Kumano Kodo Iseji & the Sacred Coast: Magose Pass to Onigajo — 2 Days

The most beautiful surviving section of the Iseji, a cobbled pilgrim path that climbs over the wooded cape between Kihoku and Owase through a cathedral of soaring cedar. Generations of stonemasons laid the round river-cobbles to keep the route passable through this rain-soaked region, and the result is a green, mossy stairway that feels untouched by time, threaded with old stone lanterns and a small Jizo. The climb to the saddle is moderate and deeply atmospheric — the single best place to understand what the Kumano Kodo Iseji actually is, walking the same stones the pilgrims to the Kumano shrines wore smooth over a thousand years.

Free, open at all times; the trailhead is on Route 42 between Kihoku and Owase, reachable by bus or car. The cobbles are slippery when wet (and it rains often) — wear proper hiking shoes. The climb to the saddle takes about an hour at a steady pace. Allow about two hours up and over.

From the Magose saddle, a steep side-trail climbs another half-hour to the summit of Mount Tengura, crowned by a colossal boulder you scale by a fixed steel ladder bolted to the rock. The reward at the top is one of the great coastal views of southern Mie: the whole of Owase town and its deep, ria-coast bay laid out far below, the islands offshore and the Pacific stretching to the horizon. It is a genuine little adventure — a scramble and a ladder, not a stroll — and only for the surefooted, but for hikers it is the high point of the Iseji in every sense, and worth the extra sweat above the pass.

Free, open at all times; reached by a steep 30-minute climb from the Magose saddle, with a rock scramble and a fixed ladder at the top. Not suitable for small children or anyone unsure on rock. Allow about an hour up, at the summit and back to the saddle.

Owase is a serious working fishing port on one of Japan's richest stretches of coast, and the harbourside market is the place to eat its catch. The self-service seafood canteen lays out sashimi bowls, grilled fish and rice sets built from whatever came in that morning — bonito, mackerel, local shellfish — fresh, generous and very good value after a hard morning on the pass. You queue, choose, and carry your tray to a table looking over the boats. It is unpretentious and exactly right: the reward for the climb, and a taste of the sea that has fed this coast and its pilgrims for centuries.

Open for lunch (about 11:00-14:00), open year-round; seafood sets about ¥1,000-2,000 (approx., 2026). At the Owase harbour, near the Owase-kita interchange, a short drive from the Magose trailhead. Self-service; no reservation. Allow about an hour.

A towering natural rock face, some forty-five metres high, worshipped as a shrine since before recorded history and named in the Nihon Shoki, Japan's eighth-century chronicle, as the burial place of the mother goddess Izanami — which makes it, by tradition, one of the oldest shrines in the country. There is no built sanctuary, only the great cliff itself, with a sacred rope strung from its crest to the ground in a twice-yearly ceremony, the giant 'flower-decked' garland the place is named for. Standing at the foot of the rock, you are at one of the rawest, most ancient forms of Japanese nature-worship — a shrine that is simply a stone.

Free, open at all times; a level walk from the road, about 5 minutes by car or bus from Kumano-shi station. The two annual rope-changing ceremonies (around early February and early October) are spectacular if your timing aligns. Allow about 50 minutes.

A kilometre of fantastical sea cliffs on the Kumano shore, where centuries of wind and waves have gouged the rock into tiered caves, honeycombed walls and natural terraces stacked above the surf — a UNESCO World Heritage feature so strange that legend made it the lair of a demon slain by an imperial envoy. A walking path threads along and through the formations, in and out of wave-cut hollows with the Pacific crashing below, from the eastern entrance toward the headland. It is dramatic, slightly vertiginous and unlike anywhere else on the coast — geology as spectacle, and the highlight of a day among Kumano's sacred rocks.

Free, open in daylight; the cliff path starts near the eastern entrance, a few minutes from Kumano-shi station (buses are infrequent — a car helps). The path is uneven rock above the sea and can close in rough weather or high waves — check before going. Allow about 90 minutes for the walk out and back.

A well-regarded local restaurant in central Kumano, the popular choice for lunch after the Onigajo cliffs, serving generous set meals built around sashimi and grilled fish from the Kumano-nada sea just offshore. The fish is fresh and the portions honest, the room plain and friendly — the sort of unhurried regional place where the day's catch dictates the menu and the value is excellent. After a morning on ancient rocks and wave-cut cliffs, a calm seafood lunch here is exactly the right pause before turning inland to the rice terraces.

Open for lunch and dinner (about 11:00-13:30 / 17:00-21:00), closed Mondays and Tuesdays; sashimi sets about ¥1,200-2,000 (approx., 2026). In the Odomari area of central Kumano, near the Shishiiwa rock. Allow about an hour.

A roadside sea-rock on the Kumano shore, sculpted by waves and uplift into the uncanny likeness of a lion roaring out at the Pacific, jaws open to the horizon. It is a registered natural monument and, with the nearby Hana-no-Iwaya, part of the Kumano sacred landscape — locals will tell you the lion is forever guarding the coast. A few minutes' stop on the road between Onigajo and the terraces, it is best in morning light or at high tide when the sea breaks around its base, a quick, photogenic piece of the strange geology that defines this stretch of coast.

Free, viewable at all times from the roadside promenade; a few minutes from central Kumano. Best in morning light or at high tide. A quick photo stop. Allow about 30 minutes.

Inland from the coast, in the Kiwa hills, a hillside is carved into more than thirteen hundred tiny rice paddies that step down the slope in an immense green amphitheatre — one of the largest and most beautiful sets of terraces in Japan, restored and tended by local farmers who refused to let them be abandoned. The view changes with the season: mirror-bright with water in early summer, deep green in high summer, gold at harvest, and lit by thousands of candles on a single midsummer evening. After a coast of sacred rocks, the patient, hand-built geometry of the terraces is a moving human counterpoint, and the quiet final stop of the trip.

Free, viewable at all times; an observation point overlooks the terraces. In Kiwa, inland from Kumano city, about 40 minutes by car (a car is essentially required). Early summer (water-filled) and harvest are the most beautiful. Allow about 70 minutes including the drive up and the view.