Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô and Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the starting at Tanabe

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô

   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.

   Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô is where the day begins. Next is Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha.

2. 2. Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha

   Deep in the mountains of the Kii Peninsula, where forested ridges fold one behind another like the scenery in a woodblock print, stands the head shrine of the Kumano faith. Kumano Hongū Taisha is one of the three grand shrines of Kumano, and for over a thousand years emperors, aristocrats and ordinary pilgrims have walked here along the network of mountain trails known as the Kumano Kodō, now part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range listed by UNESCO.

   Read the complete Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha comes up about 59 km into the recorded legs. Next is Kumano Sanzan - Nachi no Ôtaki.

3. 3. Kumano Sanzan - Nachi no Ôtaki

   Water falls a hundred and thirty-three metres in a single drop at Nachi, the highest single fall in Japan, and it is not just a scenic attraction but a god. The Nachi no Ōtaki has been worshipped since long before the shrines were built, as a place where a kami lives, and the Kumano Nachi Taisha, a vermilion shrine on the hillside, was set up to honour it. Next door, the Buddhist temple of Seiganto-ji, with its three-storey pagoda in front of the falls, is one of the most photographed views in Japan, and shows how the two religions lived side by side.

   Read the complete Kumano Sanzan - Nachi no Ôtaki write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 111 km into the recorded legs you reach Kumano Sanzan - Nachi no Ôtaki. Next is Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the.

4. 4. Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the

   The Kumano Kodō, the ancient pilgrimage routes, link it with two other great shrines, Hayatama in Shingū and Nachi with its tall waterfall, and with the sacred mountains of Kōyasan and Yoshino further north. UNESCO listed the whole network in 2004 as one of only two pilgrimage routes on its register, the other being the road to Santiago de Compostela.

   Read the complete Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the, about halfway. Next is back through Kumano Sanzan - Nachi no Ôtaki.

5. 5. back through Kumano Sanzan - Nachi no Ôtaki

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kumano Sanzan - Nachi no Ôtaki write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Kumano Sanzan - Nachi no Ôtaki sits at 148 km, about halfway. Next is back through Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha.

6. 6. back through Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Kumano Sanzan - Kumano Hongû Taisha comes up about 267 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô.

7. 7. Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Pilgrimage Routes - Kumano Sankeimichi - Ô closes the day.