Japan's Ancient Pilgrimage Route: Kumano-Kodo

The other day, I went to Wakayama-ken to explore the Kumano-Kodo, an ancient pilgrimage route through the steep mountains of southern Kansai. I was shown around by Brad Towle, a young Canadian who works for the local government. Brad speaks fluent Japanese and knows the area like the back of his hand. His enthusiasm for the area is obvious and his insights were incredible. Brad is employed by the forward-thinking Tanabe City Kumano Tourism Bureau. They have done great work making the pilgrimage route foreigner-friendly: they've created English maps, trained local ryokan and minshuku in how to deal with foreigners, and translated menus at lots of restaurants in Tanabe City. I believe that organizations like this are the future of Japanese tourism. If you want to get a look at "real Japan," a few days walking the Kumano-Kodo is a great way to do it. For more on the route, check out their site: Tanabe City Kumano Tourism Bureau.

Here's a picture taken from the village of Takahara on the route.


Here's a small teahouse along the way.


Here's a typical shrine above the village of Takahara.


Here's a picture of Kumano Hongu Taisha, the goal of the pilgrimage.

Geisha Event at the Hyatt

This evening, I was lucky enough to attend a geisha event at the Hyatt Regency here in Kyoto. It was fun to chat with two young maiko (apprentice geisha) from the Miyagawa geisha district. After dinner, one of the girls beat everyone in the room at a geisha drinking game.

Awata-jinja Shrine Festival

The other day, Awata-jinja Shrine, a Shinto shrine on Sanjo-dori Street in Kyoto held their annual festival. It was great. There was a parade of floats and a mikoshi (portable shrine) procession.

Unagi: The Way It Oughta Be

The other day I took my mother to Kane-yo, an unagi (eel) restaurant in Kyoto. She loved it, which is no surprise: Kane-yo is one of the best eel restaurants in town. Here's a picture of the lunch set:


Here's a closeup of the eel. Note the dusting of sansho (mountain pepper) on it:

A Trip to Ohara

My parents are in town to see their newest grandson and I've been showing them around Kyoto. Yesterday, we took a bus up to the village of Ohara, in the mountains north of Kyoto. First, we visited Sanzen-in Temple, where we checked out this spectacular garden.


Here's a picture of my parents enjoying the garden:


Here's a picture of the village of Ohara.

Three-Star Cuisine

Yesterday, the French company Michelin launched their new Kyoto guide. I joined a journalist from Bloomberg News to have lunch at Kiku-no-Ii restaurant before the Michelin press conference. It turns out that Kiku-no-Ii, where we dined, received three stars. Here is a picture of the bentos we enjoyed. A total of six restaurants received three stars here in Kyoto, making it the world's third richest concentration of three-star restaurants, after Paris with 10 and Tokyo with nine. That's pretty good, considering that Kyoto is a fraction of the size of Tokyo and Paris. The fact is, Kyoto punches well above its weight when it comes to restaurants!

Kieran's Miya Maeri

Today, we took my son Kieran to Yoshida-jinja Shrine near my house for his "Miya Maeri" (first shrine visit). My parents are over here from the States. We were joined by my wife's parents, sister and her husband. The priest, Mr. Suzuka, was wonderful - he really put his heart into performing the ceremony.

This is a picture of Mr. Suzuka in front of the altar at the shrine.


Here is a picture of my wife, my sister-in-law Sachiyo and my mother-in-law dressing my mother and Kieran in the ceremonial shawl for the ceremony:


Here are my parents and Kieran with Mr. Suzuka after the ceremony: