Water is a sacred purifying element in Japanese nature worship, used as an integral purification rite along the Kumano Kodo Nakahechi route by pilgrims on their way to the three Kumano Sanzan Grand Shrines.
Pilgrims and mountain ascetics practiced a variety of water purifying rituals such as river or waterfall ablutions or soaking in onsen hot spring waters for revival and rebirth.
Origins
The Kumano area and water purification, also called “misogi 禊”, have a long, deep connection and an important part of Japan’s origin story.
The Kumano area is considered to be a living landscape for not only the realm of the deities but that of the Dead as well.
When creation deity Izanagi’s wife, Izanami, had died, he was said to have pursued her to the underworld, Yomi-no-Kuni, the entrance to which was said to be in the Kumano area.
He was shocked when he found her only to discover his wife’s once-beautiful body now in a horrid state of decay. It was said he fled and purified himself in the waters of the Sanzu-no-Kawa, the river separating the realms of the living and the dead.
Many deities were created through these rituals such as Amaterasu, the powerful sun goddess, and Susano, the main deity of Kumano Hongu Taisha.
Shiogori 潮垢離
In Tanabe, ancient retired emperors would perform salt-water ablutions in the sea called “shiogori”.
Shio 潮 means “sea” and gori 垢離 or ごり “to cleanse or a purification ritual.”
Shiogori Salt-water Purification Memorial
A memorial in honor of this practice is at Ogigahama Beach in Tanabe City. Visitors are encouraged to try purifying their hands in the sea water before they begin their walk on the Kumano Kodo.
A commemorative stamp is also here.
Mizugori 水ごり
Many water purifying rites are called “mizugori 水ごり” in Japanese.
Some pilgrims would fully immerse themselves in the waters of a river or waterfall in a cleansing act.
These might have been done in the Iwata (now Tonda) River near Inabane-oji shrine, or in the Iwata or Ishiburi rivers at Takijiri-oji shrine at the Kumano Kodo mountain gateway entrance.
These cold-water ablutions would be done several times before worshipping at the shrines to cleanse the body and spirit.
Some believe that the confluence of two rivers at Takijiri-oji is considered to be a place where the creation deity Izanagi may have stopped to purify himself.
Yugori 湯ごり
Onsen hot spring waters were also used to purify pilgrims along the Kumano Kodo.
Yunomine Onsen with 1,800 years of history was famed for these “yugori 湯ごり” hot-water purification rites.
There are many stories about how the hot mineral waters soothed and healed many souls. One story of redemption and rebirth in particular, Oguri Hangan, is retold in various forms in Japanese entertainment culture.
Visitors can soak in the same Tsuboyu bath, said by some to be the oldest in Japan, like Oguri did to regain his body and soul.
Even now visitors can practice a variety of ways to try and purify themselves like ancient pilgrims as they walk through the natural Kumano landscape.