Asuka was the first capital of Japan during the very earliest part of Japan’s recorded history. It preceeded both Nara and Kyoto, and ended a period during when the seat of government was changed each year.

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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. (more…)

Takachiho in Miyazaki Prefecture. Takachiho is associated in Japan with the creation myths that are connected with the Japanese Imperial Family. According to these legends, the Imperial Family traces its roots back to the first recorded Emperor, Jimmu, who was born in Miyazaki, and set out on a voyage which eventually took him to Asuka near present-day Nara, where his burial mound now stands. For many Japanese, Miyazaki is the cradle of their civilisation, and you can find many sites throughout this part of eastern Kyushu that are associated with the myths. There seems to be some truth behind the legend of Jimmu’s voyage from Miyazaki, but Takachiho’s part is perhaps more difficult to prove. According to the Kojiki chronicles, Jimmu’s great-grandfather was the god Ninigi-no-mikoto, himself grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu-no-Omikami. Amaterasu is associated with Takachiho Gorge, in the famous Cave legend, where she went off to sulk in a cave after a prank by her brother. Being the sun-goddess, as she entered the cave the world was plunged into darkness. In order to tempt her out again and bring light back, another goddess named Uzume did a dance for the other gods outside the cave entrance. The curious Amaterasu peeped out and the cave door was shut quickly behind her.

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