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Attraction Location
Oyunohara - Original Kumano Hongu Taisha Site Videos
Kumano Hongu Taisha annual festival
The Kumano Hongu Taisha spring festival is held April 13th to 15th every year, a quintessential festival of Kumano. It is intimately associated with the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route.
On April 13th fathers and their young sons purify themselves in the sacred waters of Yunomine Onsen before walking over the Dainichi-goe section of the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route to Oyunohara wearing traditional costumes. The young boys have the character for big 大written on their forehead and are forbidden to touch the ground having been imbued with the gods.
April 15th is the main day of the festival when the Kumano Deities are invoked to temporarily take up residence a portable mikoshi shrine and returned to their original site of descent, Oyunohara. It is carried with great pomp and circumstance on the shoulders of 20 to 30 people.
It is an exciting event as the mikoshi is spun and tossed in the air as it makes its rounds purifying the village. At Oyunohara various rituals and celebrations take place, including fire rituals by Yamabushi and mochi rice cake scramble.
The atmosphere is serene, traditional, authentic and inspiring. If you are interested in experiencing a traditional festival in the quiet, spiritual mountains of Kumano, then this is the festival for you.
Oyunohara: Kumano Kodo How-to Series
Oyunohara is a sandbank on the Kumano-gawa River and the original site of the Kumano Hongu Taisha. This video offers an overview of the sacred site including the giant Otorii gateway. Kumano Kodo: How-to Series.
Kumano Sanzan-Hongu Taisha
Kumano Sanzan-Hongu Taisha in the Spring. A quiet tour through the grounds of Hongu shrine in Hongu, Tanabe, in Wakayama Ken, Japan. The tour takes you up the stone steps to the main shrine where yatagarasu images are ubiquitous. Then into the inner shrine to watch people in prayer. After that down to the carp pond and off to Oyunohara, the original Hongu Shrine. This is one of the most famous Shinto Jinja in Japanese history.
Oyunohara and Kumano-gawa River
Oyunohara is the original location of the Kumano Hongu Taisha Grand Shrine. It is the epicenter of the World Heritage Kumano Kodo pilgrimage routes.
The Kumano-gawa River is the largest in the Kii peninsula of Japan and considered sacred.