CHEMINS DE PÈLERINAGE DE KUMANO
There is a Japanese saying that to understand Kumano is to understand Japan. The Kumano Kodo paths are a set of pilgrimage trails located in the southern part of the Kii Peninsula. For more than a thousand years they have been used by pilgrims of all ranks, from the simple peasant to the first emperor who created Japanese unity. These paths offer three main routes, sometimes difficult, in a remote and mountainous region, on the coast of the peninsula, irregular and uneven, in the heart of a temperate and humid forest. The Nakahechi route is particularly rich in evidence of the past. Engraved stones and huge rocks, mountains and plains, rivers and waterfalls, hot springs and lush forests are deified and revered as deities, kami in Japanese.. The paths of Nakahechi, Iseji, Omine and Ohechi connect the Kumano Hongu Taisha Grand Shrine (considered the epicenter), the Kumano Hayatama Taisha Grand Shrine, the Kumano Nachi Taisha Grand Shrine, and the Nachisan Seiganto-ji Temple. The latter, with Japan's largest waterfall in the background, 133 meters high, is a perfect example of syncretism, i.e. the combination of the two Japanese religions, Buddhism and Shintoism. Since 2004, these paths have been included in the Unesco list of World Cultural Heritage Sites, under the title "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountains".
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