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Kii Peninsula
This amazing natural rock formation is a line of about a dozen spire-like boulders extending 900m into the water like the supports of a bridge. It's popular for a ramble at low tide and for photos at sunrise. You can walk here from JR Kushimoto Station in about 25 minutes, heading north along the main road.
Alternatively, from in front of the train station take a bus bound for Sabe or Kamitahara to Hashigui-iwa (¥200, three minutes, six daily).
15.31 MILES
At 133m, Nachi-no-taki is Japan's highest waterfall. It's the first of many still deeper in the Nachi mountains and has long been used in ascetic training.
24.27 MILES
Kumano Hongū Taisha is one of the Kumano Sanzan (three great shrines of Kumano) and if you're following the traditional pilgrim route, it's the first one…
13.64 MILES
Built on the side of a mountain, facing the waterfall Nachi-no-taki, this shrine is one of Kii's most spiritual places, a site of ancient nature worship…
21.11 MILES
Located at the mouth of the Kumano-gawa, Kumano Hayatama Taisha is one of the Kumano Sanzan (three sacred shrines of Kumano), enshrining Hayatama-no-Okami…
13.63 MILES
This wooden temple, absent of colour and next to the Shintō shrine Kumano Nachi Taisha, was last rebuilt in 1590, making it the oldest building in Kii …
19.36 MILES
According to the Kumano faith, this large boulder, wedged on the side of Gongen-yama, was where the three principal gods descended to earth. It was the…
23.81 MILES
In 2000 this giant torii (entrance gate to a Shintō shrine) – 33.9m tall and 42m wide, made out of steel, painted dramatic black and the largest in Japan …
13.76 MILES
For a close-up look at the falls, hike the 135 steps to this small shrine, which has a viewing platform (it's also the spot from which to worship the…
3.77 MILES
Though Japan was famously closed to most foreign traders for 200 years between the mid-17th and mid-19th centuries, that doesn't mean people didn't try to…
3.91 MILES
In 1890 the Turkish ship Ertuğrul, returning from a diplomatic mission between the Ottoman and Japanese empires, sunk off the rocky coast of Kii – a…
4.03 MILES
This small lighthouse (c 1870) was the first of eight modern lighthouses to be built after Japan opened up to foreign trade. The building itself isn't all…
13.63 MILES
This wooden temple, absent of colour and next to the Shintō shrine Kumano Nachi Taisha, was last rebuilt in 1590, making it the oldest building in Kii …
13.64 MILES
Built on the side of a mountain, facing the waterfall Nachi-no-taki, this shrine is one of Kii's most spiritual places, a site of ancient nature worship…
13.76 MILES
For a close-up look at the falls, hike the 135 steps to this small shrine, which has a viewing platform (it's also the spot from which to worship the…
15.31 MILES
At 133m, Nachi-no-taki is Japan's highest waterfall. It's the first of many still deeper in the Nachi mountains and has long been used in ascetic training.
19.36 MILES
According to the Kumano faith, this large boulder, wedged on the side of Gongen-yama, was where the three principal gods descended to earth. It was the…