Thousands of people flood a Japanese village of only 400 residents every year for rafting

(Patria) - The village of Kitayama, with about four hundred inhabitants, located on the river of the same name in Japan's Wakayama Prefecture, on the southern part of Honshu Island, is visited by around 7,000 tourists from the beginning of May to the end of September.

People from all over the world come for an experience that cannot be had anywhere else in Japan: an exciting 70-minute rafting ride that leaves no one indifferent.

The relaxing rafting trip down the narrow, winding river offers beautiful views of lush treetops protruding from the edges of cliffs. Each raft can carry up to 20 people, and during the season, trips are made almost every day.

Four ikadashi helmsmen, each on their side of the raft, set the course with long oars. This is a 600-year-old tradition dating back to a time when there were no modern roads to facilitate the transport of timber from Kitayama to Shingu, a city 60 kilometers away on the Wakayama coast.

Trucks eventually replaced the rafts, but the tradition was preserved in the small Japanese village thanks to a government decision that made rafting a tourist hit. However, steering a raft down the Kitayama River requires years and years of experience.

Trainees must practice for three years before being allowed to guide tourists. Every year, between October and March, new rafts are diligently made from local cedar and cypress, then left to dry for a year so they can be used for sailing.

After three years, battered by rocks from frequent trips, the rafts are retired, and the wood is used in various ways.

To try rafting on a wooden raft, you don't necessarily have to travel to Japan - you can also head to Munich, where timber was transported along the Isar River as early as the 15th century, writes Punkufer.

Today, you can discover the most beautiful parts of the river there on a rustic wooden raft. The raft trips begin in Wolfratshausen, about 30 kilometers from Munich.

Unlike the Japanese ones, German rafts have tables, benches, Bavarian specialties, and live music.

Depending on the water level, the trip lasts five to seven hours. The Isar mostly flows calmly, and on hot days, you can even swim in calmer spots to cool off a bit.

However, in the idyllic Mühltal valley, near the Schäftlarn monastery, the raft descends 18 meters in altitude at a fairly brisk pace.

The rafts are built anew each day from logs and then dismantled again. They can have up to 18 logs and offer space for about 60 people.

When the rafting season ends in September, the logs are processed into timber.