I live near a World Heritage site that is an ancient pilgrimage route winding through the Land of Kumano, in Japan.
There are only two WH sites in the world that are pilgrimage routes (the other is in Santiago, Spain).
This one is special for its continued spiritual significance for Japanese, and now for many westerners too, even today.
It is a land separated from what many know as "Japan" -- such as Tokyo, manga, bushido, geisha and sumo -- but was and is a place that thousands sought and worshipped to relieve themselves of earthly troubles and sin of physical life.
One of its major starting points is Takijiri Oji (or Shrine), pictured above, where folks can cross the "edge" of the spiritual world just like former emperors for Kyoto a thousand years ago, or commoners and others from all walks of life later.
In fact the name of this land, "Kumano," meant "edge," and this shrine was their last stop before a hard journey wound up and into the land of the deities.
Behind the shrine, a path ascends sharply up into the mountains and toward the sacred "San Zan," or three sacred grand shrines: Hongu Taisha, Hayatama Jinja and Nachi Taisha.
I haven't really hiked this trail since before I got married. My wife (fiancee at the time) and I walked it four days from Hongu to this place, Takijiri, just after a typhoon had come through during the spring holiday. Folks usually go the other way, with Hongu the goal, but the typhoon had changed our plans.
We camped in a valley after I misjudged the distance one evening, and were harassed by animals (or spirits) that night, ran out of food another, but still made it back to Takijiri. I knew I would marry my wife that day after sharing the route. She stuck with me after my navigational mistakes. And I remember this great, big smile she had when we got down off the mountain, like something had awakened in her.
So, a couple weeks ago, we took a couple of our kids to Takijiri, again. Because I want to hike this trail with them some day, too. It's a beautiful spot in a world that is slowly being overrun by electric wire and concrete, crude oil spills and the onslaught of apartment housing and oversized vehicles.
It still seems to be a purifying place, deep, spooky and reverential.
I hope you all come and see it, too.
Let me know if you need a guide.
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