which was very popular last year, I attended a part of “Kiimiyahara station to Yuasa station”, that I could not attend last year.
Overall, though many people seek walking in beautiful nature in Nakahechi route, you won’t be able to enjoy the Kiiji walk without listening to the local stories of long time ago from the guide tracking the route of ancient pilgrims did.
Distinct feature of Kiiji is to walk through tangerine fields which will be pleased by foreign travelers.
This time was only 100m of unpaved section in the 10km but we were able to see “a reward” from the pass.
It was so wonderful that we were able to listen to the stories from the guide who was seasoned and knowledgeable.
Every time I think when I attend this event that it is meaningless to walk without the guide when you walk the Kiiji and Ohechi route and a quality of guiding has a lot of do with the quality of the guide (Beautiful nature does not help the guide, they have to let their clients enjoy by talking.)
Finally, we walked through Yuasa town, which was designated as “Yuasa Traditional Buildings Conservation Area” and origin of soy sauce.
Personally, it was a little pity that there were less traditional buildings than I expected (or maybe I expected too much?), and the town seemed like becoming a little “tourist attraction” although I was able to feel enthusiasm of people to preserve and let the area get better.
I thought that it would be better to have a little more something to attract people.
It was a 4-hour walk including lunch break.
Once again, it is necessary to have the guide to know attraction of Kiiji route.
And you don’t have to worry about which way to take at junctions.
We just have started to provide the guides of Kiiji route so if you are interested in, please feel free to contact us!
