Hongū Taisha

One of the Kumano Sanzan, this site enshrines the deity Kumano Gonzen as well as others.
Until the 19th century, this shrine sat upon the river itself, and pilgrims waded the final distance—one last ritual ablution—to enter the holy ground. A disastrous flood resulted in the shrine's removal to higher ground. Today it sits uphill from the Kumano River, following a disastrous flood in 1889, but until then it was on a sandbank and enshrined twelve gods.
At the time of our story, the shrine honors a dozen gods and opens directly to the river.