A long stone staircase leads to the sacred grounds of the Kumano Hongu Taisha located on a ridge surrounded by giant cedar and cypress trees. It is one of the Kumano Sanzan, three grand shrines of Kumano, and head shrine of over 3,000 Kumano shrines across Japan.

Kumano Hongu Taisha was originally located at Oyunohara, a sandbank at the confluence of the Kumano and Otonashi Rivers. Legend has it that the Kumano deities, in the form of three moons, descended into the branches of a giant oak tree in this clearing. All of the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage routes lead to this sacred site. 

In 1889 a severe flood destroyed many of the shrine buildings. The salvaged remains of the pavilions were rebuilt at their present site. You can still see the expansive, raised earthen platform where the pavilions once stood. Of the original five main pavilions only three were rebuilt. Four deities were moved there and the other eight are still enshrined here in two stone monuments.

The Otorii weighs 172 tons and took about 6 months to make and 6 months to assemble. It is lit up during special occasions and festivals, such as during the Kumano Hongu Taisha Spring Festival, the Yata-no-Hi Matsuri Fire Festival, and during the New Year holiday.

On April 13th fathers and their young sons purify themselves in the sacred waters of Yunomine Onsen before walking over the Dainichi-goe section of the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route to Oyunohara wearing traditional costumes. The young boys have the character for big on their forehead and are forbidden to touch the ground. 

On April 15th the Kumano Deities are invoked to temporarily take up residence in a portable mikoshi shrine and returned to their original site of descend, Oyunohara. The atmosphere is serene, traditional, authentic and inspiring. Yamabushi mountain ascetics also perform a fire ritual. If you are interested in experiencing a traditional festival in the quiet, spiritual mountains of Kumano this is the festival for you.

More Kumano Hongu Taisha Spring Festival >>

Festival taking place on the last Saturday of August, in Oyunohara (Hongu-cho), in honor of the Yatagarasu crow. This fire festival includes the parading of a fire mikoshi, a Taiko drum show, dancing, and fireworks.

Over the centuries the pavilions were partially destroyed by periodic fires and flooding, but always faithfully rebuilt to their original state. The last fire was in 1776 and the buildings rebuilt again in 1803. The first drawing of the shrine grounds from over 800 years ago and the reconstruction that took place in 1803 are almost exactly identical. After the flood of 1889, the shrine pavilions were meticulously rebuilt at their present location.

Notice how the thick roof gracefully sweeps forward extending over the stairs and the area in front of the shrine. It is made entirely of Hinoki, or Japanese cypress bark. Some of the raw materials come from the trees in the surrounding shrine grove as well as from around the Tsukimigaoka-jinja shrine on the Dainichi-goe section of the Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage route that connects Hongu and Yunomine Onsen. It is replaced every 40~50 years. These restoration projects are expensive and labor-intensive. It is difficult to acquire the traditional building materials; furthermore, the number of skilled craftsmen has drastically diminished with the prevalence of modern-day construction techniques.

The bronze ornaments on the rooftop are characteristic features of shrine architecture. They are now symbolic of the sacred nature of the structure but originally they derived from functional construction techniques and markers of status. The x-shaped crosspieces that pierce the sky are called Chigi and the log-like beams that are laid horizontally along and perpendicular to the ridgeline are called Katsuogi. They add a dramatic highlight to the roofline.

Unique to the Kumano Hongu Taisha is the space or corridor under the verandas of the pavilions. You can see them if you look through the fence. There used to be no fence around the structures so pilgrims and ascetics would use this tiny refuge for meditation, prayer, sutra copying, austere rites and even sleeping quarters. Devotees would receive oracles and commune with the Kumano Deities in this sacred asylum. In fact, this is where Saint Ippen Shonin was enlightened. The Kumano Hongu Taisha is a mixture between Kasuga and Taisha styles but because of this sacred corridor, it has also been referred to as the Kumano style.