Explore Kunisaki’s unique attractions, from ancient temples to modern art, and experience authentic Japanese rural life. Photo / Walk Japan
Explore Kunisaki’s unique attractions, from ancient temples to modern art, and experience authentic Japanese rural life. Photo / Walk Japan
Paul Christie is the chief executive of Walk Japan, an independently-owned walking company specialising in Japan’s less-visited regions. Based in Kunisaki with his family, there’s no better advocate to champion one of Japan’s true hidden gems
Please introduce yourself and your role at Walk Japan
I hail from Canterbury, the cathedral city in the southeast of the UK. After graduating from UCL, London in Economics I took up graduate studies in the Japanese language at the School of Oriental and African Studies, also in London. This led to my first trip to Japan to continue my language studies in 1987. I was very fortunate to be welcomed into a Japanese family in Kawagoe, just outside Tokyo and this experience, in particular, made me very comfortable with Japan at large. After finishing courses in 1989, I lived between Tokyo and London until I permanently relocated to Oita Prefecture in Kyushu in 2002.
In 2002, my long-held desire for rural life led me to a village on the Kunisaki Peninsula in Kyushu, where my wife and I began raising our four sons. Here, I took a central role in developing Walk Japan’s tour business and expanding my interests in country life.
Walk Japan chief executive Paul Christie. Photo / Walk Japan
Tell us more about Kunisaki, Kyushu
Kunisaki is nestled into the western end of Japan’s Seto Inland Sea on Kyushu, the most westerly main island of the Japanese archipelago. A rural and picturesque peninsula, Kunisaki is imbued with a placid spirituality embodied by the 1300-year-old Rokugo-Manzan, an esoteric Buddhist-Shinto religion now uncommon elsewhere in Japan. Quiet country lanes weave through Kunisaki’s beautifully verdant countryside from one atmospheric temple to another, from the sea to the mountains and back again, and through quiet towns, villages and hamlets where the pace of life seems little changed from earlier ages. In recent years, a growing collection of public modern art has brought another intriguing facet to Kunisaki’s charms.
The Kunisaki Peninsula. Photo / 123rf
What makes Kunisaki a great place to visit?
Few Japanese and even fewer foreigners are aware of the Kunisaki Peninsula’s existence. Modern Japan has left this quiet haven of rural life largely untouched. It is truly an off-the-beaten-track destination perfect for travellers seeking tranquillity and natural beauty, a serene environment geographically and emotionally far from Japan’s well-known tourist hotspots.
Kunisaki was for many centuries, until the medieval period, an important religious centre. Kunisaki’s once-powerful religious institutions are long gone, but delightful temples and wayside shrines are some reminders of its deeply religious past. Its unique geology, characterised by rice paddies interspersed with rugged terrain and lush forests, offers excellent trekking, often on trails once trod by monks in prayer.
Kunisaki offers excellent trekking on trails once trodden by monks in prayer. Photo / 123rf
A mild climate year-round combines with Kunisaki’s topography to afford a source of fresh food that is not only one of the most varied but also the best quality in all of Japan. Here any meal is a veritable banquet of seasonal dishes, with ingredients sourced from the seas, rivers, fields and forests satiating the most discerning palate, especially when accompanied by locally brewed sake and shochu, a spirit distilled from wheat.
Onsen hot spring baths dotted around the peninsula add that final frisson to make any visit to Kunisaki a thoroughly relaxing and memorable experience.
The Kunisaki Peninsula is dotted with serene temples, lush forests and quiet country lanes. Photo / 123rf
What makes it special?
My interest in country life evolved into Walk Japan’s Community Project, which is a wide-ranging endeavour to reverse the decline of a rural community and provide it with a sustainable and viable future. Officially recognised as a farmer by the Japanese authorities in 2015, I was able to significantly expand the arable land under our care and, in 2020, subsequently consolidated our farming activities with the establishment of an agricultural corporation.
What are the top ‘must-do’ activities when visiting the area?
Kunisaki is a compact, circular peninsula that is ideal to explore either on foot or on a bicycle. Must dos include visiting any one of a number of beautiful and quietly contemplative rural temples including Tennen-ji, Futago-ji, Fuki-ji and Monjusen-ji.
