Kumano Kodo, Wakayama

Kumano Kodo is an ancient Buddhist pilgrimage road connecting the three Japanese areas of  Ise, Osaka and Wakayama's Kumano area in the South of the Kii Peninsula. This old roadalso connects Takano and Yoshino. This area is a place of miraculous old mountain religion stories, people were visiting the holy land of Kumano, as it was called in the old days. On 7 July 2004,The UNESCO named the area a World Heritage Site, and as a result more people come to travel this hiking road.

Kumano Kodo is a  spiritual  attraction more than anything, with sites like the Nachi Falls.  With a height of 133m, and a width of 13m this big waterfall, reminds us of a no so distant past when the area was covered in virgin forest. You cannot help but feel the holiness of nature at this site, with the strenght of the water and the majesty of the mountains.  You can feel the kami surrounding you.  Kumano Nachi Taisha is located near and it arose from the worship of nature, the Kami and waterfalls.

After seeing the falls,you can go to Iseji to the cobbled street, also a symbol of the Kumano Kodo. This road is said tohave been  made in the Kamakura period (1185–1333), with a length of 650m, and a denivelation of about 100m, it makes for a nice stroll.  Mossy stones and mist, a couple of 800 years old cedar who were considered the gateway to the ancient holy sites are some of the beauty you can expect.  Around the road remains an  intact, strong and dense forest, so we can feel the same reverence for nature that people felt of old. This road is still a pilgimage road and it is deeply rooted in the mentality of the people in the region.

The Kumano Kodo is closely linked to Shugendo, an old semi-native religion of Japan that mixes Shintoism, Buddhism and Shamanism.  As such it connects various holy sites like the Kumano Hongu Grand Shrine and a series of small temples.

 

 

 

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