Explore Onigajō Wave-carved cliffs and leaf-wrapped mehari sushi from Kumano

I reached the foot of the cliff and looked up without thinking. The late-June morning light fell on the rock, but the hollows stayed dark. It wasn't a flat wall: hollows overlapped, and thin slabs jutted out. From a distance, it might all look like one stretch of rock, but up close, every section had a different shape. I stopped in my tracks.

The staircase in front of me climbed along the cliff. Following the handrail with my eyes helped me see just how huge the rock overhead was. Onigajō was formed not only by wave erosion and weathering, but also by uplift caused by earthquakes. How long did it take to carve the hollows right in front of me? Once I knew how the place had formed, I started noticing other details, too.

I showed up in a light blue checked top and white shorts, but I had a feeling I'd spend more time taking in the view than anything else today. I left my sunglasses perched on my head and compared the sunlit rock with the darkness inside the hollows. It was all one stretch of rock, yet the depth seemed to change from one hollow to the next. I wanted to fit the whole thing into a photo, but first I wanted to see it with my own eyes.

When I stopped, I unwrapped the paper around the mehari sushi I'd brought. Rice wrapped in pickled mustard greens fit in both my hands. I'd heard its name came from the phrase "eating with your eyes wide open," so I glanced down at what I was holding. Every time I'd looked up at the rocks, my eyes had gone wide. I was starting to think lunch might bring out the same expression.

I took a bite, leaf and all, and the rice and pickled greens came together in one mouthful. A moment ago, I'd been gazing up at the cliff; now I was eyeing the rest of my mehari sushi. Eating a local Kumano specialty right beside the rock face made me so happy. I wanted to keep looking at this place even after I'd finished eating, so I slowed down for my next bite.

I folded up the paper and put it away, then looked up at the hollows in the cliff once more. Onigajō has a walkway about 1 km long, with views of caves large and small and unusual rock formations. The rock I looked up at beside the stairs is what stayed with me most. If I can't decide what to have for lunch in Kumano, I know I'll want to choose that leaf-wrapped rice again.