The gleaming vermilion Kumano Hayatama Taisha is dedicated to Hayatama, Shinto divinity of life force, later associated to Yakushi Nyorai, the doctor Buddha. It houses numerous votive objects and is considered to be the place of the appearance of Shintoism. This original nature is to be found in the name of the town, Shingu meaning "the first shrine". In the south, a steep staircase leads down to a large sacred rock, Gotobikiiwa, where the deities of Kumano are said to have "landed".