Nachi Falls, Wakayama | Seeing It From Inside and Outside Are Two Completely Different Waterfalls

Entering Nachi Falls costs extra. ¥300 — I thought about it for a second, then figured, well, I’m here anyway.

Worth it.

A 133-metre drop looks like two different things from outside and from within. Step inside and the roar of the water drowns out everything; look up and the top of the cliff is far enough away to blur. In front of the falls a small shrine hangs a shimenawa rope — Nachi Falls isn’t a sight, it’s a god.

Before I’d even left, it started to snow. Mist and snow, the shrine, the sound of the falls. I didn’t photograph that scene — I just stood there and watched. The snow fell harder and harder, and I finally, reluctantly, left.

Beside it are Seiganto-ji temple and Kumano Nachi Taisha, their big white banners swaying in the wind. I’d planned to walk the Kumano Kodo, but ran short of time and drove straight here instead. The end of that ancient road, walked for centuries, is exactly this place.

Three highlights of Mt. Nachi

【Why the Falls Is a God: Nachi's Faith and Legends】

Most waterfalls are scenery. Nachi Falls is a god. Dropping 133 meters over a lip 13 meters wide, pouring down at roughly a ton of water per second, it stands with Kegon and Fukuroda as one of Japan's "three great waterfalls" and is designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty. But what truly sets it apart is this: Hiro-jinja at its foot has no main hall and no worship hall, because the waterfall itself is the deity—the go-shintai. For centuries people have simply bowed straight at the rushing water, a primal form of nature worship that survives here untouched. The shrine it belongs to, Kumano Nachi Taisha, is the head shrine of the roughly four thousand Kumano shrines across Japan, inscribed in 2004 as part of the UNESCO World Heritage "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range." Beside it stands Seiganto-ji, the very first temple on the Saikoku Thirty-Three Kannon pilgrimage; its present main hall was rebuilt in 1590 by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and is a National Important Cultural Property. Shrine and temple stand shoulder to shoulder before the falls, one vermilion, one moss-green.

As for why this became a holy place, the mountain keeps a few stories. It is said that in the age of Emperor Nintoku, a monk named Ragyo Shonin, who had drifted to the Kumano shore from India, was training at the falls when he received a small golden Nyoirin Kannon in the plunge basin and enshrined it in a grass hut—this, tradition holds, was the beginning of Seiganto-ji. Legend also tells that the retired Emperor Kazan, driven from the throne and turned monk, came to Nachi in his despair, built a hermitage near the upstream "second fall," and shut himself away for a thousand days of ascetic practice; when it was done, he set out to make the Saikoku pilgrimage, and Seiganto-ji was fixed as its first temple. And it is said that when the first emperor, Jimmu, marched from Kumano toward Yamato, a three-legged crow called Yatagarasu guided the way, then vanished here at Nachi—to this day the crow is revered in Kumano as a sacred bird. (All three are foundation tales and myths handed down by the temples and shrines, not confirmed historical fact.)

And on the nearby Nachi shore, an astonishing act of faith really did play out: seeking the Pure Land of Kannon, "Fudaraku," said to lie on the southern sea, ascetics would set out from here in small boats toward the open water—a religious rite called Fudaraku tokai that continued into the early eighteenth century. Even the fire festival held every July 14, the Nachi no Ogi Matsuri—a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in which twelve great torches purify the path and fan-shaped portable shrines process to the falls—is, at heart, this waterfall-deity's homecoming. Once you know all this and stand square in front of the falls, that ton-a-second roar pouring straight into your chest, something clicks: you finally understand why a person might spend a lifetime bowing to a waterfall.

There are three adjacent sights on Mt. Nachi you can do in one go: Nachi Falls (the viewing hall, admission ¥300), Kumano Nachi Taisha (free to visit; a vermilion shrine and World Heritage site), and Seiganto-ji (a working temple; the main hall is free to visit, while climbing the three-storey pagoda beside it is ¥500 — the shot of Nachi Falls with the pagoda in front of the main hall is the most famous composition). All three, with time for photos, take about 1.5–2 hours.

Walking the Kumano Kodo

The Daimonzaka is the easiest entrance to the Kumano Kodo on Mt. Nachi — about 1.3 km uphill on foot from the car park, along moss-covered stone paths beneath centuries-old cedars. It takes no special fitness, and flat shoes are fine. About 40 minutes up brings you to the entrance of Seiganto-ji and Kumano Nachi Taisha. If you’d rather not walk, you can drive straight up to the large car park (about ¥600 to park).

Getting there and costs

From Osaka: the JR limited express “Kuroshio” to Kii-Katsuura, about 3 hours, then the “Nachisan” bus, about 30 minutes. By car it’s about 3–3.5 hours from Osaka, and can be worked into a 2–3 day Wakayama trip with Shirahama and Hashiguiiwa. Costs: Nachi Falls viewing ¥300, Seiganto-ji main hall free (pagoda ¥500), Kumano Nachi Taisha free. Sightseeing experiences in Wakayama can be booked via Klook.

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Pairing the Kumano Kodo with Nachi Falls

Near Nachi Falls is the “Kumano Kodo Daimonzaka” — the stretch of stone-paved slope from the Daimonzaka entrance up to Kumano Nachi Taisha is beautifully preserved, lined on both sides by cedars hundreds of years old, and in autumn the maple leaves turn the whole path red. It’s the most approachable, most rewarding section of the Kumano Kodo, about 30–40 minutes each way on foot. The “Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range” (which includes the Kumano Kodo) is a UNESCO World Heritage site, so a visit to Nachi Falls really should include this slope to feel the full weight of the place’s history.