he took sally mclaren, a popular uk travel writer to a gigantic camphor tree that's over 1,000 years old. the tree has been enshrined as a god. >> that's called a shim nah wah around it. that marks the tree off as sacred. >> reporter: he explained how japanese culture values nature. >> it's a very important part of this kamano pilgrimage is these natural spots. >> when you're in key ota, you have modern japan at you on both sides. when you're in this kind of setting it's easier to imagine what it must have been like a thousand years ago. i think it's one of the special spots of kamano kodo and something i'd like to introduce to international visitors. >> kumano pilgrimage the quite nice because it goes beyond religious dogma. it touches the essence of all human beings with ancient nature worship and the mixture of the buddhist traditions. so it goes to the core of what people are. >> reporter: with the tokyo olympics coming in 2020, he has big plans to promote kumano codo to a worldwide audience. sach i don't sug geet toe, nhk world. >>> japanese have long seen calligraphy as one of