Walking old Japan, on the post roads and pilgrim paths

In the Edo period, from the early seventeenth century to the 1860s, Japan was knitted together by a network of official highways. The shoguns required the feudal lords to spend alternate years in the capital, Edo, the city that became Tokyo, and the lords travelled there and back in great processions. Along the roads grew post towns, where travellers could rest, eat and change horses, and checkpoints where papers were inspected. Pilgrims walked too, to the great shrines and temples, along paths that had been in use for centuries before that. The railways made most of these routes obsolete in a generation, and the modern roads followed different lines. But stretches survive, and walking them is one of the best ways to see rural Japan.

The Nakasendō, through the Kiso Valley

Of the two great highways between Edo and Kyoto, the Tōkaidō ran along the coast, and most of it is now buried under cities and motorways. The Nakasendō, the "road through the central mountains", took the inland route, and parts of it are still remarkably intact. The best-known stretch runs through the Kiso Valley, a deep, forested valley in the mountains of central Honshu, between the post towns of Magome and Tsumago. The walk between them is about eight kilometres, along stone-paved paths and forest tracks, past waterfalls and small farms. Bells hang along the route to be rung against bears, which live in the forest, though they are rarely seen.

Both towns have been carefully preserved. Tsumago in particular has kept its long street of dark wooden inns and shops, with power lines and cars kept out of sight, and in the early morning, before the day visitors arrive, it looks much as it must have done two centuries ago. Staying overnight in a traditional inn, a ryokan or a minshuku, with a bath, a multi-course dinner and a futon on tatami, is part of the experience.

The Kumano Kodō

Further south, on the Kii Peninsula south of Osaka, the Kumano Kodō is a network of pilgrimage routes through steep, densely forested mountains to three great shrines, the Kumano Sanzan. Emperors and aristocrats walked here from Kyoto from the tenth century onwards, followed over the centuries by pilgrims of every class. The routes and shrines are a World Heritage Site, and the Kumano Kodō is one of only two pilgrimage routes so listed, the other being the Camino de Santiago in Spain, with which it is formally twinned.

The most popular route, the Nakahechi, runs from Takijiri-oji through the mountains by way of small villages such as Takahara, with its terraced fields and views over the ridges, and Chikatsuyu. It passes the oji, the small subsidiary shrines along the way, to Hosshinmon-oji, the traditional gateway to the great shrine of Kumano Hongū Taisha. The paths are steep in places, with stone steps and tree roots underfoot, under tall cedars and cypresses, and the walking is more demanding than the Nakasendō.

Explore Worldwide's Walk Japan: Kumano Kodō Trail, eleven nights, combines both. It visits Tokyo and Matsumoto, includes the Nakasendō post towns of Magome and Tsumago, and Nagoya, Kyoto, Nara and the tea town of Uji. On the Kumano Kodō its places run from Takijiri-oji through Takahara and Chikatsuyu to Hosshinmon. It runs in May and in the autumn.

The Michinoku Coastal Trail

A much newer route runs along the Pacific coast of north-eastern Honshu, the region of Tohoku. The Michinoku Coastal Trail was created after the earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 devastated this coast. It was conceived partly to help the recovery by bringing walkers back to the fishing towns, and it now runs for more than a thousand kilometres. It is a dramatic coast of cliffs, coves and pine-topped rocks. Jōdogahama, near Miyako, is a cove of white volcanic rock and calm water. Fudai is the village whose tall floodgate and seawall, built decades earlier, protected it from the tsunami.

G Adventures' Japan: Kyoto, Tokyo and the Michinoku Coastal Trail, ten nights in July and November, includes the trail, with Fudai Village and Jōdogahama Beach among its places. It also visits the Kitayama mountains north of Kyoto, Lake Tazawa, Japan's deepest lake, the samurai district of Kakunodate, and Tokyo.

Walking in Japan suits people who like their exercise with a good bath and a good dinner at the end of the day. Spring and autumn are the best seasons. Summer is hot and humid, and the rainy season in June makes the paths slippery.