Daimon-zaka, Kumano Kodo

About this place

Daimon-zaka is a stone-paved slope on the Kumano Kodo that climbs through ancient cedar forest towards Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine and Nachi Falls, in Nachikatsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, about 6 km from the town in a straight line. The Kumano Kodo is a network of ancient pilgrimage routes across the Kii Peninsula, Japan's largest, leading to the three Grand Shrines of Kumano. Pilgrims from peasants to emperors have walked them for more than a thousand years, and in 2004 parts were inscribed as a World Heritage Site as the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range. The path climbs mossy stone steps beneath towering cedars, some of them hundreds of years old, with light filtering between the trunks, so it feels like an old road left just as it was. The walk from the foot of the slope to the shrine takes about an hour uphill, and the steps are slippery after rain, so wear good shoes. Buses run to the start of the slope, and you can carry on to the shrine and the falls.