The Ninety-Nine Oji are a historic network of subsidiary shrines and sacred sites scattered along the Kii Route and Nakahechi Route of the Kumano Kodo in Wakayama Prefecture.
These sacred waypoints were developed particularly during the late Heian and Kamakura periods, when pilgrimages to the sacred Kumano Sanzan became increasingly popular among retired emperors, aristocrats, warriors, and ordinary travelers.
For pilgrims, the Oji were much more than places to stop and rest. They were important spiritual stations where travelers could pray for a safe journey, purify themselves, make offerings, recite Buddhist scriptures, and prepare themselves for the next stage of the pilgrimage.
The popularity of the Kumano pilgrimage became so great that the seemingly endless stream of travelers was described as an “Ants’ Pilgrimage to Kumano”, comparing the long lines of pilgrims to ants moving along a trail.
Many Oji declined after the pilgrimage gradually lost popularity from the end of the Kamakura period onward. Some were further affected by the Meiji government’s separation of Shinto and Buddhism and policies encouraging the consolidation of shrines.
Nevertheless, numerous Oji sites and traces survive around Tanabe City and Kamitonda Town. Together, they form an invaluable cultural landscape through which visitors can discover the history and spiritual traditions of the Kumano Kodo.
Haya-oji, now known as Haya Grand Shrine, stands in the Haya district of Tanabe City. Located on a natural sand dune on the eastern side of the mouth of the Haya River, it was an important spiritual station along the Kii Route of the Kumano pilgrimage.
The shrine is mentioned in several historical documents, including Chūyūki and records of imperial pilgrimages to Kumano. Its name appears in older sources in forms such as “Haya-oji” and “Haya Oji,” while during the medieval period it was also associated with Nyakuichi Oji.
According to tradition, the shrine’s origins go back to the enshrinement of a sacred mirror recovered from the sea during the Konin era in the early ninth century.
Over the centuries, the shrine became an important guardian of the local community. Today, it is preserved as part of the nationally designated historic site “Kumano Pilgrimage Routes: Kii Route.”
Haya Grand Shrine is also known for its vibrant Autumn Festival, held annually on the second Sunday of October.
The festival expresses prayers and gratitude for good fishing, abundant harvests, family safety, and prosperity. It also preserves distinctive local customs that have been passed down through generations.
One of the most unusual traditions is “Binjo Banzai.” Young children dressed in colorful ceremonial clothing are carried on adults’ shoulders during a procession and presented before the deity.
A special eggplant known as Ninae Nasubi is also offered. Two eggplants grow from a single branch, and the unusual form symbolizes wishes for marital harmony and the continuation of the family line.
Traditional lion dances and ceremonial processions are another highlight. Local youth groups perform energetic dances accompanied by drums and flutes, filling the surrounding streets and shrine grounds with the atmosphere of a traditional Japanese festival.
Dedachi-oji was located near Uenoyama in Tanabe City. It was also known historically as Tanabe-oji and served as an important starting point for pilgrims preparing to leave the coastal area and head toward the mountain routes of the Nakahechi.
The site is particularly associated with a purification ritual known as Shio-gori, or salt-water purification.
Pilgrims would bathe in seawater to purify their bodies before beginning the journey into the sacred mountains. The ritual symbolized leaving the ordinary world behind and entering the spiritual realm of Kumano.
The beach where this purification ceremony took place became known as Shio-gori Beach or Dedachi Beach. It appears repeatedly in medieval pilgrimage records.
The former shoreline has since been reclaimed, but a monument marking the historic site of Shio-gori Beach remains as a reminder of the rituals once performed here.
The site of Dedachi-oji itself is also designated as a prefectural historic site and remains an important place for understanding the religious culture of the Kumano pilgrimage.
Akitsu-oji was located in the basin of the Aizu River. It is believed to have originally stood near Yanagihara Village, but repeated flooding forced the shrine to be relocated several times.
Historical documents record the shrine under names such as Akitsu and Akitsu Oji. The site was associated with a sacred grove and subsidiary shrines and was also known as Nyakuichi Oji Gongen.
Although the grand shrine grounds of the past no longer survive, Akitsu-oji remains an important part of the historical story of the Kumano Kodo.
Its history also illustrates how closely the pilgrimage landscape was connected to the natural environment. Rivers and floods were both essential elements of daily life and powerful forces capable of changing the physical landscape.
Maro-oji was located farther east along the route from Akitsu-oji. The former shrine site is traditionally identified with an area now known as Oji Yashiki, surrounded by peaceful rural scenery.
The name Maro-oji appears in historical pilgrimage records such as Kumano Michi-no-Ma Gu-ki, confirming that the Oji existed during the medieval period.
Over time, however, the shrine declined and disappeared as a functioning sacred site. Today, little remains beyond the name and historical traces of the former shrine grounds.
There are no spectacular buildings here, but that is precisely what makes the site interesting for travelers who enjoy discovering the quieter side of the Kumano Kodo.
Standing among the fields and imagining pilgrims walking along the same route hundreds of years ago offers a different kind of historical experience—one based on landscape and atmosphere rather than monuments.
Misu-oji was established on a small hill and was also known by names such as Misuzu-oji and Misuyama-oji.
As pilgrimage routes changed and fewer travelers passed through the area, the shrine gradually declined. In 1868, a major flood caused part of the shrine grounds to collapse, and the shrine was subsequently moved to a nearby shrine.
