Hosshinmon-oji to Kumano Hongu Taisha
Arrival
- Distance
- 7.5 km
- Climb
- 190 m up, 460 m down
- Ground
- 80 to 350 m
- Time
- 2 to 3 hours
- Difficulty
- easy
- Underfoot
- forest, dirt, paved
Where this day sits on the Kumano Kodo
Above, the highest and lowest ground of each of its 4 stages. Below, the word each day is given.
From open-pilgrimages: each stage's highest and lowest ground and its interior theme.
The day
At Fushiogami-oji, you see Kumano Hongu Taisha for the first time. 'Fushiogami' means 'prostrate worship' — pilgrims traditionally fell to their knees here. The final walk is gentle, descending through tea plantations and small villages to the shrine. Kumano Hongu Taisha is not monumental. It is modest, wooden, nestled in mountains. For centuries this was a place of shinbutsu-shūgō — the fusion of Shinto and Buddhism — where the Kumano deities were understood as both kami and Buddhist manifestations. The Yatagarasu — the three-legged crow — watches from the banners. Nearby stands Oyunohara — the original site of the shrine before floods destroyed it in 1889 — marked now by the largest torii gate in Japan, rising from a river sandbar like a door to a world that no longer exists. You have arrived at what emperors traveled weeks to reach.
What pilgrims often meet here
- The first glimpse of the shrine from Fushiogami-oji
- Quiet emotion at arrival — deeper than expected, not dramatic but profound
- The enormous torii gate at Oyunohara nearby
- Soaking in Yunomine or Kawayu Onsen after
What did the mountains give you that you could not have found in a building?
The ground
The final descent through forest and small settlements to Kumano Hongu Taisha. Passes Fushiogami-oji where pilgrims first see the shrine and traditionally prostrate in reverence.
The light
Sunrise and sunset in Hosshinmon-oji depend on the day you walk.
Walk it with Pilgrim
In Pilgrim's Honor mode you can walk this stage as it is drawn here, and save its maps for days with no signal. The morning opens with this day's word, Arrival, and its story. When you arrive, it asks the question above, and you can answer out loud. Your walk stays on your phone.
With Pilgrim on your phone, this opens the stage, ready to begin. Without it, you'll see the stage and where to get the app.