Must-see attractions in Kii Peninsula

Part museum, part visitor centre, this contemporary multimedia complex has exhibits about Kumano's culture and natural environment, plus English-speaking…

Shirahama's main beach is famous for its white sand – though what's there now was imported from Perth in the '90s, as the original sand was lost to…

This temple gate was renovated for Kōya-san's 1200th anniversary in 2015, after an 1843 fire. Two of the original statues of guardian kings enshrined in…

In 1890 the Turkish ship Ertuğrul, returning from a diplomatic mission between the Ottoman and Japanese empires, sunk off the rocky coast of Kii – a…

Though Japan was famously closed to most foreign traders for 200 years between the mid-17th and mid-19th centuries, that doesn't mean people didn't try to…

The last of the five major ōji (smaller shrines along the Kumano Kodō) before Kumano Hongū Taisha, Hosshinmon-ōji marks the outer limits of the grand…

Takijiri-ōji is one of five major ōji (smaller shrines along the Kumano Kodō). It marks the beginning of the passage into the mountains and today serves…

These adjacent mausoleums were completed in 1643 at the behest of the third Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, for his grandfather, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and…

This temple in the middle of Yunomine Onsen is just above Tsubo-yu Onsen, and like many hot springs adjacent to temples, is dedicated to Yakushi Nyorai,…

Senjō-jiki is a wildly eroded point with layer after horizontal layer of stratified rock; this explains its name in Japanese, which translates to Thousand…

This bridge marks the halfway point between Ichi-no-hashi and the inner sanctum of Oku-no-in.

This simple stone bridge marks the entrance to the sacred Oku-no-in complex.

The Western Pagoda was most recently rebuilt in 1834.

Sandan-beki is a 50m cliff face that drops away vertiginously into the sea – a particularly awesome sight when the big rollers are pounding in from the…

This small lighthouse (c 1870) was the first of eight modern lighthouses to be built after Japan opened up to foreign trade. The building itself isn't all…