Kumano Nachi-Taisha

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Torii at the Kumano Nachi Taisha
Prayer hall ( haiden ) of the shrine

The Kumano Nachi Taisha ( Jap. 熊野那智大社 ; even just Nachi ( 那智 ); formerly also Kumano Fusumi-jinja ( 熊野夫須美神社 )) is a Shinto shrine of community Nachi-Katsuura in district Higashimuro of Wakayama Prefecture in Japan .

It is located on the slope of the Nachisan Mountains in the immediate vicinity of the sacred waterfall Nachi-no- (Ō) taki (also Ichi-no-taki; at 133 meters the highest waterfall in Japan) and the Buddhist temple Seiganto-ji . With this one, the Fudarakusan-ji and the Kumano shrines Kumano Hongū-Taisha and Kumano Hayatama-Taisha , it belongs to the Kumano-sanzan , the southernmost of the holy places and pilgrimage routes in the Kii Mountains , which was included in the list of UNESCO in 2004 World heritage were included.

The waterfall was originally the main object of worship, and the shrine was directly below it. The current buildings date from 1853.

To the east of the shrine is the 32 hectare Nachi jungle, which has always been considered sacred.

The shrine has long been associated with many Buddhist temples in the area, but most of them were destroyed as part of the Shinbutsu Bunri .

Kami and adjoining shrines

Kami of the shrine are u. a. Toyo-kumo-nu and Uhi-ji-ni as well as Ō-to-no-ji and Kuno-no-sa-zuchi-no-kami (as in Hayatama-Taisha) and Izanami (under the name Fusumi-no-kami ). As central deities, however, the twelve deities of Kumano ( 熊k 権 現 , kumano gongen ; gongen is a Buddhist term for the Shintō-Kami as avatars of the Buddhist Bodhisattva ) are worshiped here. The 13th deity of Kumano is sometimes hiro gongen , and the Nachi-no-Ō-taki waterfall is understood as a deity.

The go- shintai is a wooden statue. A copy of it is in the Hayatama Taisha Museum. The shrine has distributed over 3,000 bunrei to other shrines across Japan.

The three-legged Yatagarasu , the heavenly crow, is worshiped in the side shrine ( massha ) Kakehiko-jinja under the name Kamo-no-taketsu-numi-no-mikoto. On January 1, a priest with a black cap in the shape of a crow ( yatagarasu-bō ) fetches water from the Nachi-no-Ō-taki to the shrine. During this ceremony, lucky charms ( shimpu ) are made, which are used against birth defects or crop damage and were used in the old days as documents for contracts (contracts on the back of a shimpu usually did not require a witness).

Ōgi-Matsuri

The Nachi-no-hi-Matsuri or Ōgi-Matsuri (formerly Ōgieshiki-rei-sai) takes place on July 14th. It is one of the three largest festivals in Japan and has been held annually since the shrine was moved to its current location. The twelve about 10 m long, 1 m wide and 6 m high Mikoshi are each decorated with 32 compartments ( Ōgi ), 8 mirrors and a specimen of the sword- lily- like Belamcanda chinensis ( hiōgi ) and then from the main shrine area to the secondary shrine Hiryū-jinja (the associated with Jimmu -tennō) worn at the waterfall. They are greeted by young priests in white clothing who swing twelve huge, burning torches, each weighing 50 kg. The fire from the torches and the water from the waterfall are said to ritually purify the Mikoshi.

In the run-up to the festival, ceremonial rice-planting ceremonies ( dengaku ) are performed at the shrine with musical accompaniment .

Web links

Commons : Kumano Nachi-Taisha  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Coordinates: 33 ° 40 ′ 6.8 ″  N , 135 ° 53 ′ 25.8 ″  E