Wakayama - Nachi waterfall

Photo of the day is the Nachi falls in Wakayama prefecture which is a part of "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range" UNESCO World Heritage Site. The 133 meters high and 13 meters wide waterfall is a spectacular view when you see that very closely. It has been hot every day in Japan, so enjoy the relaxing sounds of waterfalls and it makes you feel cooler! Official Site: http://www.wakayama-kanko.or.jp/world/english/things/history/list01/detail011.html Area Information: http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/regional/wakayama/nachisan.html Nachi Primeval Forest, a place of mountain god worship. Nachi waterfall, 133 meters high, astonishes every visitor. Nachisan, a generic name for the mountains surrounding Kumano Nachi Taisha Grand Shrine located upstream of the Nachi River in the southeast of Wakayama, is part of Yoshino-Kumano National Park. Its whole neighborhood is a timberland called Nachi primeval forest and has been revered as a place of asceticism for mountain god worshipers. In the Nachisan area is the Kumano Nachi Taisha Grand Shrine having five Shinto buildings called "Kumano-Gongen" (avatar of Kumano) structure, which are important cultural properties of Japan and are the architectural style of the 8th through 10th century. Other places worth a visit include the Seiganto-ji Temple with a vermilion three-storied pagoda, a Nachisan's symbol, and the Hiro-jinja Shrine, the holy to worship the Nachi waterfall, also known as "Ichi-no-taki", as what symbolizes the divine spirit. The three-storied pagoda of the Seiganto-ji Temple was reconstructed in 1972, and its view spot affords a full view of the Nachi waterfall. Every summer, the Kumano Nachi Taisha Grand Shrine annual grand festival is staged. Known as "Fire Festival of Nachi (Nachi-no-Hi-Matsuri) ", it climaxes in the "purification of Ogi-mikoshi" that takes place at the stairways of Hiro-jinja Shrine, where twelve units of Ogi-mikoshi (1-meter-wide and 6-meter-long portable shrine decorated with fans) are "burned" by way of purification with the sparks from twelve giant torches weighing 50 kilograms that the bearers swing around as they go up and down the stone stairs.