Photo/Illutration The main object of worship at Hana-no-Iwaya Shrine is the 45-meter-tall giant white rock that looms over visitors as they approach. It is said to be the grave of Izanami-no-Mikoto, the mother of the gods in Japanese mythology. (Photo by Lisa Vogt)

Driving along the Iseji, one of the seven Kumano Kodo routes, I saw a roadside sign that read “Hana-no-Iwaya--World Heritage Site--The Oldest Sacred Place in Japan.”

I wasn’t sure about the kanji character for “iwaya,” so I asked Dr. Google, who sent me to good ol’ Wiktionary, which explained to me that it means a hole in a rock, a residence or a place where people gather.

Intrigued and unsure of what to expect, I parked and followed the path that pointed the way to it.

I passed a stone pillar about a meter high with layers of ropes coiled around it. Not knowing what to make of it, I soon came upon a torii gate.

So this place is a Shinto shrine, I thought. I bowed and went through it, thereby entering sacred territory.

I passed by “komainu” lion guardian dogs and stone lanterns--both familiar sights when entering a shrine. I purified myself with the water coming out of a bamboo spout from a dragon’s mouth, noted the standard “omikuji” paper fortune and “ema” pictorial offering stands, and made my way to the end, only to find ... nothing.

Well, technically, not nothing, but I expected to find a shrine building. Instead, in front of me stood a 45-meter-high wall, a boulder with holes and an indentation, which itself is the object of veneration as it embodies the deity Izanami.

According to the “Nihon Shoki” (The Chronicles of Japan), which was supposedly completed in 720, Izanami went to the mythical underworld of the dead after giving birth to Kagutsuchi-no-Mikoto, the god of fire, whose flames accidentally engulfed her.

Izanagi didn’t take losing his wife very well and beheaded his son.

Hana-no-Iwaya, or the flower cavern, is believed to mark the entrance to the underworld, where Izanagi attempted to find Izanami after she died giving birth to Kagutsuchi.

Hana-no-Iwaya, or the flower cavern, marks the entrance to the kingdom of the dead called “yomi” where the two went. Izanagi, missing his wife, decided to visit, but upon seeing her rotting corpse, he was horrified, ran away and sealed the entrance with the massive rock.

Hana-no-Iwaya was a cemetery before officially being designated a shrine in the Meiji Era (1868-1912).

Twice a year, a staggering 170-meter sacred “shimenawa” rope is extended from the stone pillar I first saw (the original was a pine tree) up to the top of the boulder.

Three 10-meter-long rope formations with geometric patterns are hung from the main rope to represent the sun, moon and storm deities.

Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2004 as part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes of the Kii Mountain Range, Hana-no-Iwaya is a rare shrine along a road often traveled.

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This article by Lisa Vogt, a Washington-born and Tokyo-based photographer, originally appeared in the May 7 issue of Asahi Weekly. It is part of the series “Lisa’s UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Japan,” which depicts various parts of the country through the perspective of the author, a professor at Aoyama-gakuin University.

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