VLOG 9: Hiking Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route, day 2 (Yunomine Onsen, Kogumotori-goe, Tsubo-yu) 熊野古道

Second day hiking UNESCO World Heritage Kumano Kodo pilgrimage routes which date back to the beginning of written history in Japan. In total we spent three days between 25th to 27th of September 2019 exploring the heart of this sacred site and stayed two nights in the Yunomine onsen town.

The UNESCO World Heritage site which we explored this time is called Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range. It is the same heritage site as the one I have been talking about in my previous vlogs from Koyasan and Yoshino, and also in the part 1 of this Kumano Kodo vlog series. Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range is a collective nomination and consists of over 200 separate elements of different types scattered around Kii Peninsula. It is a very old pilgrimage route network with over 1200 years of documented history. For centuries pilgrims of different social classes from around Kansai area and even further away used those routes to visit three Grand Shrines: Kumano Hongu Taisha, Kumano Nachi Taisha and Kumano Hayatama Taisha, which all together are called Kumano Sanzan and could be translated as Three Mountains of Kumano. The name Kumano itself literary means Bear Field. The area is full of beautiful natural scenery and just hiking in those sacred mountains is itself a spiritual experience.

On the second day of our trip, after exploring a bit Yunomine Onsen town we took a bus to Ukegawa from where we hiked Kogumotori-goe which is 12,6 kilometers long route with about 670 meter of elevation gain. It is not a long one, but it was a perfect one-day hike for us, because filming makes everything harder. There was a lot of beautiful scenery along the route, and I also managed to fly a drone to capture it for you. After returning to Yunomine Onsen, we rested a bit, got a bit of food and visited the onsen in our hotel. Later in the evening we went to try Tsubo-yu bath house, which is the oldest onsen in Japan and probably in the whole world. It is also the only hot spring bath which is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After bathing we boiled some eggs in the hot spring water well, which added a bit of onsen taste to them. You can use the following timestamps to jump directly to the part you are interested in:

0:00 Introduction
1:58 Leaving the hotel
4:31 Ukegawa
9:27 Getting the fourth stamp
11:39 Starting the hike
18:22 Marking of the trail
23:09 Snake
24:37 Matsuhata-jaya Teahouse Remains
30:30 Hyakken-gura Viewpoint
35:24 Intersection
38:11 Sai-no-Kawara Jizo Statue
40:04 Getting the fifth stamp
45:13 Danger
48:15 Sakura-jaya Teahouse remains
54:18 No more water
56:29 Okiri Jizo Statue
59:03 Kowaze
1:01:30 Getting the sixth stamp
1:06:50 Shiko
1:10:11 Back to Yunomine Onsen
1:15:45 Going to try Tsubo-yu Onsen
1:19:54 Boiling eggs in onsen water
1:21:52 Back at the hotel

When shooting and editing those vlogs my intention is to show the whole trip from the start to the end without skipping anything so that the viewers could feel like they are together with us on the trip. My idea is that instead of cutting the part where nothing seems to happen, like for example transfers between locations in public transport, I should better try to find a way to make them more entertaining and informative, for example by adding something new. I think that such approach helps to protect the unity of the storyline and makes it easier to empathize with the story. We hope that by watching our travel vlogs you will be able to get some taste of the exceptional beauty of Japan!

Thank you very much for watching!

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Gear used:
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
Canon EF 16-35 f/4L IS USM
Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG Art
Zhiyun Crane 2 gimbal
Sirui W-2204 tripod with Sirui K-30X ball head
Canon TC-80N3 Timer Remote Controller
Joby GorillaPod 5K
RØDE Stereo VideoMic X
RØDE VideoMic Pro+
ZOOM H1 Handy Recorder
Hoya ProND8 neutral-density filter
DJI Mavic 2 Pro
Polarpro ND filters
Lowepro Whistler BP 450 AW backpack
Samsung Galaxy Note 8

For the most part the video is shot in Full HD with C-Log. Only some clips from the main camera were shot in 4K for the ability to zoom in. Drone footage was shot in 4K with D-Log. There are also some clips which were shot with a phone. For editing I have used the following Adobe software: Premiere Pro, After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, Lightroom and Audition.