Seiganto-ji, first temple of the Saigoku pilgrimage

photo by Naokijp · CC BY-SA 4.0

photo by ttshr1970 · CC BY 3.0

The three-storey pagoda, rebuilt in 1972 after 400 years, has a lift up: 200 yen.

First of the 33 temples of the Saigoku Kannon pilgrimage (西国三十三所), the oldest pilgrimage circuit in Japan, set against the mountain next to the Shinto shrine of Kumano Nachi Taisha: until 1868 the two formed a single syncretic religious complex (神仏習合, the fusion of Buddhist and Shinto rites practised before the forced separation of the Meiji era). The main hall, the Nyoirin-dō, was rebuilt on the orders of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1590 and has stood for over four centuries. Behind it, the vermilion three-storey pagoda (rebuilt in 1972 after burning down in 1581, 25 metres high) frames, together with Nachi Falls, the most photographed view in the prefecture.

Founded, according to tradition, by the Indian monk Ragyō Shōnin in the 4th century. A component of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ‘Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range’ since 2004; the main hall is a national Important Cultural Property.

ℹ️ Free entry to the complex, 7:00–16:30 all year round (hours vary at New Year and at the start of the month). Lift up the pagoda, 200–300 yen, 8:00–16:00. By bus from Kii-Katsuura or from Nachi Station, Nachisan bus stop; the last stretch on foot up the steps beside Kumano Nachi Taisha.

🚉 Nachisan · 5 min walk

Sources: ja.wikipedia.org · seigantoji.or.jp · wakayama-kanko.or.jp

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