Hiking doesn’t need to have purpose apart from the obvious act of putting one foot in front of the other while staying upright. Sometimes, though, I like to have a theme underpinning a hike.
Here’s a hiking theme for each of Japan’s main islands.
Kyushu: Matsuo Bashō, 17th Century Traveler and Poet
My go-to guide is Bashō’s The Narrow Road to the Deep North where he writes poetically about his 1,500-mile journey north of Edo (Tokyo) in 1689. Many resources on the Web give me maps and background information.
Here’s some of my posts that drew inspiration from Bashō:
Shikoku: 88-Temple Pilgrimage
The 750-mile Shikoku-88 Pilgrimage takes in 88 temples around the island of Shikoku. Over the years I’ve walked to nineteen of those temples; some I’ve visited two or three times.
Here’s posts about my visits to some of the temples:
Kyushu: OLLE Hikes
Kyushu Olle trails are easy-to-navigate day hikes with varying degrees of difficulty. The start and end of each hike is usually accessible by public transit. The trails are generally well-marked with standardized signage.
I’ve posted about my earlier Olle hikes:
Hokkaido: Isabella Bird, Victorian Explorer
Isabella Bird writes about her 1878 travels to Hokkaido and Kyushu in Unbeaten Tracks in Japan.
Here’s some posts about tracing Isabella Bird’s Hokkaido travels:
