VLOG 8: Hiking Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route, day 1 (Hongu Taisha - Yunomine Onsen) 熊野古道

UNESCO World Heritage Kumano Kodo pilgrimage routes date back to the beginning of written history in Japan. We spent three days exploring the heart of this sacred site and stayed two nights in the Yunomine onsen town. Our trip was from 25th to 27th of September 2019. If you have seen my previous vlogs from Koyasan and Yoshino, then you should have heard already me talking about UNESCO World Heritage site called Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range. In this vlog from Kumano Kodo we will go even deeper into mountains and continue exploring further the same heritage site. The place is extremely large, so even during our three days trip we will be able to cover only one more small part of it. 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. The area is full of beautiful natural scenery and just hiking in those sacred mountains is itself a spiritual experience. On this trip we will be travelling into the main part of Kumano Kodo, namely the area around Kumano Hongu Taisha. We will leave early in the morning, and it will take us five hours to get there from Kyoto. On our first day you will see us visiting Kumano Hongu Heritage Center, exploring Kumano Hongu Taisha and the biggest in the world torii gate located at Oyunohara sandbank and then hiking Dainichi-goe to Yunomine onsen, where we are going to stay the night. It is very famous onsen town, because it has the oldest onsen in Japan, Tsubo-yu Bath House. You can use the following timestamps to jump directly to the part you are interested in: 0:00 Introduction 2:17 From Kyoto to Osaka 4:21 From Osaka to Kii-Tanabe 7:10 From Kii-Tanabe to Kumano Hongu Area 10:39 We have arrived at Kumano 13:29 Kumano Hongu Heritage Center 19:17 Kumano Hongu Taisha 23:45 Getting the first stamp 26:41 Buying an amulet 28:43 Oyunohara Big Torii Gate 30:55 Getting the second stamp 32:40 Hiking Dainichi-goe 43:36 Getting the stamp at Yunomine-Oji 45:17 Yunomine onsen 46:18 At our 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! You can find me also on: Website: https://www.romansudarikov.com/ Instagram:   / romansudarikov   Twitter:   / romansudarikov   Music by Epidemic Sound, My personal referral link: https://www.epidemicsound.com/referra... 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. The timelapses were made in LRTimelapse 5.