Kumano Kodo Three Grand Shrines & Nachi Falls Day Tour from Osaka

Kumano Hongu Taisha and the Great Torii of Oyunohara

Kumano Hongu Taisha is the spiritual heart of the Kumano faith and the shrine where many walkers on the Kumano Kodo end their pilgrimage. Its main halls, roofed in dark cypress bark, sit at the top of a stone stairway lined with tall cedars and white pilgrim banners. The symbol you see everywhere is the three-legged crow, the messenger believed to guide travellers through the mountains.

Until a great flood in 1889 the shrine stood on Oyunohara, a sandbank where three rivers meet, and that original site is now marked by the Great Torii, a steel gate about 34 metres high and the largest torii in the world. On this tour you spend about 50 minutes here, enough to walk under the gate, climb to the halls and collect a stamp in your pilgrimage booklet.

Daimon-zaka: walking the Kumano Kodo pilgrim route

Daimon-zaka is the most photographed stretch of the Kumano Kodo, the network of pilgrim trails used for more than a thousand years by emperors, monks and ordinary travellers heading to the Grand Shrines. The path climbs a long staircase of worn, moss-covered stones between huge cedar trees, some of them around 800 years old, and begins beside a pair of twin cedars that pilgrims treat as a gateway.

The walk on this tour takes about 20 to 40 minutes, so you feel the atmosphere of a real Kumano Kodo hike without a multi-day trek. Expect many uneven steps and cool, shaded air under the trees; comfortable shoes make all the difference. If you have wondered whether a Kumano Kodo day trip from Osaka is possible, this short section shows you the essence of the trail.

Kumano Nachi Taisha and Seiganto-ji Temple

Kumano Nachi Taisha stands high on the slopes of Mount Nachi, its bright vermilion halls overlooking the forest and the distant sea. Right next door is Seiganto-ji, a Buddhist temple that is the first stop of the Saigoku pilgrimage of thirty-three Kannon temples. The two grew up side by side, and this is one of the clearest places in Japan to see how Shinto and Buddhism have long coexisted.

The view everyone comes for is the three-storey vermilion pagoda of Seiganto-ji with Nachi Falls pouring down the cliff behind it, one of the classic images of Japan. The Nachi area is the longest part of this tour, about two hours and twenty minutes in total, which leaves time to explore the shrine, the temple and the viewpoints without rushing.

Nachi Falls and Hiro Shrine

Nachi Falls drops 133 metres in a single white column, making it the tallest waterfall of its kind in Japan and one of the country's most revered natural sites. In the Kumano faith the waterfall itself is a deity, and Hiro Shrine at its foot has no main hall: the falls are the object of worship, approached through a tall torii and a cedar-lined stone path.

From the platform near the base you feel the spray and hear the roar, especially after rain in early summer, when the volume of water is at its most powerful. Many visitors find this the most moving stop of the day. The best time to visit Nachi Falls for photographs is late morning, when the sun lights the rock face and the mist often makes a faint rainbow.

Kumano Hayatama Taisha and Totsukawa Onsen

Kumano Hayatama Taisha in Shingu, near the mouth of the Kumano River, completes the trio of Grand Shrines. Its buildings are painted a vivid vermilion with white and green details, one of the most colourful shrine complexes in the region. In the grounds grows a sacred Nagi tree said to be about a thousand years old, whose leaves are kept as charms for safe journeys and lasting bonds.

After a short visit of about 20 minutes the coach heads north through the mountain valleys to Totsukawa, one of the largest villages in Japan by area and known for its natural hot springs. Here you slip off your shoes for an ashiyu, a traditional open-air foot bath, a perfect way to rest your legs after the shrine stairs before the evening drive back to Osaka.