Chapter 1: An Overview of the Kumano Pilgrimage Routes
This essay reflects upon my 500-kilometre journey on the Kumano Pilgrimage Routes, which lie in Japan, cover Osaka, Nara, Wakayama and Mie Prefectures and lead to the Kumano Hongu Grand Shinto Shrine, the Kumano Nachi Grand Shinto Shrine and the Kumano Hayatama Grand Shinto Shrine. These three shrines are located in Wakayama Prefecture and are collectively called Kumano Sanzan. The Routes can be divided into five segments: Kii-ji, Kohechi, Nakahechi, Ohechi and Ise-ji. The Osaka Prefecture section of the Routes traverses the Uemachi Plateau, the Shinodayama Plateau and the Sennan Plateau. Each of the three plateaux ranges in elevation from a few metres to several tens of metres. Most of the remaining section of the Routes is spread across the Kii Peninsula, which is almost completely composed of the forested Kii Mountain Range. These plateaux and nearly the entire peninsula experience a temperate climate with four distinct seasons: spring (March, April, May), summer (June, July, August), autumn (September, October, November) and winter (December, January, February).
The pilgrimage to Kumano Sanzan, known as the Kumano Pilgrimage, has a history of about 1000 years. From the eleventh to thirteenth centuries, the pilgrims belonged mainly to the imperial family or the aristocracy (Koyama, 2000, pp. 24–56). Their typical itinerary was as follows. They departed from Kyoto, the old capital of Japan, and sailed down the Yodo River to Watanabe-no-Tsu, a former port in Osaka. Primarily on foot from Watanabe-no-Tsu to Kumano Sanzan, they followed Kii-ji and Nakahechi. After visiting Kumano Sanzan, they returned to Kyoto. In this itinerary, it took about a month from departure to return.
In the thirteenth century, the Kumano Pilgrimage also spread to provincial warriors, and then, in the fifteenth century, to the general public (Koyama, 2000, pp. 59, 70–71). This popularisation led to Kohechi and Ohechi being used for the Pilgrimage (Takagi, 2014, pp. 61–63). In addition, from the fifteenth century onwards, a large number of ordinary people made the Ise Pilgrimage and the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage. The former involved travelling to the Ise Jingu Shinto Shrine, located in Mie Prefecture, and the latter involved visiting 33 Buddhist temples, scattered across Wakayama, Osaka, Nara, Kyoto, Shiga, Hyogo and Gifu Prefectures. Typically, the Ise Pilgrimage and the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage were made together. In that case, the pilgrims paid visits to the Ise Jingu Shinto Shrine and then went on the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage, with their itineraries including visits to Kumano Sanzan via Ise-ji (Koyama, 2000, pp. 179–180).
However, the Kumano Pilgrimage ceased to be undertaken from the late nineteenth century onwards. In 1872, the Government of Japan abolished Shugen-do, which is a Japanese religion and is characterised by mountain asceticism. Pilgrims to Kumano Sanzan, especially those who took Kii-ji and Nakahechi, were generally accompanied by the ascetics as guides along the way and as instructors in rituals of the Kumano Pilgrimage (Koyama, 2000, pp. 84–89). The abolition of Shugen-do meant that the ascetics had to return to secular life against their will and, in the context of the Pilgrimage, that the pilgrims could not pay visits to Kumano Sanzan led by the ascetics. In addition, the Government of Japan issued a written directive in 1906 to consolidate derelict small Shinto shrines nationwide. Shinto shrines to be merged in accordance with the directive included many subsidiary ones of Kumano Sanzan that served as sites for some of the rituals and that were located along Kii-ji and Nakahechi; almost all of the subsidiary shrines were destroyed (Tanaka, 2021, pp. 50–51; Koyama, 2000, pp. 84–101). At the same time, the directive did not cover Kumano Sanzan owing to their great prestige; visits to Kumano Sanzan still remained possible. Nevertheless, visiting Kumano Sanzan no longer typically involved walking the Kumano Pilgrimage Routes as a main part of the itinerary by about 1970, when the Routes were largely rendered obsolete by the development of transport infrastructure such as railways and roads (Shinohara, 2001, pp. 9–14; Terada, 2014, pp. 13–14).
However, parts of the Kumano Pilgrimage Routes have attracted renewed attention since the late 1970s as historic sites of the Kumano Pilgrimage. In 1978, the Government of Japan formally launched a project to designate, survey, reinstate and preserve important old paths and so forth in Japanese history and culture as historic routes. Amongst the first of the designated historic routes were the Routes, or more specifically, sections of Nakahechi. In addition, Nakahechi was listed in 2000 as the Routes in the register of nationally designated historic sites. Two years later, the nationally designated historic site of the Routes came to include Ise-ji, Kohechi and Ohechi. Some sections of the Routes were considered worthy of preservation by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, and the Routes—except for Kii-ji—became part of a World Heritage site in 2004. In recent years, further sections of the Routes have been added to each of the designated lists (Table); efforts to preserve the Routes continue.
