Kumano Kodo pilgrimage – Day 5 – Thursday, November 16, 2017 – Kumano Nachi Taisha

After a good night sleep, breakfast was at 7 am. The shuttle bus took me to Shingu train station where I took a train to Kii-Katsuura. From there I caught the bus to the Kumano Nachi Taisha shrine.

I arrived around 11:30 am and spent the day visiting the area, the shrine, waterfall and some trails. I was able to leave my day pack at my accommodations so didn’t have to carry it around all day.

Here are some of the photos of the Nachi Taishi shrine. There were lots of stairs to climb.

There was a pond with some Koi fish and where you could buy food to feed them. Of course I had to give it a try. I enjoyed and had fun feeding the Koi fish.

Next to the shrine there was a Shingon temple (similar to the ones on Shikoku) called Nachisan Seiganto-ji. Here are some of the photos I took.

After getting my book stamped, I walked to the waterfall and to see the Pagoda. Here are some pictures.

I hiked over to the falls and they were amazing. I paid 300 yen to get up close. When I was up close the afternoon sunlight was hitting the mist at the bottom to create a rainbow. It was so beautiful I didn’t want to leave. Here are a few of the many photos I took. See if you can see the rainbow in the mist at the bottom of the falls.

On the way to the viewing platform you could buy a saucer for 100 yen and drink from the fountain, which is supposed to be very therapeutic.

I tried shooting a couple of videos of the water falling and how the rainbow changed with the mist. The only way to add it to this WordPress blog was to upload it to YouTube and add a link. So I gave it a try and here is the link. I hope it works.

https://youtu.be/0OpB9sjTyLw

After spending time at the waterfall, I was walking back to where the trail comes out at the shrine to see if Max from the USA, that stayed at the same place I did last night, might show up, since it was a big climb with a detour. All of a sudden there he was. We chatted and was glad he made it ok. 

When I checked in my room at the Mitaki Sanso I have a beautiful view of the falls. What a way to end the day. Here are a couple of photos.

Some final photos of some statues and scenery I took.

I visited the local post office to see about getting some New year’s Japanese post cards to mail to friends. The lady in the small post office was so helpful and helped with figuring out the extra postage for Canada. She explained how to address them and asked if I bring them back to her tomorrow she will do the Post mark for me.

It was a wonderful way to end the Kumano Kodo. Tomorrow I travel back to Tokyo by train. I spoke to three older ladies from Australia who did the climb and they said it was grueling. They hoped to spend time visiting the shrine and waterfall tomorrow.