Michelin Green Guide Koyasan & Kumano — Three-Star Mt. Koya, the Kumano Kodo and Nachi Falls, and All 25 Starred Sights

What the Michelin Green Guide is — 25 starred sights at Koyasan and Kumano

This is the Michelin Green Guide (Le Guide Vert), which rates destinations rather than restaurants. The Japan edition is published in France: the 4th edition in 2015, the 6th in 2020, and the current one in 2025. Every star below is given with the edition that awarded it.

Koyasan and Kumano were inscribed in 2004 as the World Heritage “Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range”. In the 2015 edition, Mt. Koya, the Kumano Kodo, the Kumano Sanzan, Nachi Falls, the Daimonzaka and Kumano Hongu Taisha are all three-star — an exceptionally high ratio of three stars to entries. Koyasan is about two hours from Osaka on the Nankai line; for Kumano, take the Kuroshio limited express from Osaka to Kii-Tanabe or Kii-Katsuura. The two are separated by mountains, so plan a night at Koyasan and two in Kumano. If you are travelling by JR to Kumano and Ise, an area pass is worth pricing.

Three-star Mt. Koya — the Danjo Garan and Kongobu-ji

Mt. Koya is three-star in the 2015 edition. Kukai founded this mountain-top religious city in 816 as a place of Shingon esoteric practice, and more than a hundred temples stand here. The Danjo Garan, the sacred precinct Kukai laid out first, the vermilion Konpon Daito pagoda, the Kondo and the Reihokan treasure museum are one-star.

Kongobu-ji, head temple of Koyasan Shingon Buddhism, its painted Ohiroma and the Banryutei, one of Japan’s largest rock gardens, are one-star too. Many temples take overnight guests in shukubo lodgings, with vegetarian shojin cuisine and morning prayers. If you join the morning service, keep quiet and ask before taking any photographs.

Okunoin at Koyasan — the cedar approach to Kukai’s mausoleum

The 2015 edition gives two stars to the Okunoin and to its approach. Over the 2 km from Ichinohashi to Kukai’s mausoleum, more than 200,000 memorial stones and monuments — from warlords to corporations — stand between cedars centuries old. At the far end, the Torodo lantern hall and Kukai’s mausoleum are one-star.

Beyond the Gobyobashi bridge everything is consecrated ground: photography and eating are prohibited. Custom is to bow before crossing the bridge. The memorials are objects of faith and mourning, so do not climb on them or handle them. Some shukubo monks lead night tours of the Okunoin after dark.

Three-star Nachi Falls and the Daimonzaka, plus Nachi and Hayatama Taisha

The 2015 edition gives three stars to the Kumano Sanzan, to Nachi Falls and to the Daimonzaka, the old approach to Nachi. Nachi Falls drops 133 m in a single fall and is itself enshrined as a deity. The Daimonzaka is 600 m of mossy stone steps beneath cedars said to be 800 years old, walkable on the way up to Nachisan.

Kumano Nachi Taisha on Nachisan and Kumano Hayatama Taisha in Shingu are two-star. The view of the three-storey pagoda at neighbouring Seiganto-ji lined up with the falls is the defining image of Kumano. Nachisan is about 30 minutes by bus from Kii-Katsuura Station. The Daimonzaka steps get slippery in rain, so wear proper shoes.

Three-star Kumano Hongu Taisha, the Nakahechi route and Tsuboyu

The 2015 edition makes the Kumano Kodo and Kumano Hongu Taisha three-star. The shrine originally stood at Oyunohara, a sandbank in the Kumano River, until a Meiji-era flood swept it away and it moved to its present rise. The great torii at the old site, 34 m high, is two-star, and the Kumano Hongu Heritage Center one-star.

Of the pilgrim routes from Kyoto, the most walked was the Nakahechi, two-star. From the bus stop at Hosshinmon-oji (one star) to Hongu Taisha is about 7 km, roughly two and a half hours — the approachable stretch for a first walk. At Yunomine Onsen, Tsuboyu, a tiny rock bath that is itself part of the World Heritage site and can be bathed in, is one-star; groups take turns.

The Kumano Kodo is a mountain trail. Follow the waymarks, finish before dark, carry water and rain gear. Sections close after typhoons and heavy rain, and bears and pit vipers are present. Carry your rubbish out and do not damage the moss or the stone images.

Getting to Koyasan and Kumano, and model routes

For Koyasan, take the Nankai Koya line from Osaka-Namba to Gokurakubashi, then the cable car and a bus up to the town. For Kumano, take the Kuroshio limited express from Shin-Osaka to Kii-Tanabe (for Hongu) or Kii-Katsuura (for Nachi), then a bus. Tamaki Shrine, deep in the mountains of Totsukawa in Nara, is one-star as well, but it is hard to reach without a car. Koyasan to Kumano is over three hours even by car.

Michelin Green Guide Koyasan & Kumano — FAQ

Star ratings: ★★★ worth a special journey / ★★☆ worth a detour / ★☆☆ interesting. Stars come from the 4th (2015) or 6th (2020) edition of the Michelin Green Guide Japan, as noted for each sight, and are reviewed with every edition. “Starred sights” counts every entry the guide awards stars to — including buildings inside a site, museum pieces, viewpoints and routes — so it is not a count of separate locations.