Walk Japan launches the Shikoku: Kochi & Ehime Discovery

Walk Japan, the leading adventure travel company in Japan, has launched its latest immersive walking tour, the Shikoku: Kochi & Ehime Discovery, visiting the bucolic Kochi and Ehime Prefectures of western Shikoku. 

The Shikoku: Kochi & Ehime Discovery is a fully-guided, seven-day tour exploring two of Japan’s most beautiful but remotest prefectures. This region exudes elegance and tranquillity, characterised by pristine streams and rivers that meander leisurely through deeply forested mountainous terrain and lush valleys to the coast and the steely-blue Pacific Ocean. Here in numerous small farming and fishing communities set in idyllic countryside, the warmly welcoming locals maintain a timeless and gentle pace of life. 

Shikoku has been considered a sacred island for over a thousand years and is famed for its 1,200 kilometre 88-temple Ohenro pilgrimage, the feature of Walk Japan’s Shikoku Temple Pilgrimage tour. The Shikoku: Kochi & Ehime Discovery also includes the theme of pilgrimage with visits to the exquisite Chikurin-ji, the 31st Ohenro temple, and a little-known 12 kilometre mini-pilgrimage set in a rustic valley. It also explores old mountain routes including one that was once vital in transporting sea salt, a precious commodity, to remote communities, and another, the Dappan-no-Michi, that follows in the daring footsteps of Sakamoto Ryoma. Ryoma is a Japanese hero renowned for his exploits at the end of the samurai-dominated Edo Period (1603-1868) when under pain of death he escaped from his clan from Kochi via Ehime.

Other highlights include Yusuhara, a gorgeously-sited mountain town, where a cluster of buildings designed by world-acclaimed architect Kuma Kengo is found; Ozu, a charming, castle town featuring the captivating Garyu Sanso, a Japanese masterpiece of garden, villa and teahouse; and local culinary delicacies such as katsuo seared bonito fish and myriad varieties of citrus fruit.

Details

The Shikoku: Kochi & Ehime Discovery is a seven-day, six-night, fully-guided walking tour for up to 12 participants commencing in Kochi City and concluding in Matsuyama's Dogo Onsen. Daily walking ranges from nine to 13 kilometres along mountain trails and quiet country lanes. A Level 4 tour, it is suitable for anyone who leads a reasonably active lifestyle. 

Prices start from JPY 400,000 Japanese yen (approx. £2,180) per person, based on double occupancy. 

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