Nachi, in Wakayama, is famous in Japan for its 133 metre high waterfall, and Nachi Grand Shrine. On the south-east coast of Wakayama Prefecture, in the Kii Peninsula, this whole area is steeped in myth and legend. Nachi is part of the Grand shrines of Kumano UNESCO-registered World Heritage site, and one of the Three Grand Shrines of Kumano, which deify the three mountains of Kumano. Now worshipped as part of esoteric Buddhism, the religious significance goes back to the pre-Buddhist period in Japan, when shintoism was the only religion. The difference between the two religions has become somewhat blurred. You may see pilgrims, dressed in white, making their way to Nachi- it is at the eastern end of the Nakahechi, of the ancient pilgrimage routes known as the Kumano kodo. If you are not arriving on foot, then the train from Osaka to Nachi is the logical alternative. The journey itself is dramatic; the train hugs the coast and you see the open Pacific as it laps at the rugged coastline and small villages. At Nachi, a bus takes you up the small road for 30 minutes to the shrine and the waterfall. In July, the famous Nachi Fire festival is held. 50kg torches made of pine branches are held and set on fire. The fire is meant to purify the mikoshi, portable shrines, that are carried by men up the stairs leading to the Nachi shrine itself. In the past, yamabushi, mountain ascetics, would come the waterfalls to undergo penance. They would immerse themselves in the icy water in winter, in an ordeal known as taki-gyo.
Although Nachi is known in Japan, it is not well-known to foreign visitors, and part of the reason is its remote location. The bullet train doesn’t come here, only a slow train from Osaka that takes about 4 to 5 hours. There are no highways, just a two-lane road that hugs the coast or an even smaller road through the mountains that takes about 5 hours from Nara. Nearby is the hot spring town of Katsuura; there are two amazing hot spring hotels in the bay, one on its own private island and the other built into a rock formation off the coast with a hot spring bath in a cave! Also, the former whaling town of Taiji is nearby, with its whaling museum and whaling monuments. Not for the squeamish.
If you want to stay at Nachi, there are several shukubo, pilgrim’s lodges, that will provide a room. One of them is Shonshoin temple, run by a friendly monk.
We visit Nachi on the Imperial Pilgrimage tour.
