Spirituality in Nature with AI Agents at Kumano Kodo: The Impact of AI Workcation in a Sacred Land

What If Your Most Productive Workday Happened on a Sacred Mountain Path?

At the end of May 2025, while walking along the Kumano Kodo —

a UNESCO World Heritage pilgrimage route in the mountains of

Wakayama, Japan — Kouji Miki discovered an unprecedented possibility

for a new way of working. It was a completely new style: working

while walking in sacred nature with an AI agent as a partner.

Using the AI agent "Manus" on his smartphone, Miki wrote event

proposals and press releases while climbing ancient mountain paths.

What would normally take hours at a desk was completed between rest

stops, with the AI working while he walked through deep forests

filled with birdsong and the sound of wind through trees.

The results were remarkable. Not only was productivity two to three

times higher than normal desk work, but the quality of creative

output was dramatically better. Walking in nature activated the brain,

fresh air and phytoncide cleared thinking, and the rhythm of walking

synchronized with the rhythm of thought — producing clearer

instructions and more essential ideas.

This experience is backed by data. The Japan Brand Image Research,

a survey conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry,

revealed that what foreigners seek most in Japan today is

"Spirituality in Nature" — not temples, not technology, but the

spiritual connection with the natural world that Japan has cultivated

for millennia.

The article also recounts a mystical encounter: after dedicating

a Shinobue flute performance to the Dragon God at Takahara Kumano

Shrine, a massive dragon-shaped cloud appeared at dawn the next

morning — as if in response. And during the same trip, an AI solved

an international payment problem that had been unresolved for over

a year, simply by reading a Swedish receipt and identifying a

reversed bank number.

From this experience, Miki introduces "Anbling" — a new concept

of opening the mind through walking together in nature, where

invisible walls between people naturally break down and creative

connections emerge.

Technology and the sacred can coexist. Japan's rich natural

spirituality, combined with cutting-edge AI, offers a new model

for working and living that the world has never seen.

→ Read the full article on Medium

https://zenschool.medium.com/spirituality-in-nature-with-ai-agents-at-kumano-kodo-the-impact-of-ai-workcation-in-a-sacred-land-c62baa87bd2f

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Originally published on Medium by Kouji Miki.

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