Kumano Kodo — Ogumotori-goe

The hardest section of the Kumano Kodo. From the shrine at Nachi the stone stairs go straight up and keep going, over Funami pass and Echizen pass before the long drop to Koguchi. Old pilgrim records call the climb out of Nachi the "slope where the dead are carried" — the grade is why. [Route details] Start: Kumano Nachi Taisha · End: Koguchi 14.34 km · 63 m to 884 m · climb 838 m [Good to know] - Wakayama Prefecture gives 14.5 km and about five hours; this line is 14.34 km. - Cut at Nachi Taisha. The OpenStreetMap relation starts down at Nachi station and runs 20.8 km, which is the shrine approach plus the pass — the official section begins at the shrine. - Nachi Falls, Japan's tallest single drop, is 430 m off the line at the start. - Elevation is sampled from a terrain model at 300 m spacing, not recorded on the ground.