Shinetsu Trail Hiking

I was invited to join a friend on a hiking trip to the Shinetsu Trail some years ago, but I hesitated to fully commit without first doing some research on the route she had in mind. Over the years, I had heard various things about Shinetsu from walkers both full of praise, but also cautious advice about the nature hike, which as Japan’s first long trail, throws up some unique challenges.

One suggestion I was given was to do the trail at the right time. I was being invited in late September, which seemed like a mild time to walk, but would also avoid the pile up of snow occurring from late December through to around April, sometimes as late as June, depending on the regions walked. I read that September to November would be ideal. Late June to August if you can enjoy 30 degree hikes, which isn’t for everyone, and definitely not for me.

So, step one cleared.

The second word of caution I was given was that the accommodations for the walks can sometimes be a little bit away from the trails. So this was something I wanted to get right. Iiyama is the main region the Shinetsu trail passes through, and is situated on the border of Nagano and Niigata Prefectures; a region of central Japan famous for the aforementioned snowy winters.

This makes it a popular outdoor activity area in colder seasons, with rich, biodiverse nature, and abundant onsen hot springs in the warmer times. With over 200 hot spring areas in total, Nagano is the second most onsen-rich area in Japan after world-famous Beppu on Kyushu Island (which we visit on our Northern Kyushu coast-to-coast trip).

If I was going to make it all the way out to Nagano for a wonderful trek, I didn’t want to miss the well-regarded mineral baths of the region to help restore my legs in the evenings. After many hours of researching and phone calls later, I had reached a comfortable plan with some clever logistical tweaks, and the odd multi-day stint in certain locations, resulting in seven consecutive nights of excellent onsen inns. Perfect.

One additional element that wholly solidified the experience as one of my favourite hikes in Japan was arriving into the region a couple of days early, and joining an engaging ascetic monk, known in Japan as Yamabushi, who very generously shared with our group stories about his syncretic Shugendō religion, a deeply spiritual form of mountain worship, as we hiked through the atmospheric mountains in the area. No amount of research could have prepared me for how spectacular, how emotive, and how surprisingly affirming the whole experience turned out to be.

With Yamabushi numbers dwindling in recent years, and having learned he was the last practitioner of his form of worship in the Nagano region, I asked the priest whether he had any concerns for the future of this austere, yet remarkably elegant religious practice, and without missing a beat, he responded confidently;

“I have no worry for the future of Yamabushi, we will survive in some form. My bigger concern is for younger generations; I hope they find the inner peace of connecting with this kind of nature, instead of their mobile phones and fast food culture.”

Quite.

I tend to avoid the overused phrase enlightening, but even as a non-religious agnostic, I was deeply moved by the experience with the ascetic monk, and try to go back every few years.