Tucking into our tofu hotpot at the end of our first day’s hike, our host started to play music. His three-stringed instrument, the sanshin, resembles a banjo, except that its body is covered in snakeskin. People say it carries the voice of the deities, which seemed appropriate as we were on the Kumano Kodo, Japan’s ancient pilgrimage route.
Kohei Yuri explained to us that he and his wife had come to the Kii Peninsula to get away from the noise of urban Japanese life. Their minshuku, or family-run guesthouse, is one of a small number of overnight spots on a trail that is Japan’s equivalent of Spain’s Camino de Santiago, the legendary long-distance walking route.
