紀伊山地の霊場と参詣道（Sacred Site and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range）

高野山編

高野山は、弘法大師・空海が９世紀初頭に開いた真言密教の聖地で、１２００年以上の歴史をもつ日本仏教の中心地である。空海は、密教の体系化、文字教育（いろは歌）、土木・医療・思想にまで影響を与えた人物で、その多才さから「日本史上のスーパーマン」とも評される。

高野山には密教美術の粋を集めた仏像が数多く残り、大日如来像や不動明王像など、信仰と芸術の両面で極めて価値が高い。奥之院には空海が今も入定していると信じられ、戦国武将や大名、企業家など多くの著名人の墓が並ぶ。鎌倉時代には金剛三昧院の覚心（心地覚心）が宋代中国の僧院食文化を日本に伝え、金山寺味噌に連なる発酵食品の成立に大きな影響を与えた。醤油は金山寺味噌から生まれている。

高野山は、信仰・歴史・精神文化が重層的に息づく特別な場所である。

Koyasan is the sacred center of Shingon Esoteric Buddhism, founded in the early 9th century by Kūkai, also known as Kōbō Daishi, and has served as a core of Japanese Buddhism for more than 1,200 years. Kūkai systematized esoteric Buddhism and influenced a wide range of fields including literacy education (such as the iroha poem), civil engineering, medicine, and philosophy. Owing to this extraordinary breadth of achievement, he is sometimes described as a “superman of Japanese history.”Koyasan preserves numerous outstanding examples of esoteric Buddhist sculpture, including statues of Dainichi Nyorai, Aizen Myōō, and Fudō Myōō, which are of exceptional value both religiously and artistically. At Okunoin, Kūkai is believed to remain in eternal meditation, and the cemetery is lined with the graves of many notable figures, including warlords, feudal lords, and modern business leaders.During the Kamakura period, Kakushin (also known as Shinchi Kakushin) of Kongō Sanmai-in transmitted Song-dynasty Chinese monastic food culture to Japan, greatly influencing the development of fermented foods connected to Kinzanji miso, which leads to Soy sauce. Koyasan remains a unique place where faith, history, and spiritual culture exist in rich, layered harmony.