Go forest bathing at Akasawa, where shinrin-yoku is said to have begun

What the experience is

Shinrin-yoku means forest bathing. The phrase was introduced in 1982 by Tomohide Akiyama, then head of Japan’s forestry agency, as part of a campaign to bring people back to the country’s forests. The Akasawa forest, in the Kiso valley of Nagano, is regarded as a birthplace of the practice. It is a forest of Kiso cypress, with easy trails along a stream.

Forest bathing is a slow walk in the woods with attention given to the senses. There is no destination and no exercise target. A guided session lasts two to three hours and covers perhaps two kilometres. The guide stops often and asks the group to listen, to smell the bark and the soil, to touch moss, to lie down and look up through the canopy. Phones are put away. It often ends with a period of sitting alone.

The practice and the research

Japanese researchers have studied forest bathing since the 2000s. The findings are still preliminary, and OKYTO makes no claim for health effects. It is best understood as a quiet, attentive way of spending time in a forest.

When to go

The forest is generally open from spring to autumn and closed in winter. Go in the morning. Rain improves the smell of the forest.

Good to know

Go with a guide the first time, since the slowness is harder than it sounds. Japan has more than sixty certified forest therapy bases with marked trails and trained guides, Akasawa among them. Opening dates and guided sessions change from year to year and should be checked locally before travelling.

Why OKYTO recommends it

It costs little, needs no fitness and takes place in one of the finest forests in the country. It fits a journey through Nagano, with a walk on the Nakasendo in the same valley and a hot spring afterwards.