Think of the step, not of the mountain.” This mantra is on permanent loop as I negotiate the myriad mossy stones and treacherous tree roots that define my climb in Japan’s heavily forested Kii Mountains in the south-east of the country’s main island, Honshu.

I’m walking the Nakahechi route, the most popular of a series of pilgrimage trails that comprise the centuries old Kumano Kodo in Japan’s Kii Peninsula. It’s a walk I’ve been looking forward to ever since I completed its “twin”, the 800-kilometre Camino de Santiago, or Way of St James, in northern Spain. The Kumano Kodo is still relatively undiscovered by mass tourism but awareness of this natural wonderland is growing, boosted by the ongoing attraction of the Spanish pilgrimage, walked in 2018 by nearly 330,000 pilgrims.