Guided tours
Walk the Ontake Kodo with a local guide who has years of experience leading tours on the pilgrimage trail. The hike covers its lower sections (stations 1-4). You’ll visit beautiful Satomiya Shrine in the cliffs at the foot of the mountain, walk through quiet cypress forests, and explore the Waterfall Trail with its sacred purification sites at Shintaki and Kiyotaki Falls, learning about Mt. Ontake and its spiritual traditions along the way. We can arrange takigyo (traditional waterfall meditation) instruction with a local teacher on request.
Click below to visit Mindful Japan Tours and learn more.
Self-guided tours
Our self-guided walking tour is designed to help independent travelers explore the Ontake Kodo Pilgrimage Trail in Otaki Village on their own. It comes with a GPX map and is based on the tour of the trail’s lower sections developed by this site’s author while living in Otaki. Looking at the bioregional, historical and cultural context of Mt. Ontake and its spiritual traditions, and with sections on practicalities, traditional practice, and pilgrimage trail etiquette, it has everything travelers need for a safe, smooth, and respectful trip.
For the time being, it’s available exclusively via the Mindful Japan Tours website. Click below for more.
Otaki Experience 