Tokyo · the Michinoku Coastal Trail · the Izu Peninsula · October 2026
Day Six
Forest paths and paved coast road to Kuji — the ama divers' town.
Nakano to Mugyō, Kuji · trail day three · Thursday 8 October 2026
9.16am. Five on the rocks, the sea behind. Sent by Virginia.
Nineteen photographs from one phone, sent without a name, with one line for all of them: Walked Michinoku coastal trail from Samurai-Ishi to Kuji, 9.2 kms. Flat rock shelves at the water at 9.13, a red torii in the pines at 9.54, the three of them in a cedar forest at 1.10, and a shrine with a row of red gates at the end.
The two 9.13s are the shore: a flat shelf of grey rock running out into a blue sea, a tuft of white flowers in a crack, and the shelf again with the swell breaking at its edge. The 9.14 looks into the sun over the same rocks, pines on the headland. At 9.36 a hut under pines with two walkers on the path beside it; at 9.39 a cove with a sea wall, the water churning green and white over the rocks. The 9.54 is a red torii in the trees with a small shrine behind it, and the 9.56 the trunks of a cedar stand, straight up, the light coming through.
The two 10.13s are a single pine leaning out over the sea from the top of the cliff, the water a long way down and very blue; the 10.22 is the coast from above, rock points and small coves one after another, the pines on every one.
Everything written on Day Six. The log has added nothing.
The two 1.10s are the forest path: three walkers in a line between cedar trunks, packs and caps, the ground brown with needles. The 1.20 is a garden by a house, red and green shrubs in rows beside a polytunnel. At 1.27 a red torii with a black name-board stands at the edge of the trees, and the 1.33 looks down through bare branches to a rock island in a turquoise bay. The 1.36s are the shrine: a row of red gates one behind the other, paper streamers hanging from the crossbars, and the 1.38 the timber steps up through them. The 1.41 is the hall at the top, grey timber under a tiled roof, and the last frame of the walk.
Virginia’s 9.16 is the masthead: five of them in a selfie on the rocks, the sea behind. Her 9.55 is a red torii in the pines, the 12.05 one of the women on the grass with the packs, the 12.25 two of the men at the cliff edge looking at the surf, the 12.51 the cedar path. At 1.38 the shrine steps with paper streamers, at 1.39 the row of red gates, and 1.43 a ten-second clip. Dinner: 5.52 three sea snails on a square plate, 6.35 a bowl of sashimi with roe and a slab of omelette, and the sushi plate — sea urchin, roe, scallop, prawn.
Nine point two kilometres, and the red gates at the end of them.