Wakayama Shi Travel Guide

Dōjō-ji in Hidaka, Wakayama, a Tendai temple founded in 701, is famed for the legend of Anchin and Kiyohime in the Dōjō-ji engi. National Treasure-class images including the Thousand-armed Kannon and a famous bell are preserved — an ancient temple of the Kii peninsula.

Negoro-ji in Iwade, Wakayama, is the head temple of the Shingi Shingon school, founded in the 12th century and once the base of the warrior-monk 'Negoro-shū'. Its great pagoda is an Important Cultural Property; maples and the old tower are lovely — a faith centre of the Kii river basin.

The Kishū Railway (Wakayama Electric Railway Kishi Line) is a local private line around Wakayama city, known for its characterful coloured trains and 'cat stationmaster' culture (Kishi Station was once run by 'Tama' the cat). It links Wakayama Castle, a zoo and rural scenery — a local slow-life and rail-fan favourite route.

Enshū-ga-hama is a pine-fringed beach in Wakayama city, named for the smoky-green pine groves along the shore. With gentle sand and an open coastline, it is a nearby spot for locals to swim and stroll, and a relaxed place to watch the Kii Channel sunset.

Sanada-an is a hermitage site at Kudoyama, at the foot of Koya, Wakayama, tied to the Sengoku figures Sanada Masayuki and Yukimura — father and son were exiled here and spent their years in quiet seclusion. The plain hut and surrounding hills hold a serene memory of the Sanada clan's fateful 'dual-face' story.

Kimii-dera, formally Kimiisan Kongōhō-ji Gokoku-in, stands on the western slope of Mt Nagusa in Wakayama, Japan. Tradition holds that the Tang monk Ikō founded it in 770; today it is the head temple of the Kuze Kannon sect and the second stop on the Saigoku Thirty-three Kannon pilgrimage. Its name comes from three springs on the mountain — Kisshō, Shōjō and Yōryū — counted among Japan's hundred famous waters and used for offerings and drinking for over a thousand years. Beyond the gate rise the 231 steps of the 'slope of ties', where the Edo merchant Kinokuniya Bunzaemon is said to have met his future wife and made his fortune, so pilgrims climb them praying for marriage and success. At the top stand the main hall, the hexagonal hall and the modern Daikōmyō-den with its great thousand-armed Kannon, above a view over Wakanoura Bay and the city. The temple is famous above all for cherry blossom: facing the sunny sea it blooms earliest in the Kansai region, the meteorological agency's reference tree grows here, and in late March pink cloud covers the hillside above the water.