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Kumano Sanzan

Kumano Sanzan

Located at the southeastern part of the Kii Mountain Range, Kumano Sanzan includes the three shrines of "Kumano Hongu Taisha", "Kumano Hayatama Taisha" and "Kumano Nachi Taisha", and two temples of "Seiganto-ji" and "Fudarakusan-ji" that are distributed 20 to 40 km apart from each other and connected by "Kumano Sankeimichi Nakahechi".

Although these three shrines have original distinctive forms, they have exchanged their gods with each other and have been worshiped as "Kumano Sansho Gongen".

They came to be revered as the destination of the Kumano Pilgrims by "the Shinto-Buddhism Unity Theory" that teaches God is the manifestation of Buddha and the fact that their main gods were considered as the incarnation of "Amida-nyorai", "Yakushi-nyorai" and "Senju-kannon".

The Seiganto-ji and Fudarakusan-ji became closely associated with Kumano Nachi Taisha during the Shinto and Buddhism Unification.

Seiganto-ji became well known as the first sacred place of the West Province Pilgrimage, and Fudarakusan-ji became well known as a temple for the faith of shipping out to the "Pure Land of Kannon".

Map of the ancient roads connecting the Kumano Sanzan

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