The Kii Peninsula, south of Osaka, is one of the most heavily forested and least populated parts of Japan, a knot of steep, cedar-covered mountains that has been a place of pilgrimage for more than a thousand years. The pilgrimage routes of Kumano, called the Kumano Kodo, were inscribed by UNESCO in 2004 together with the sacred sites of Koyasan and Yoshino and Omine, and the Ohechi route is the long mountain branch that starts near Tanabe, on the coast, about eleven kilometres from the point on your map.
The destination was the three Kumano shrines, Hongu, Hayatama in Shingu and Nachi, where people from emperors to farmers came to pray for healing, rebirth and a good afterlife, believing that the mountains were the pure land of the gods. In the Heian period, retired emperors made the trip dozens of times. Ohechi is the old coastal route over the mountains, a rough path of moss-covered stones, fallen leaves and giant cedar trunks that is now walked by pilgrims and hikers from all over the world, and the path is waymarked with small stone markers. You can walk a few kilometres of it from various trailheads without much preparation, but do not underestimate the steepness or the rain.
By road, the route is a joy. From Tanabe, Route 311 climbs into the mountains by way of narrow valleys and forested gorges, towards Hongu, with bends that follow the river, sudden tunnels, and gaps in the trees opening onto layers of misty ridges. The surface is generally excellent, but the roads are narrow and winding, and rain, fog and fallen branches are common, especially in the typhoon season from late summer to October. Speed limits are low and enforcement is polite but firm. Spring and autumn are the best seasons, and winter brings frost in the high places.
Tanabe, with nearly seventy thousand people, has fuel, food and all the services, and it is the last town of any size before the mountains. The area is famous for ume, the sour Japanese plum, which is made into pickles and liqueur, and for hot springs. At Yunomine, near Hongu, a small hot spring bath in a hut by the river is among the oldest in the country, and a night in a ryokan with a bath and dinner is the right way to end the day.