The Kii Hanto and the Kumano pathways were once the country’s foremost place of pilgrimage. They remain, even today, a spiritual heartland. For foreign visitors who want to see something of ‘the real Japan’, you can hardly choose a … Read the rest
Category: Kumano (Page 2 of 3)
There are areas of Japan with a numinous quality, where the veil between this world and the sacred is at its thinnest. One is Izumo; another is Kumano. On opposite sides of Honshu, the two regions are nonetheless linked in … Read the rest
Those who have read The Catalpa Bow will know of the notion that paradise lay on the far side of the sea. For medieval believers, the idea was that Kannon’s island paradise called Mt Furdaraku (or Potala in Sanskrit) … Read the rest
Water plays a big part in the three big Kumano shrines. Hayatama Taisha sits near the sea. Nachi is by a waterfall. Hongu for most of its life was on an islet at the confluence of streams which merged … Read the rest
Nachi waterfall is the largest in Japan. It’s also revered as a kami. It not only speaks of the blessings of nature, but it radiates negative ions. Nowhere else exudes vitality quite as strongly.
In times past the waterfall … Read the rest
Shinto mythology tells of how a descendant of the sun goddess named Jimmu, who was living on the east coast of Kyushu, set off to bring ‘enlightened rule’ to the troubled provinces in Honshu. Accordingly under the leadership of … Read the rest
Kumano is a land of legends, and together with Yamato and Izumo it’s one of Japan’s spiritual heartlands. It’s also part of the Kii peninsula World Heritage site boasting three shrines, two temples, pilgrimage routes and a hot spring. … Read the rest