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Yoshino Kumano NP, Wakayama
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A local legend says Fujiwara Hidehira’s wife gave birth in a cave on the trail above Takijiri. When the couple returned from pilgrimage, a wolf guarded the baby, who had been fed by milk dripping from a rock.
A 35.8-cm armored archer called Takijiri Kongo Doji is the only known surviving Heian-period Kongo Doji image from the Oji shrines. A matching figure in a Kumano mandala confirms its identity.
In 1109, courtier Fujiwara Munetada’s diary recorded crossing the Iwata (Tonda) River 19 times on the approach from Inabane to Takijiri. Repeated river crossings were part of pilgrims’ purification rites.
On December 6, 1200, Emperor Go-Toba and his companions held a poetry gathering at Takijiri. Eleven poem sheets from the event survive, including one in the emperor’s own hand; they are now held in separate collections.
In 1109, Fujiwara Munetada recorded reaching Takijiri as “first entering the sacred mountains.” This riverside shrine marked the threshold of Kumano for pilgrims beginning the mountain journey.
At the height of imperial pilgrimages, Takijiri was more than a shrine: it had a bathhouse, pilgrim lodgings and clergy residences. After purifying themselves, visitors offered prayers, dances, sumo and poetry.
The famous “99 Oji” is not an exact count—it means there were many subsidiary shrines along the route. Takijiri was one of just 5 called Gotai Oji, the most prestigious group.
In 1908, Takijiri absorbed 11 nearby village shrines and was renamed Togo Shrine. In September 1946, those shrines separated and returned to their original sites.
A National Important Cultural Property associated with Takijiri is a black-lacquered kodachi with a blade just 22 cm long, signed Aritsugu. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes only one other known example of this rare type.
