Kii Mountains

The Kii Mountains connected sacred places through a demanding network of paths. Yoshino and Omine, Kumano Sanzan and Koyasan brought together shrine worship, Buddhist institutions and mountain ascetic practice. The Kohechi route, formed in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, crossed the peninsula from Koyasan toward Kumano Hongu, serving both pilgrims and ordinary transport.

Its high passes linked small valley settlements rather than bypassing the people who lived in the mountains. Records along the route recall an Edo-period temple, tea house and checkpoint. Local recollections also describe packhorse drivers stopping for tea and pilgrims lodging overnight at inns. The sacred landscape therefore depended on practical services: carrying goods, feeding travellers and maintaining places to rest through steep and isolated country.