In pictures: Shadowing the pilgrims on Mount Koya Published duration 28 May 2017

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

Settled as early as the 9th Century, Mount Koya is a Unesco world heritage site in the Wakayama prefecture, just south of Osaka in Japan.

The Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism has its headquarters there and the heavily-forested mountain is criss-crossed with a complex network of tracks and paths still used by pilgrims today.

Photographer Hugh Kinsella Cunningham followed the pilgrimage route, photographing the holy sites, ruins and contemporary graves alongside it.

He shot his series on film, hand-printing the photographs to emphasise the golden tones and mood of the mountain's unique landscape during sunrise and sunset.

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

image copyright Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

All photographs by Hugh Kinsella Cunningham.