Illustrious chefs, Shinto, Buddhist, and Shugendo spiritual leaders, virtuoso musicians, tea ceremony masters, and a renowned calligrapher collaborate at a Japanese World Cultural Heritage site to produce an exclusive program of events blending the culinary, artistic, and spiritual worlds. This is Nachi Premier.
Wakayama Prefecture’s Kumano Nachi Taisha, part of the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range—a UNESCO World Heritage site—is the location of these experiences.
Japanese people, especially followers of Buddhism, Shintoism, and Shugendo, a blend of ancient folk religions and Buddhist and Shinto beliefs, revere Mount Nachi. This ancient spiritual center overlooks Nachi Waterfall, whose cascades plunge a straight 133 meters.
Nachi Taisha’s grounds embrace a 1,700-year-old shrine, ancient temples, a traditional tea ceremony house, and a pagoda close to the mystical waterfall. Forests surround this historic complex, where awe-inspiring beauty excites the senses yet calms the soul.
Exclusive Night Tour, Worship Service, Gourmet Dinner, Japanese Cultural Performance
Stroll Nachi Taisha’s grounds with a private guide in the evening when they are closed to the public. The sacred atmosphere, illumination of Nachi Waterfall, and a blessing by a Shinto priest will inspire your spirit.
Afterward, follow graceful kimono-clad hostesses into a Japanese-style room, where famed chefs prepare before your eyes exquisite seafood and other dishes, including spiny lobster sashimi, sea urchin on tofu, and numerous artistic sushi variations rarely served elsewhere.
Artfully arranged on hand-crafted glass and lacquerware plates, each course arrives with a distinctive sake, except for the grilled wagyu paired with Californian red wine. Meanwhile, your guide explains local food, history, and culture.
The private banquet finishes with deep bows from the chefs and hostesses, who suggest you carry a glass of your preferred sake or wine outside.
Before an illuminated Shinto shrine, master calligrapher Tyjun Nagayama stands with a cellist and a traditional Japanese drummer in the mountain shrine’s silence. The drum and cello duo initiate a stirring rhythm. Nagayama concentrates, then dramatically brushes black ink across vast sheets of white paper, executing one-of-a-kind calligraphic artworks with kanjis representing themes guests suggest. When the ink dries, the guests may receive them.
These unique evening events begin at 5pm on Friday, December 13, and December 20.
After the performance, guests return to their bayside hotel room with sea views. Waves rolling shoreward are audible from bedrooms and beachside hot springs.
Morning arrives with two tantalizing options: join a tea ceremony in the Nachisan Seiganto-ji Temple tea room, usually closed to the public, or observe sacred Shugendo rituals. Both activities are within the World Heritage Site.
Spiritual Tea Ceremony and Kumano Shugendo with Yamabushi
A prelude to the tea ceremony is a short hike along part of the Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Route. Ancient trees, mosses, and ferns flank cobblestone paths pilgrims have trod for centuries. Show respect by bowing at a shrine gate, signifying the boundary of the ordinary world and holy ground.
At a small shop, put on the colorful robes and footwear of Japanese nobility during the Heian period (794-1183) when scholar-monks introduced tea into Japan from China. Continue strolling the path and taking memorable photographs before boarding a van to the historic tea room.
From the Ryojuan tea room’s mossy garden, the Nachi Taisha grounds bathed by daylight are visible. Wispy fog glides over the green ridges of the Kii Mountain range. Nachi Falls plunges to the right of Fudaraku-ji Temple’s vermillion three-story pagoda.
Entering the tea room is a journey into unpretentious luxuries. Here, tea drinkers admire a bouquet of colorful wildflowers, a simple wall scroll, and the imperfect beauty of tea bowls. Our tea master teaches us that consideration of others is a central tenet of the tea ceremony, a lesson as sweet and delicious as Japan’s finest matcha.
Meanwhile, at Fudarakusan-ji Temple, your companions witness the unveiling of a Buddhist statue that is usually not shown to the public and participate in a goma, fire ritual, offering protection from evil. A yamabushi, a monk who has completed physical and mental training to experience enlightenment, explains Shugendo.
Following these exclusive introductions to Japanese spiritual customs is a Japanese lunch prepared by masterful chefs in another private room with windows open to spectacular religious architecture, mountains, and valleys. More unusual fare is on the menu, including thin slices of smoked horse, gold flakes floating in a light soup of fish cakes, and Wakayama-grown grapes. The beauty of the food is enhanced by gorgeous Kishu lacquerware.
Enlighten yourself by joining these experiences on Saturday, December 14 or Saturday, December 21, from 9:30am.
Katsuura Premium Tuna Dinner
Dinner is a tuna banquet only the fishing town of Nachikatsuura can deliver. Nachikatsuura lands more tuna than other Japanese ports. Nachi Premier reserves an entire tuna specialist restaurant at the Katsuura Port Nigiwai Market.
A freshly caught fifty-kilogram bluefin tuna lays on a bed of ice. Two lucky diners slice the tuna with the restaurant pros, who also give a fascinating crash course in tuna biology, fishing, and cooking. With fresh tuna, everyone makes sushi appetizers.
Meanwhile, the just-cut tuna collars are grilling on an outdoor barbecue. Guests savor the steaming charcoal-flavored tuna around the barbecue before sitting at tables with views of fishing boats and stars. Other exotic tuna dishes include smoked tuna spring rolls, potato dumplings stuffed with tuna, six sashimi selections sliced from the tuna's head to its melt-in-your-mouth belly, and more delicacies.
The Katsuura tuna banquet experience starts at 5:30pm on Saturday, December 14 and Saturday, December 21.
You can enjoy these unique experiences separately or combine them to your liking. For more information and reservations, please visit https://nachikan.jp/en/.