Table: The Current Status of the Additional Designations of the Kumano Pilgrimage Routes as Historic Sites
| The historic route | The nationally designated historic site | The World Heritage site | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The year of additional designation | 2018 | 2026 | 2016 |
| Additional designated sections | Jizo Hirami Path (Ohechi),Senri Beach (Kii-ji), etc. | Meki Pass (Ise-ji), Ishibutsu Hermitage (Ise-ji), etc. | Nagao Slope (Nakahechi), Tokei Shinto Shrine (Ohechi), etc. |
Notes: The table was compiled from the following sources: Agency for Cultural Affairs (2018), Mie Prefecture (2026) and Wakayama Prefectural Board of Education (n.d.)
The Kumano Pilgrimage Routes are no longer used for pilgrimage. Indeed, visiting Kumano Sanzan today does not involve customs such as travelling on foot as a rule, being accompanied by Shugen-do practitioners or performing rituals at subsidiary shrines of Kumano Sanzan. The Routes are affectionately known as Kumano Kodo and widely recognised as a tourist destination. Typically, visitors to Kumano Kodo walk paths through the Kii Mountain Range, many of which are part of Nakahechi, Kohechi or Ise-ji. For instance, Nakahechi has popular hiking sections as follows: Daimon-zaka to Kumano Nachi Grand Shinto Shrine (3 kilometres), Kumano Nachi Grand Shinto Shrine to Kumano Hongu Grand Shinto Shrine (31 kilometres) and Takijiri-oji Shinto Shrine to Kumano Hongu Grand Shinto Shrine (38 kilometres). The first section generally takes half a day on foot, and the second and third sections two days and one night. These three sections are also recommended in several guidebooks to Kumano Kodo (e.g., Davis, 2019, pp. 21–23; Towle, 2019, pp. 180–181).
References
- Davis, K. (2019) Japan’s Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage: The UNESCO World Heritage Trek. Cicerone. https://amzn.asia/d/0gR4q8hg
- Koyama, Y. (2000) Kumano Kodo [Kumano Kodo]. Iwanami Shoten, Publishers. https://amzn.asia/d/01yX77Ym
- Shinohara, S. and Shinohara, R. (2001) Kumano Taisha [The Kumano Grand Shrines], Newly revised edn. Gakuseisha. https://amzn.asia/d/0b60OeyI
- Takagi, T. (2014) Rekishi no Tabi Kumano Kodo wo Aruku [Walking Kumano Kodo: A Journey into History]. Yoshikawa Kobunkan. https://amzn.asia/d/0d8bo0K8
- Tanaka, S. (2021) Shinbutsu no <Koryu> kara Bunri he —Shugen-do Seisaku kara Miru <Kokka to Shukyo> no Kankeishi— [From the Interaction between Shintoism and Buddhism to the Separation between them: The History of the Relationship between the State and Religion from the Perspective of the Policy on Shugen-do]. In: Tanaka S and Terada K (eds) Seich • Kumano to Sekai Isan: Shukyo • Kanko • Kokudo Kaihatsu no Shakaigaku [Spiritual Legacy and World Heritage Destination: Sociology of Religion, Tourism, and National Development]. KOYO SHOBO Corporation. https://amzn.asia/d/06SEkBpP
- Terada, K (2014) Kumano no Kanko Medeia Gensetsu no Hendo —Gaidobukku to Ryoko Zasshi ni okeru Kijutsu wo Taisho to shite— [Change of Tourist Information about Kumano in Wakayama Prefecture]. The Tourism Studies 26(1): pp. 9–21. https://doi.org/10.18979/jitr.26.1_9
- Towle, B. (2019) Kumano Kodo Official Guidebook. Tanabe City Kumano Tourism Bureau. https://www.tb-kumano.jp/en/resources/official-guide-book/
- Agency for Cultural Affairs. (2018) Hodo Happyo Bunka-cho Sentei Rekishi no Michi Hyakusen Tsuika Sentei ni tsuite [Press Release: Regarding the Additional Selection of 100 Historic Routes by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. https://www.bunka.go.jp/koho_hodo_oshirase/hodohappyo/__icsFiles/afieldfile/2019/11/08/a1422484_01.pdf
- Mie Prefecture. (2025) Kumano Sankeimichi Ise-ji no Shiseki Tsuika Shitei no Toshin ga Okonawaremashita [A recommendation was made to add sections of Ise-ji to the list of the nationally designated historic site of the Kumano Pilgrimage Routes]. https://www.pref.mie.lg.jp/TOPICS/m0046300387.htm
- Wakayama Prefectural Board of Education. (n.d.) Sekai Isan Kii Sanchi no Reijo to Sankeimichi no Tsuika Toroku [Additional Designation of the World Heritage Site of Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range]. https://www.pref.wakayama.lg.jp/prefg/500700/sekaiisan/tsuikatouroku.html
