{"id":30120,"date":"2019-09-22T22:20:59","date_gmt":"2019-09-22T14:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/?p=30120"},"modified":"2026-03-14T19:45:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T11:45:07","slug":"11-days-in-chugoku-kyushu-day-06-itsukushima-daishoin-trail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/2019\/09\/22\/11-days-in-chugoku-kyushu-day-06-itsukushima-daishoin-trail\/","title":{"rendered":"11 Days in Ch\u016bgoku & Kyushu – Day 06 – Itsukushima – Daishoin Trail"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is my first experience in mountain trekking, with an easy mountain to boot. And I’m only descending! There are three trails that go up and down Mt. Misen, each with different lengths and things to see along the way. They are the Momijidani Route (2.5km), the Daishoin Route<\/strong> (3km), and the Omoto Route (3.2km). I opted for the Daishoin Trail on account that it was reportedly the prettiest. According to one site<\/a>, it\u2019s also somewhat the safest, with clear markings, and that the route is largely stone steps. The trail from 0 meters to the summit takes between 90 minutes to 2 hours. Other visitors have commented that the descent version takes half that time \u2014 which sounds about right. I started at 11:27AM at Reikado Hall, and reached the end-point \u2014 Daishoin Temple \u2014 at 12:33PM.<\/p>\n

With the benefit of hindsight though, I probably should have chosen the Momijidani Route on account that the stone steps in the Daishoin trail caused severe stress on my knees, so much so that two days after the descent \u2014 I’m writing this on Day 8 night time now \u2014 my legs are aching so badly I have difficulty walking down stairs, or walking in general for that matter. The Momijidani route reportedly is a sloping road which should have been easier on the knees.<\/p>\n

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Descending down Mt. Misen Summit. This should be Sankido Hall on the left.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The start of the Daishoin trail is just beside Reikado Hall, and teases visitors with its left curve and what secrets it holds.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Lots of signage to reassure you that you’re on the right track and how much more is left to go.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Stone steps!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Stone paved paths!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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More stone steps!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Another stone-paved path!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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You get the idea. Basically, if your knees and joints can take steps, go for this route.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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There are places where you can get great views of the island while on the trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Satomichaya observatory, at 12:15PM \u2014 about three quarters done in the descent.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Nearing the end at 12:25PM.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Civilization again! Finally! That’s the back of Daishoin Temple I think.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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It was drizzling by this point at 12:31PM.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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There hadn’t been much rain at this point, so there weren’t significant falls or rushing waters downstream to compose nifty pictures.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The end of the trail reached at 12:33PM \u2014 Daishoin Temple.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The three routes. The detailed hiking map is at http:\/\/chushikoku.env.go.jp\/nature\/miyajima_guide_map\/pdf\/en\/03_geology.pdf<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Summary<\/strong>: go for it! Set aside at least an hour, and if you’re not confident of your fitness levels, do the down-mountain version.<\/p>\n

My exploration of Itsukushima continues in the next post<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is my first experience in mountain trekking, with an easy mountain to boot. And I’m only descending! There are three trails that go up and down Mt. Misen, each with different lengths and things to see along the way.<\/p>\n

Read More 11 Days in Ch\u016bgoku & Kyushu – Day 06 – Itsukushima – Daishoin Trail<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[661,658,608,613],"class_list":["post-30120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-traveling","tag-chugoku-kyushu-japan-2019","tag-oppo-reno-10x-zoom","tag-sony-a7-iii","tag-sony-fe-24-105mm-f4-0","wpcat-17-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/blog-2019-japan-chugoku-kyushu-day-06-A7_08163-miyajima-island.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38494,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30120\/revisions\/38494"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}