Stunning Japanese hike is like stepping into an (animated) movie

The Age

10-06-2025

This article is part of Traveller's Holiday Guide to Adventure & Outdoors. See all stories.
At the top of her voice, apropos of nothing, a fellow hiker yells: 'silence boy!' It echoes into the nothingness, unsettling birds and sending a lizard scuttling for cover in the undergrowth. It startles me too. This is rather a bolshie line to take up here on this balding rock peak with clouds so thick we can barely see which false step might mean disappearing over the edge.
But my guide sets me straight. 'Silence boy!' is a famous line from the 1997 cult anime film Princess Mononoke, directed and created by animation behemoth Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Miyazaki. The stern words are spoken by Moro the wolf goddess to Ashitaka, a young warrior who is on a quest to reunite humankind and nature. The words are oft-repeated in Japan; it's a J-culture reference you might see emblazoned on a T-shirt if not scrawled on a wall.
This lofty spot, credited as inspiring the scene in the movie, is Taikoiwa Rock lookout, the highest point (1050 metres) on the titular walking trail through Yakushima Island's epic Shiratani Unsuikyo Ravine. Given the cloud cover, I can't match this view with the film scene, but earlier on the hike we are fortunate enough to pass through Moss Covered Forest or, as it's known by fans, Princess Mononoke Forest. Getting to Taikoiwa Rock might be a dopamine hit, but the real high is walking through the magical natural world of one of Japan's most-watched films.
Yakushima Island is itself rather special. It is one of the southern Osumi islands, and is about 60 kilometres south of Kyushu mainland in Kagoshima Prefecture. It is roughly circular and can be circumnavigated via a 132-kilometre road. The island's 13,000 or so residents orient their way around this road like a clock face – the forest fringed Anbo River is at 3 o'clock; the undersea Hirauchi Kaichu Onsen, only accessed when the tide reveals its natural pools, is at 6 o'clock; and the 88-metre Ohko-no-taki waterfall – with the island's longest single drop – is at 8 o'clock.
Two days earlier, I arrived at Miyanoura, the island's main hub (about 1pm) after a two-hour hydrofoil ferry ride. There's a small airport on the island, but the passenger ferry is the way to go. From the port, the gaseous emission from Sakurajima, Kagoshima's belching stratovolcano, fades into the distance as a palette of moody blue islands appear on the horizon. About 90 minutes into the journey, when the ocean begins to roll, Yakushima – the 'Alps on the Sea' – looms large ahead, a mountainous behemoth with a magistrate's wig of silvery cumulus clouds.
Covering about 500 square kilometres, Yakushima is almost entirely mountainous, its central dominating peaks tickling the clouds above 1800 metres. In the centre of the clock dial is Mount Miyanoura-dake, Kyushu's highest mountain, topping out at 1936 metres.
One fifth of the island has been designated UNESCO Natural World Heritage on account of its exceptional biodiversity. This demarcated area towards the island centre has subtropical coastal vegetation, high-altitude bamboo grasslands and, in between, the showstopper – primeval temperate forest where many of the island's endemic yaku-sugi cedar trees grow. These trees are said to be between 1000 and 7000 years old. Indeed, many tourists visit the island for this arboreal wonder alone.