#湖西的天空#: A 14-Day Free Travel in Kansai – D5: Kumano Kodo, Nachi Taisha, Hayatama Taisha, etc.

May 27, 2025, cloudy turning overcast. Today we have a lot of walking. In the morning, we visited the attractions around Kii-Katsuura, and at noon we went to Shingu to continue exploring.

After resting for a night, I stepped out in the morning to breathe fresh air and enjoy the beautiful scenery of Kii-Katsuura. The hotel is opposite the Urashima Pier.

The Urashima Hotel, recommended by many netizens, is accessed by taking the ferry from this pier.

Strolling along the coast, many fishing boats were moored here for supplies.

There were many eagles flying in the sky.

At the end of the road is a pocket park with a stone tablet inscribed with the words "Monument for the Revitalization of the Kumano Sea Fishery".

The building on the opposite bank is the Urashima Hotel.

There is also a building on the hilltop, also part of the Urashima Hotel, which is the Yama no Yakata, highly praised by many netizens.

On the other side is a lighthouse.

Take a panorama to see if it's beautiful.

After the morning walk, I returned for breakfast. The hotel offers a simple breakfast—really simple, just sliced bread and coffee.

The most important thing is to be full. After breakfast, I checked out and left my luggage at the front desk for light travel.

I took a bus from Kii-Katsuura Station to Nachi Mountain, got off at Daimon-zaka Station, and walked from Daimon-zaka to Nachi Taisha, experiencing the shortest section of the Kumano Kodo. If you don't want to hike, you can also take the bus directly to the Nachi Mountain terminal (today, among the passengers on the same bus, one Taiwanese tourist got off at Daimon-zaka to hike, while her friend took the bus directly to the terminal to meet her).

There are two pilgrimage routes in the world listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites: one in Spain, and one in Wakayama, Japan.

Kumano Kodo is the collective name for the pilgrimage routes used by ancient Japanese emperors, aristocrats, and common people to visit the Kumano Sanzan (Kumano Hongu Taisha, Kumano Hayatama Taisha, and Kumano Nachi Taisha). It spans three prefectures—Wakayama, Mie, and Nara—in the southern part of the Kii Peninsula on Honshu, winding through towering mountains, primeval forests, and rural towns.

When traveling to the Kii Peninsula in Wakayama, you absolutely cannot miss these three easily accessible grand shrines. Due to time constraints, we only visited two: Kumano Nachi Taisha (near Kii-Katsuura) and Kumano Hayatama Taisha (in Shingu). Kumano Hongu Taisha requires an hour-long bus ride from Shingu, with a round trip taking two to three hours, so we couldn't fit it into this trip.

The Daimon-zaka section of the Kumano Kodo is a stone-paved approach path preserving the atmosphere of the Heian period, flanked by ancient cedar trees over four to five hundred years old. It is about one kilometer long and connects Kumano Nachi Taisha with Nachi Waterfall.

Among them is the Couple Cedar (see the two trees below), with a tree age of over eight hundred years.

Proceed in the direction indicated.

After about forty minutes of hiking, I returned to the road.

There is a very clear sign on the road: turn left.

At the entrance of Nachi Taisha, at the top of the steps, stands the bright vermilion and white Kumano Nachi Taisha.

Follow the rule of ascending on the left and descending on the right.

This giant camphor tree is revered as a sacred tree, with a natural hollow in the trunk that you can enter (for a fee) to feel the tree's breath.

Seiganto-ji is a Tendai Buddhist temple, said to have been founded by an Indian monk in the early 5th century.

Seiganto-ji and the adjacent Kumano Nachi Taisha together form a religious complex of Shinto-Buddhist fusion, and along with Nachi Waterfall and the Kumano Kodo, they are part of the UNESCO World Heritage site "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range."

The three-storied pagoda within the temple grounds complements the waterfall, creating an iconic landscape.

The combination of the pagoda and the waterfall is widely regarded as a symbol of the Kumano region.

The three-storied pagoda is 25 meters tall, a representative work of traditional Japanese architecture. Its vermilion body contrasts sharply with the lush forest behind it. From inside the pagoda, you can overlook Nachi Waterfall, which plunges 133 meters.

Walk down the descending path to see Nachi Waterfall.

Nachi Waterfall is known as Japan's top waterfall, with a drop of 133 meters, a width of 13 meters, and a pool depth of 10 meters.

After viewing the waterfall, I returned the same way.

I waited at the bus stop by the road for the bus back to Kii-Katsuura.

I returned to Kii-Katsuura Station at 10:30 a.m.

I retrieved my luggage from the hotel and took the midday train to Shingu.

After a simple lunch, I entered the station to wait for the train.

The train ride from Kii-Katsuura to Shingu took only 20 minutes. Upon exiting the station, I found the reserved hotel. The hotel lobby is on the third floor. Strangely, there was no obvious hotel logo or sign on the first floor, so when the navigation told me I had arrived, I was confused for a moment. The only building around looked like a hotel, so I went in (the first floor had no one, resembling an office building lobby). Beside the elevator, there was a hotel notice saying the lobby is on the third floor.

Since it wasn't check-in time, I left my luggage at the front desk and immediately went to Hayatama Taisha.

The attractions in Shingu are basically in the city center, with distances of at most one or two kilometers between them. As some netizens said, you can walk there.

Hayatama Taisha is 750 meters from the hotel, so I walked there.

Kumano Hayatama Taisha, one of the three core shrines of Kumano Sanzan, is located at the foot of the western mountain in Shingu, at the confluence of the Kumano River.

The main hall is a group of vermilion wooden structures. At the end of the approach path, the Twelve Shrines and the thousand-year-old bamboo cypress sacred tree create a unique religious landscape.

After leaving Hayatama Taisha, I walked to the riverbank to enjoy the natural beauty of the Kumano River in Shingu.

Then I went to Shingu Castle Ruins (Tanzaku Park). The name of this ancient castle might originate from the presence of red-crowned cranes, full of natural mystery and charm.

Climbing to the top of Shingu Castle Ruins, I was greeted by the magnificent view of the Kumano River flowing into the Pacific Ocean.

Leaving Tanzaku Park, I continued north to another World Heritage site: Asuka Shrine.

Finally, I came to Xu Fu Park near Shingu Station.

This is a theme park built to commemorate the Qin dynasty alchemist Xu Fu. It was opened to the public in 1994 after the Wakayama Prefectural Government organized the existing Xu Fu-related relics.

The park features Xu Fu's tomb, a statue of Xu Fu, the Fountain of Youth, and plants of "tendai uyaku," which symbolize the elixir of immortality.

As one of the representative relics of the legend of Xu Fu's eastward voyage in Japan, Xu Fu Park is regarded as an important testament to Sino-Japanese cultural exchange, attracting many visitors.

The exterior of Shingu Station. I passed by Shingu Station on the way back to the hotel, so I took a picture for the record.

I successfully checked into the hotel. It looks really nice.

Today, I visited the main attractions in both Kii-Katsuura and Shingu, going up and down a lot and covering quite a distance. I'll rest for a while first.

In the evening, I went out to find food but didn't find anything suitable. So I simply bought groceries at the large supermarket near the hotel. Since I'll be spending most of tomorrow traveling by train to Tottori, I also bought some bread, fruit, and snacks for emergencies.