For over a thousand years, pilgrims have traveled to the Kumano Region to pray at The Three Sacred Kumano Shrines: Hongu, Hayatama, and Nachi. Hayatama Grand Shrine is located in Northwest corner of the original town. It is believed that the city started being referred to as "Shingū" (literally "new shrine"), when this shrine was first established. Hayatama Grand Shrine predates Japan's earliest written records, the Kojiki, so there is no way to establish the year it was founded. However, excavations have unearthed remains of religious rituals dating back as far as 300 AD.