Kumano Hayatama Taisha

Kumano Hayatama Taisha is one of the three Grand Shrines of the Kumano Sanzan, located in Shingū City, Wakayama Prefecture, where the Kumano River meets the Pacific Ocean. Its principal deities are Kumano Hayatama-no-Okami (identified with Izanagi) and Kumano Fusumi-no-Okami (identified with Izanami), together with ten attendant deities venerated as the Shingū Junisha Daigongen. According to tradition, the deities first descended upon sacred Kamikura Mountain — marked by the Gotobiki Rock and the Kamikura-jinja shrine — before being enshrined at the current "Shingū" (new palace) site approximately 2,000 years ago. A UNESCO World Heritage Site (2004) as a constituent element of "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range," the shrine served as the head shrine for thousands of Kumano branch shrines across Japan, a network built through medieval pilgrimage culture promoted by wandering yamabushi ascetics and Kumano bikuni nuns. The shrine treasury holds over 1,000 nationally designated cultural properties. A giant nagi tree (Podocarpus nagi) said to have been planted by Taira no Shigemori over 800 years ago, designated a National Natural Monument, is revered as a symbol of marital bonds. The Oto Matsuri fire festival at Kamikura-jinja (February 6) — where participants carry torches down a steep stone stairway at night — is among the most dramatic festivals in Japan.

Kumano Hayatama Taisha is located in Shingu-shi, Wakayama. The full address is: 1 Shingu, Shingu-shi, Wakayama.

The enshrined deities are: Kumano Hayatama no Okami, Kumano Sanjo Gongen (Three Kumano Deities).