S P O T ／ SPOT-341

Daitankura (Onigura)

大丹倉おおにぐら

Daitankura is a colossal rock wall—roughly 300 meters high and 500 meters wide—rising deep in the mountains of Kumano, Mie Prefecture. The "tan" in its name means red, and true to that, the rock face glows reddish: the iron within this rhyolite mass has oxidized through weathering, staining the cliff a deep rust color that stands out starkly against the surrounding green. Since ancient times it has been a sacred ground for Shugendō ascetics, and it preserves a tradition of giant-rock (iwakura) worship that took root here even before pilgrims began flocking to the Kumano Sanzan; at its foot, Tankura Shrine still enshrines a great boulder as its sacred body. From the end of the forest road the summit is only about a five-minute walk, and a trail also runs via Omote-tankura—but the summit is a fenceless natural precipice, and footing is entirely at the visitor's own risk. It is a living site where nature worship and mountain austerity converge in one vivid red cliff.