Kumano Hongū Taisha

Kumano Hongū Taisha (熊野本宮大社) is a Shinto shrine in Tanabe in Wakayama, Japan. It is included as part of the Kumano Sanzan in the World Heritage Site "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range". The main deities enshrined are Kumano Sansho Gongen (熊野三所権現): Ketsumimiko (家津美御子), Hayatama (速玉) and Fusubi (牟須美). All of the ancient Kumano Kodō routes lead to the Grand Shrine.

It was originally located at present Ōyunohara (大斎原), on a sandbank at the confluence of the Kumano River and Otonashi River. In 1889, it was partially destroyed in a flood and the remaining shrine buildings were relocated at its present site in 1891. Of the original five main pavilions only three were rebuilt. Four deities were moved there and the other eight are still enshrined there in two stone monuments.

In 2000, the largest torii shrine gate in the world (33.9 m (111 ft) tall and 42 m (138 ft) wide) was erected at the entrance to the Oyunohara sandbank. It is an official gateway that designates the entrance to a sacred area. It signifies the division of the secular and the spiritual worlds. This torii is called Otorii (o means "great") and is made of steel weighing 172 tons, which took about six months to make and another six months to assemble.