Two walks through old Japan: the stone-paved Edo highway over the Hakone pass, with a 400-year-old tea house halfway, and the forest trails that link Kamakura's Zen temples to the Great Buddha.
The Tokaido was the great road between Edo and Kyoto, walked by feudal lords, pilgrims and messengers. Over the Hakone pass, sections of its original stone paving survive under the cedars.
The Old Tokaido runs from Moto-Hakone on Lake Ashi down to Hatajuku, a village known for its marquetry woodwork. The cobbles are uneven and slippery with moss, the forest is quiet, and halfway sits Amazake-chaya, a thatched tea house that has served sweet rice drink to travellers for about four centuries. Start with the cedar avenue along the lake shore near the Hakone checkpoint.
Kamakura, the old shogun capital by the sea, has a network of hiking trails over the wooded ridges between its temples. The Daibutsu course, about 3 km from Kita-Kamakura to the Great Buddha, is the classic; the Tenen course wanders the ridge for about six kilometres between Kencho-ji and Zuisen-ji, a little like walking the Alps in miniature.
Each is an easy half day; combine Hakone with an onsen night and Kamakura with the beach.
Walk the avenue of giant cedars planted along the old road by Lake Ashi, then climb from Moto-Hakone onto the first stone-paved section.
Stop at the thatched tea house for amazake and chikara-mochi, rice cakes for strength, beside an open hearth.
The cobbles drop steeply through the forest to Hatajuku, where buses run back to Hakone-Yumoto and its hot springs.
From Kita-Kamakura station, climb past the mossy steps of Jochi-ji onto the Daibutsu trail along the wooded ridge.
Detour to the cave shrine where people wash money for luck, then descend to Kotoku-in and the 13th-century bronze Buddha. Hase-dera and the sea are a short walk on.
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Odakyu Romancecar from Shinjuku to Hakone-Yumoto takes about 85 minutes; then buses to Moto-Hakone. The Hakone Freepass covers the buses and boats.
JR Yokosuka line from Tokyo or Shinagawa to Kita-Kamakura takes about an hour.
Walk Kamakura on a weekday morning; Hakone's road is quiet any day, and best after rain when the moss glows.
Tokyo practical notes →Wikimedia Commons photographs are used under their licences; Pexels photographs under the Pexels licence.
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