Kamikura Shrine — Attraction in Shingu

This ancient shrine is located halfway up Mt. Gongen, where the gods are said to have first descended to earth. It is at the top of a very steep cliff, called Amanoiwa-tate, on the Kumano Pilgrimage route, and is reached by climbing 538 very steep stone steps with no hand rails. At the top of these steps is a large, sacred rock called Gotobiki-iwa, which is revered as the dwelling place of one of the shrine's deities. The shrine has the best view of the entire Shingu area, as well as of the Kumano Sea, and is also the site of the Oto Matsuri Festival 🔥, which is held on February 6 every year. In the darkness, men holding lit torches run down the steep stone steps of Mt. Gongen! Free parking is available. No goshuin stamp is offered at this site. You can only get the goshuin stamp at the main shrine at Kumano...

The Kamikura Shrine is where a very big stone located. I don’t think the stone itself is particularly noteworthy (albeit it being very big), but the walk up is notoriously difficult and memorable.

Half way to the shrine the walk is very steep to the point that it felt like rock climbing, and it’s very tiring. (The locals would say,”it’s tough to the point you feel like dying!”). Yet it’s this walk that I think made the trip memorable. As we went down also because of the steepness I had a sense of vertigo, and was scared, but after overcoming it I felt like I learned something. No wonder it’s part of the ancient Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage route.

The other halft after the steep part is relatively easy, and pleasant. It’s also nice that once from the top we can see the sea and have a good view of Shingu, the...

Google Maps won’t find this attraction correctly. You end up in the driveway of a house. You go 5 stoplights down from the one that goes to Kumano Hatanaka Shrine and you will see a sign on the side of a building pointing to ‘Kannikura Shrine’. The parking lot only holds 8 cars. First of all, there are not 500 stone steps to this shrine; more like 180, where it levels out, but I wasn’t complaining at the time. Maybe it’s 500 TOTAL steps to the shrine. Still, it is well-maintained and quite picturesque and unusual due to...