Kumano Gongen

Who the gods of Kumano are

Kumano is a region of steep, forested mountains, rivers and waterfalls in the south of the Kii Peninsula. From ancient times it was thought of as a land of the dead and of rebirth, a place where people went to be renewed. Three great shrines, the Kumano Sanzan, grew up there: Hongū Taisha in the mountains, Hayatama Taisha at the mouth of the Kumano River, and Nachi Taisha above Nachi Falls.

Each shrine has its own main god. Hongū honours Ketsumimiko, identified with Susanoo; Hayatama honours Kumano Hayatama, identified with Izanagi; and Nachi honours Kumano Fusumi, identified with Izanami, the mother of the gods. Together with other gods, they are counted as the twelve deities of Kumano.

Gods who were also Buddhas

For centuries, until the separation of Shinto and Buddhism in 1868, the Kumano gods were worshipped as gongen, Buddhas who had “appeared in the form” of kami. The god of Hongū was Amida, the Buddha of the Pure Land; the god of Nachi was the thousand-armed Kannon. This is why the Buddhist temple Seiganto-ji still stands beside Kumano Nachi Taisha.

Because the gods of Kumano welcomed everyone, rich or poor, men or women, the pilgrimage to Kumano became one of the most popular in Japan. Retired emperors made the journey many times, and so many people walked the mountain paths that the lines of pilgrims were compared to processions of ants. Those paths, the Kumano Kodō, are now a World Heritage Site.

The crow and the waterfall

The messenger of the Kumano gods is Yatagarasu, a crow with three legs. In the chronicles, a great crow sent by heaven guided the legendary first emperor, Jimmu, through the mountains of Kumano. Today the crow appears on Kumano charms, and on the emblem of the Japan Football Association.

At Nachi, the falls themselves are a god. Nachi Falls, the highest single-drop waterfall in Japan at 133 metres, is the sacred body of Hirō Shrine, the place where worship at Nachi began.

Why they matter for festivals

Every year on July 14, the deities of Nachi are carried down to the waterfall in twelve tall ōgi mikoshi, decorated with fans. On the stone steps, bearers carrying twelve huge burning torches meet them and purify their path: the Nachi Fire Festival, one of the most dramatic sights in Japan.