The Tokaido Way, December 3 – 8, 2025.

For artists and writers. Daily workshops on the art of haiku, haibun and haiga.
A 6-day, 5-night tour starting in Hakone-Yumoto and finishing in Kurami Onsen, near Kakegawa.

Fly into Tokyo, continue onto Kyoto or other destinations at the end of our tour.

In collaboration with our partner Walk Japan.

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A gently-paced haiku walking tour along Japan’s greatest historic road (between Tokyo to Kyoto) aside the Pacific Ocean coast. Easy to moderate walking through urban and rural countryside in the glorious colours of autumn; traditional and modern inns, multi-course traditional cuisine.  Suitable for anyone who can walk for more than four hours in comfort. Accommodation is in Japanese inns, some with onsen hot spring baths, and hotels.

Our Tokaido walk follows the central section of Japan’s greatest ancient highway, the Tokaido, in Kanagawa and Shizuoka Prefectures. This historic road reached its apogee in the Edo Period (1603–1868), when the samurai dominated Japan. Travellers included the high and mighty on their way east to pay tribute at the Shogun’s court in Edo, now known the capital Tokyo, and also the everyday folk who were given permission to leave their villages, perhaps only once in their lives, on pilgrimage to the grand imperial shrine at Ise. The Tokaido played such a pivotal role in the social, economic and cultural development of the nation that it still resonates deeply amongst all Japanese to this day.

Among those who once walked the old highway were the famed haiku poet Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) whose poems from Records of a Well Worn Satchel were written while travelling this way and Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858), who in 1832 made his way along the Tokaido’s 490km (305 miles) length from Kyoto to Edo. His experience culminated in the exquisitely detailed and elegantly stylistic Fifty-Three Stages of the Tokaido series of woodblock prints, which illustrate the daily life upon and aside the road in an earlier age.

Inclusions: 5-nights’ accommodation, 5 breakfasts and 3 dinners. You are never far from food on this tour – balance your walking with our recommendations for delicious lunches and snacks en-route, and a choice of local restaurants on the two evenings when dinner is not included. Main baggage transfer between accommodation. One private vehicle transfer. In-country (Japan), 24-hour English-language emergency support.

Exclusions: Not included are flights, lunches and drinks with meals, two dinners and transfers other than those noted in the itinerary.

Prices:  (Early bird) $3600 AUD pp twin share.

Single Supplement available on 3 nights. $440 AUD

Please send Expression of Interest to Jan here.

Or to reserve your place with your $1200AUD deposit  here

Read our itinerary here.