Nachikatsuura file:Nachikatsuuracho.jpg, 270px, Nachikatsuura town hall is a List of towns in Japan, town located in Higashimuro District, Wakayama, Higashimuro District, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 14,420 in 7622 house ...

Wakayama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Wakayama Prefecture has a population of 944,320 () and has a geographic area of . Wakayama Prefecture borders Osaka Prefecture to the north, and Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, is one of the best-known

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

s in Japan. With a drop of 133 meters (and 13 meters wide), it is the country's tallest water fall with single uninterrupted drop; however, the tallest waterfalls with multiple drops in Japan are

Hannoki Falls Hannoki Falls, in Toyama Prefecture, Japan, is the tallest waterfall in Japan at a height of 497 m (1,640 feet). However, it only has water from April to July when the snow covering the Midagahara plateau melts, so its neighbor, Shōmyō Falls, ...

, at 497 m (seasonal), and

Shōmyō Falls are located in the town of Tateyama, Toyama Prefecture, Japan. Shōmyō-daki is the highest waterfall in Japan at 350 m (1,148 ft). The falls have four stages: the first 70 m, the second 58 m, the third 96 m and the last 126 m high. The great ...

, at 350m (year round). There are two rocks at the top of the falls that are the guardian kami of the falls and the Shinto shrine. There was also a Buddhist temple here that was destroyed during the Meiji Restoration (late 19th century). Many ''shugenja'' and star-crossed lovers have leaped from the top of the waterfall in the belief that they will be reborn into Kannon's paradise. Early each morning the Shinto priest make offerings to the waterfall in a ritual. In 1918, a

Sutra ''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aph ...

mound was excavated at the base of the waterfall and found to contain many important archaeological artifacts, including statues, mirrors, altar fittings and Sutra cylinders. These are now displayed in the Ryuhoden (“Treasure Hall”), located next to the Sanjūdō Pagoda (the 3-story pagoda). These Sutra mounds were created by priests in times of war to hide their treasures but also many items were buried in this way as a result of the belief that the end of the world was coming at the start of the 10th century. Believed to house a ''kami'' called Hiryū

Gongen A , literally "incarnation", was believed to be the manifestation of a buddha in the form of an indigenous kami, an entity who had come to guide the people to salvation, during the era of shinbutsu-shūgō in premodern Japan.Encyclopedia of Shint ...

worshiped at

Kumano Nachi Taisha is a Shinto shrine and part of the UNESCO-designated World Heritage Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range of Japan. The Kumano Kodō route connects it to other sites under the same classification, which are primarily locate ...

, it is part of the "

Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located on the Kii Peninsula in Japan. Selection criteria The locations and paths for this heritage site were based on their historical and modern imp ...

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

References

External links

Japan Guide

Nachi-Katsuura Town Tourism Association
Waterfalls of Japan Places of Scenic Beauty Landforms of Wakayama Prefecture Tourist attractions in Wakayama Prefecture Kumano Sanzan {{Wakayama-geo-stub

See also

References

External links