Set in the dense forests of the Kii Moun­tains over­look­ing the Pacif­ic Ocean, three sacred sites — Yoshi­no and Omine, Kumano San­zan, Koy­asan — linked by pil­grim­age routes to the ancient cap­i­tal cities of Nara and Kyoto, reflect the fusion of Shin­to, root­ed in the ancient tra­di­tion of nature wor­ship in Japan, and Bud­dhism, which was intro­duced from Chi­na and the Kore­an Penin­su­la. The sites (506.4 ha) and their sur­round­ing for­est land­scape reflect a per­sis­tent and extra­or­di­nar­i­ly well-doc­u­­men­t­ed tra­di­tion of sacred moun­tains over 1,200 years. The area, with its abun­dance of streams, rivers and water­falls, is still part of the liv­ing cul­ture of Japan and is much vis­it­ed for rit­u­al pur­pos­es and hik­ing, with up to 15 mil­lion vis­i­tors annu­al­ly. Each of the three sites con­tains shrines, some of which were found­ed as ear­ly as the 9th cen­tu­ry.