Starting off the walking holiday easy, strolling through rice fields glistening in the sun, mountain trails that look like scenes from fairy tales, and remote postal towns from the past. We end up at a traditional ryokan with beautiful rooms and an amazing kaiseki dinner.
DINK Details
Short walk and you'll be on your own.
Difficulty: Easy Start: Mitake End: Hiyoshicho | Time¹: 3 hours 45 min Distance: 7.2 mi Elevation: 1,610 ft |
Towns²: 1/2 Food Prep: Medium | Tips: MUST reserve hotel below and dinner³ |
1. How long we took to walk it with breaks and all
2. Towns are places with food and restroom. There may be one convince store and a vending machine.
3. This is the only hotel in the area and the only food too.
How does rice even work? We should probably look it up.
The Start
We decided to take the shinkansen from Tokyo early, since the walk was less than 4 hours. We got to the train station early so we could reserve seats and get a bento box.
The shinkansen from Tokyo to Nagoya was 2 hours with another 1.5 hours of local trains to Mitake.
Pro-tip: If you're luck enough to have a clear day, reserved tickets on the right side of the train to view mount Fuji .
Once we arrived in town, we went to the Family Mart to pick up supplies and a notebook (for stamps) from a local store. Once we had everything, we hit the trail.
The Walk
Leaving Mitake - 12 Noon
As with most trails, we spent extra time acclimating ourselves to our surrounding. I recommend getting to know the streets, paths and trail markers for your walking holiday.
After a few steps, we hit our first stop, Post Station 49 (Mitake). The stations are a great place to say hi and for grabbing our first achievement, stamps! They are usually in a public area and it's common practice by all to stamp your stamp book.
The Trail
The trail was an easy start from town with flat land and beautiful rice fields, a site very new to us. One I miss seeing already.
We watched farmers setup rice fields and drive very unique looking tractors. Neither of us are familiar with the rice growing process and couldn't figure out what was going on.
As we headed further down the trail, more trail signs popped up and we started to see two different routes, one for horses (green with horse picture) and one for people (blue). After applying more sunscreen, we headed towards the mountain and up our first natural trail.
At this point the town ends and forests with tiny groups of houses begin. Old Japanese villages would appear for brief moments before we head in the woods again.
After the forest large patch of land opened up at the bottom of this beautiful valley of farms. Strangely we saw a single boss coffee vending machine on an empty road. We grabbed a boss latte and watched rice fields sparkle in sunlight.
On our way back up into the mountains, we crossed paths with a badger. This is terrifying for millennials who spend too much time on the internet, we know how much they don't give a shit. Little did we know, on our way back down from the hills, there would be a sign to "watch out for bears"!
Our journey that day was bear-less and once we reached the bottom, we were surprised to find an open local shop selling snack and drinks. This was the only shop in the area for the next 2 days. The shopkeeper brought out her small daughter to give us the most adorable "hello" ever. In return we said it was a pleasure to meet her and then proceeded to give her all of our money for snacks.
Destination - Hiyoshicho
Town - 3:45 pm
We arrived at first destination, post station 48, Hosokute-juku. The "post town" is a very small group of homes with our Ryokan in the middle. We spent the rest of our day is relaxing inside.
Hotel - Daikokuya Ryokan
Details
Right on the trail
Only hotel in the area
Reservations online form and email
Cash only
Dinner - Reserve kaiseki before arriving
Tatami mats and futon beds
Great shower and tubs
Traditional, enchanting and the owners are very hospitable. It was a unique experience that gave us a glimpse of an older Japan. So relaxing.
When we arrived introduced ourselves and were treated to a welcoming tea and cake. We made a way to a rooms which took up a huge section of the second floor.
Reservation Links (Any of this could change)
Form (English): https://form1ssl.fc2.com/form/?id=d4044772ea571152
Dinner - Kaiseki
The kaiseki from Daikokuya Ryokan was amazing! The koi simmer dish is something I wish I could have again. We learned that you can eat boiled lily root and were surprised at good it was. The meal also included hand dipped tempura, crispy river fish (yum), many little dishes, as well as some lemon gel for dessert with, of course, the perfect sake to pair with it.
Maps
AllTrails
Google Maps
Masupage
It's what we used to build our walking holiday.
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