Kumano Kodo pilgrimage route
For over 1,000 years, people from all levels of society around Japan have made the arduous pilgrimage to Kumano area walking through now called the Kumano Kodo. These pilgrims used a network of routes across the sacred mountains of Kii Peninsula. The route starting from Ise Jingu (Ise shrine) to Kumano grand shrines is called Iseji route, which passes through Kumano city,In order to prevent mountain path from crumbling caused by the largest amount of rainfall in Japan, many parts of the path have strongly built stone pavement. We can also find long stone walls with height of a person along the mountain path which were built to protect rice terraces and farms from wild pigs. These were all built by hands and remain beautifully that tell us amazing skills of the people in those days.
Kumano Kodo pilgrimage routes were registered as UNESCO World Heritage as part of the ""Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range"" property in 2004. The people from all over the world visit Kumano Kodo recently to experience the unique cultural landscape of Kumano's spiritual countryside.
