“…The Kumano Sanzan are three separate shrines, but translates literally as “three mountains of Kumano.” The term zan, meaning “mountain,” was historically applied to important Buddhist temples, such as the famous Gozan “Five Mountains” of the Zen sect. Throughout most of their history the three shrines—Hongu, Hayatama, and Nachi—have been linked together in the minds of worshippers and in the practice of pilgrimage. They have also been centers of combinatory Shinto, Buddhist, and shugendo worship for most of their long history and were previously referred to as the Sansho Gongen. They enshrine many of the same kami (though the nomenclature varies).”
“…The practice of shugendo flourished from the Heian to the Edo period and became closely affiliated with the Buddhist sects of Tendai (Hozan-ha faction) and Shingon (Tozan-ha faction). The yamabushi, who sought to attain Buddha-hood “in this body” and in this lifetime, consider the seventh-century ascetic En no Gyoja as spiritual leader and founder. Their practice centered on entering the mountains and traversing them for a hundred to a thousand days, either from Kumano to Yoshino (junbu) or the reverse (gyakubu); during this period they performed ascetic rituals at caves, cliffs, waterfalls, shrines, and temples in an attempt to cross through the Buddhist “ten realms of rebirth” and thus be reborn as a living Buddha.”
ENSHRINED KAMI: Ketsumiko no okami (Susano-o no mikoto), Kumano musubi no okami (Izanami no mikoto), Miko hayatama no okami (Izanagi no mikoto), and Amaterasu Omikami.
PRAYERS OFFERED: The shrine believes that all who visit here have been called by the kami and therefore all prayers will be answered.
“…The Kojiki and Nihon shoki agree on Izumo as the place where Izanagi closed the entrance to yomi, but they differ on where Izanami was buried (the Kojiki has Izumo, but an alternate version in the Nihon shoki has Kumano). Many of the places in Izumo associated with Susano-o bear the name Kumano. Another important association of this region with the Kojiki is the story of Emperor Jinmu’s quest to found the Yamato state. When he lost his way in Kumano, Amaterasu sent a three-legged crow known as yatagarasu (“eight-span crow”) to guide him… The yatagarasu went on to Yamato and is venerated as an ancestral deity by the Kamo shrines. Although this kami is not actually enshrined in the honden of Kumano, it is still worshipped in a ceremony called the Hoin Shinji, when holy pictures of crows (karasu go-o shinpu, or go-o hoin) arrayed to spell out the Chinese characters for “Kumano Daigongen” are distributed. All three Kumano shrines link their histories to the yatagarasu, and all use variations of the karasu go-o.”
“…the most important feature of the region’s kami is their role within the tradition of combinatory Shinto and Buddhist belief…Combinatory practice was strong in the area of Yoshino, Kumano, and Mount Koya, home of the Shingon sect of Kobo Daishi. It was at the latter that the use of mandalas to envisage the sutras began with Kobo Daishi and the Shingon sect… The Yoshino area became “mapped” to the Diamond World (kongokai) Mandala, and the Kumano area to the Womb World (taizokai) Mandala.
The kami of Kumano Hongu was identified with Amida Nyorai…The monk Ippen… had a revelation from the kami of Kumano that simply distributing amulets with the nenbutsu written on them would guarantee the receiver entry to the Pure Land when he or she died… Kumano is historically therefore an ancient home of deep spirituality and mystical transformation, regardless of scripture, sect, or political patronage. Much of this lies in the awesome power and beauty of nature that was a wellspring of revelation.”
ENSHRINED KAMI: Hayatama no Omikami (Izanagi no mikoto), Musubi omikami (Izanami no mikoto), Ketsumimiko omikami, and others. The kami of Kumano were traditionally known as the Junisha (twelve) Gongen but currently a total of sixteen kami are enshrined at Hayatama Taisha.
PRAYERS OFFERED: A good marriage, recovery from illness, and safety at sea.
“There are sixteen kami at this shrine, fifteen of which are enshrined in four separate honden arrayed left to right, with the second from the left housing Hayatama no omikami. The honden to the far left enshrines Musubi omikami, who is said to be of equal importance to Hayatama…”
“The original worship of the Hayatama deity took place at the above-named Kamikura Jinja on the side of Mount Gongen... The rock is thought to have been an object of worship since the third century, as confirmed by dotaku ritual copper bells found in the surrounding area. This is why Kumano Hayatama Taisha is also called Shingu (“new shrine”), as it was moved from the original location where Kamikura Jinja now stands... Although the Hayatama deity is usually thought of as Izanagi, in an alternate reading of the Nihon shoki, Hayatama no omikami is the first god that appears when Izanagi leaves yomi after fleeing from his deceased wife, Izanami. The name “Hayatama” literally means “fast jewel,” and is said to relate to the speedy wish-fulfilling efficacy of the kami.
Another kami enshrined at Hayatama is Musubi omikami (also called Fusumi no okami), considered another name for Izanami no mikoto. In other words, the relation to these first parents and the underworld is very strong at this shrine...”
ENSHRINED KAMI: Fusumi no kami (Izanami no mikoto) and others. From earliest times people have worshipped the deity of Nachi Falls, enshrined as Onamuchi no mikoto.
PRAYERS OFFERED: Good connections, a good marriage, protection against danger, and anything related to agriculture, forestry, or fishing.
“Nachi Taisha is located on a plateau of Mount Nachi, opposite one of the longest and most revered waterfalls in Japan, the 440-foot nachi no otaki. Above the falls a shimenawa rope marks this as a place where a kami has descended... “
“Unlike the Hongu and Hayatama shrines, Nachi still sits next to a Buddhist temple and a three-story pagoda. The temple, Seigantoji (formerly called Nyoirin Kannon-do)... it is said that a monk from India named Ragyo Shonin, credited with finding the falls, had a vision of Kannon during austerities near the waterfall. The temple was declared the first stop of the Saigoku Kannon thirty-three-temple pilgrimage by Emperor Kazan in 988. This pilgrimage is one of the oldest and best known in Japan...”
“Fusumi is a kami that “holds things together.” Under its alternate name, Musubi no kami, this is a female kami of weaving, with the implication of creating bonds. Perhaps because this deity is considered the consort of Hayatama and is also identified with the female kami Izanami, Nachi Taisha has a tradition of acceptance of female worshippers, unlike other mountain-worship shrines (although all the Kumano shrines are relatively open in this respect)...
Like the other Kumano shrines, Nachi was a center of combinatory practices (shinbutsu shugo). Here Fusumi no kami was identified with the thousand-armed Senju Kannon, which has both a masculine and feminine manifestation. While teachers and guides (oshi and sendatsu) were instrumental in spreading faith in the Kumano Gongen, at Nachi, “painting-recitation nuns” (etoki bikuni) made an important contribution, using mandala picture scrolls as teaching tools...
Another interesting aspect of Kumano was the devotion to Kannon and the desire to be with the bodhisattva in her immortal dwelling place on Mount Fudaraku. It was said that Mount Fudaraku was out in the southern ocean off Nachi Beach., which led some devotees to be sealed in rudderless boats and launched from the area—a practice known as fudarak tokai—never to be heard from again... Though only twenty-five cases at Nachi are documented between the ninth and eighteenth centuries, they demonstrate one of the most fervent manifestations of devotion.”
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