Wakayama, Mar 03 (News On Japan) - Regular services for riverboat tourism on the Kumano River and its tributary, the Kitayama River, commenced Saturday, with tourists exploring the "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range," a World Heritage site known for the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage routes, and is also referred to as the "river pilgrimage route."
Set in the dense forests of the Kii Mountains overlooking the Pacific Ocean, three sacred sites – Yoshino and Omine, Kumano Sanzan, Koyasan – linked by pilgrimage routes to the ancient capital cities of Nara and Kyoto, reflect the fusion of Shinto, rooted in the ancient tradition of nature worship in Japan, and Buddhism, which was introduced from China and the Korean Peninsula.
The sites and their surrounding forest landscape reflect a persistent and extraordinarily well-documented tradition of sacred mountains over 1,200 years. The area, with its abundance of streams, rivers and waterfalls, is still part of the living culture of Japan and is much visited for ritual purposes and hiking, with up to 15 million visitors annually. Each of the three sites contains shrines, some of which were founded as early as the 9th century... read more on UNESCO website: Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range
by Source: Kyodo
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