The former site is now surrounded by mandarin orange orchards, a characteristic landscape of Wakayama.
A stone monument and other traces remain on the hill, while the surrounding countryside provides a peaceful setting in which to imagine the old pilgrimage route.
For travelers interested in the less obvious historical traces of the Kumano Kodo, Misu-oji offers a quiet glimpse into a landscape shaped by centuries of pilgrimage and agriculture.
Yagami-oji is located in the Oka district of Kamitonda Town, at the foot of Mount Takahata. It was an important sacred station along the Nakahechi section of the Kumano pilgrimage route.
The site is particularly famous for its association with the renowned medieval poet and Buddhist monk Saigyō.
Saigyō is believed to have visited the area, and Yagami-oji appears in literary works associated with him, including the San Kashū poetry collection and illustrated versions of the Saigyō Monogatari.
A monument commemorating one of Saigyō’s poems stands within the shrine grounds, giving the site an additional literary dimension.
Yagami-oji also remains connected to a remarkable local tradition. Every year on November 29, its annual festival features the Oka Lion Dance, which has been designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Wakayama Prefecture.
More than a dozen different dance sequences are performed during the festival. The elaborate performances preserve a traditional form of local culture while providing a vivid reminder that the Kumano Kodo is not simply an archaeological heritage site.
It remains a living cultural landscape where local festivals and beliefs continue to connect present-day communities with their past.
Inabane-oji is located in the Iwata district of Kamitonda Town. It is considered one of the particularly prestigious Five Oji, a group of important Oji within the wider network of the Ninety-Nine Oji.
The shrine stands near a crossing point of the Tonda River, where pilgrims traditionally performed water purification rituals.
After cleansing themselves in the river, pilgrims would continue toward Ichinose-oji on the opposite bank. Crossing the river therefore formed an important spiritual transition in the pilgrimage.
The deity of Inabane-oji is depicted in the Kumano Honji Mandala as an elderly man carrying rice. Because of this imagery, the site was also known as Inari-oji and developed a distinctive connection with the Japanese tradition of Inari worship.
This association with rice, agriculture, and prosperity provides another example of how the Kumano pilgrimage incorporated different aspects of Japanese religious culture.
The present shrine building was reconstructed, but the sacred grounds retain their quiet forest setting. The site is now included within the World Heritage “Kumano Pilgrimage Routes”, allowing visitors to experience a place where ancient purification rituals and pilgrimage traditions once took place.
Ichinose-oji was located on the left bank of the Tonda River and was another important site for ritual purification.
The name appears in numerous medieval pilgrimage records, demonstrating its importance to travelers heading toward Kumano.
The Heike Monogatari tradition also records that Taira no Koremori performed purification at Iwata River before continuing toward Kumano. Such accounts illustrate the importance of river purification in the medieval pilgrimage experience.
Today, a small shrine and stone monument remain at the site.
The quiet river flowing nearby provides a peaceful setting in which visitors can pause and imagine the pilgrims who once stood beside these waters before continuing their sacred journey.
Ayukawa-oji was located in the Ayukawa district along the Tonda River. The area is also associated with a local tradition concerning Prince Morinaga, who is said to have fled through the region during a troubled period of Japanese history.
The landscape around the original shrine site has changed considerably due to modern road construction, but a stone monument remains to preserve its historical memory.
At Sumiyoshi Shrine, where the Oji’s religious tradition was later consolidated, a main sanctuary dating from the early eighteenth century survives. It provides another tangible connection to the history of the local community and the former Oji.
The Oji of Tanabe and Kamitonda are best understood not as isolated historic sites but as a chain of sacred waypoints that once guided pilgrims through the Kumano landscape.
Each site had its own role. Some were places for prayer, others for purification, while others offered a place to rest or mark an important transition in the journey.
At Dedachi-oji, pilgrims purified themselves with seawater before entering the mountains. At Inabane-oji and Ichinose-oji, rivers became places of ritual cleansing. At Yagami-oji, religious history became intertwined with poetry and literature. At Haya Grand Shrine, ancient pilgrimage traditions continue through vibrant local festivals.
Even where the original buildings have disappeared, the surrounding rivers, hills, fields, orchards, forests, and villages preserve something of the landscape through which pilgrims once traveled.
The Ninety-Nine Oji around Tanabe and Kamitonda demonstrate that the Kumano Kodo is far more than a hiking trail.
It is a cultural landscape shaped by more than a thousand years of religious pilgrimage, local traditions, literature, agriculture, rivers, mountains, and community life.
Walking between these historic sites allows travelers to experience the route in much the same way as earlier pilgrims: moving gradually through the landscape, stopping at sacred places, crossing rivers, climbing hills, and encountering villages along the way.
For modern travelers, some of the Oji may appear modest—a small shrine, a stone monument, an old site in a field, or even only a name preserved in the landscape. Yet these quiet traces are precisely what make the journey meaningful.
They reveal that the spiritual heritage of Kumano does not exist only in its grand shrines. It also survives in the small sacred places, local festivals, traditional stories, and landscapes that connect one generation with another.
For anyone exploring the Kumano Kodo Kii Route and Nakahechi Route, visiting the Oji of Tanabe and Kamitonda offers an opportunity to slow down and discover the deeper history of the pilgrimage. Together, these sites form a remarkable trail of faith that continues to connect today’s travelers with the people who walked toward Kumano more than a thousand years ago.