Nachi Falls & Around

At 133 metres, Nachi Falls is Japan's tallest single-drop waterfall, and it has been worshipped as a deity for well over a millennium. The vermilion pagoda of Seiganto-ji framed against the white cascade is one of the country's defining images. Reaching it, you climb Daimon-zaka, a stone stair rising through 800-year-old cedars along the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage routes, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Down on the coast, Katsuura's harbour lands more tuna than almost anywhere in Japan — breakfast at the morning market is the local reward for an early start. This section covers the whole sacred east: Hongu's grand shrine deep in Tanabe's mountains, where the pilgrim trails converge; Shingu, whose Hayatama shrine and Kamikura rock complete the Kumano trinity; and the whaling town of Taiji beside Katsuura's harbours — plus Kitayama, a mountain enclave village famous for shooting its river gorge on log rafts.