Imi, a small picturesque port set aside the Seto Inland Sea on Kunisaki’s north coast, is a delightful place to stroll around. Touinryo, an old sake brewery that has been lovingly restored and given a new lease of life as a gallery and cafe, has found itself, along with neighbouring galleries La Paloma and Susumugusa, at the heart of a growing community of artists that have found home and inspiration here.
Just west along the coast is Bungo-Takada, a town that has retained an intriguing period streetscape from Japan’s post-war economic boom years. Go a little further west, just off the peninsula onto Kyushu’s ”mainland”, to Usa Jingu, one of Japan’s most important yet least visited grand shrines. Its gloriously atmospheric precincts are where Kunisaki’s religions originated.
Usa Jingu, one of Japan’s least-visited grand shrines, is located near the Kunisaki Peninsula. Photo / 123rf
What should I eat and drink in Kunisaki?
Back on Kunisaki, visit Kaya-no-ki for Dango-jiru, a local delicacy composed of thick wheat noodles steeped in a miso-based soup, Mamenomonya for a deliciously delicate modern take on farmhouse cuisine, Kitsuki Terrace for sumptuous grilled seafood buffets, and Tekizanso for a traditional banquet in a period villa built by a local gold mining magnate over 100 years ago.
Shiitake mushrooms grow here. The Kunisaki Peninsula region’s climate and natural environment are ideal for cultivating some of Japan’s best shiitake, which are a staple in Japanese cuisine.
Mugi-jochu: Shochu is a Japanese distilled spirit common to Kyushu. Depending on the region, shochu is brewed from sweet potatoes, rice, and in Oita, where Kunisaki is, wheat. Its potent yet refined taste is ideal on the rocks or with hot water.
Look out for Kabosu, a locally grown citrus fruit popular for adding a refreshing, tangy flavour to dishes and beverages.
Shochu, a popular spirit in Kyushu, is made from wheat in Kunisaki. Photo / Walk Japan
What else should we know about Kunisaki?
Art lovers should explore the Kunisaki Art Project, which includes work by Anthony Gormley and Yoko Ono. In the east of the peninsula, another trail is being built around site-specific art that includes work by Rachel Whiteread. Another must for aficionados is the Art Museum of Nature and Human Non-Homogeneity, a grand title for a small but wonderfully immersive and interactive art space that explores and celebrates man’s universal interrelationship with the sun and moon, the sea and forests. The Nikaido Museum of Art has a splendid collection of Japanese art from the early 20th century to the present day.
Bring an open heart and mind, healthy appetite and warm friendship - as these and more will be shown to you by almost every Japanese person you meet.
Is there anything you recommend not doing or avoiding?
Never say a direct “No”. If you do not want something being proffered or suggested - be demure as best you can without an explicitly negative expression. Do not start arguments, the Japanese will not. Either accommodate or make room for yourself or others to retreat with dignity intact.
Walk Japan, founded in 1992, is the pioneer of off-the-beaten-track walking tours in Japan. Photo / Walk Japan
Where are the best places to stay?
Kunisaki does not have a lot of choice, unlike neighbouring Beppu where there’s anything from hip backpackers to an ultra-luxury Intercontinental hotel, but it does have some cosy inns and backpackers, some with onsen hot spring baths. These include Kaze-no-Sato, Fuki-no-to, Beach Ryoan Shioji and Nada Midoriso. Minpaku homestays with farming families offer an intimate sojourn, Sakura Beach Garden is a delightfully decorated rental beach house, and a couple of Hotel A-Zs offer clean budget accommodation.
What’s something that most visitors don’t know about the region?
Perhaps almost everything. Most Japanese have little idea about the place.
What should visitors remember or be mindful of when visiting?
Being patient and politely friendly are attributes that go down well anywhere in Japan but especially so in rural regions.
What is your top tip for visiting the area?
Make time to explore gently and at leisure. A day or two will not allow you to imbibe and become intimate with Kunisaki both physically and metaphorically.
Are there any future plans you can spill the beans on?
Walk Japan is looking at tours on the Noto Peninsula, a region in some ways similar to Kunisaki, that experienced a severe earthquake last new year. Also, the hinterland of Nagasaki Prefecture, especially around Hirado where William Adams, a fellow Brit who came to Japan in 1600, making him the first to do so. He became a samurai and his life was the inspiration for Shogun, the book by James Clavell and the recent hit TV series derived from it.
