笠木峠
急勾配の斜面、森林、高地の寒冷な気候は、食物の栽培に適していなかったため、この峠は高野山の存続に重要な役割を果たしました。高野山に続く道路が舗装されるまでの長年の間、参詣者（と荷物を運ぶ人）は町石道のような狭い道を通って山を登るしかありませんでした。
笠置峠は道中の重要な中継地であり、近くの笠木村の住民は、人夫や案内人として生活必需品や奉納する品を運び、労働力を提供しました。道は荷物を運ぶ動物には狭すぎたため、人が全ての物を運んで山に登らなくてはなりませんでした。運ばれたものの中には、墓や柱、石造建築に使われる巨大な石の塊もありました。このような石は数トンの重さがあったものの、道標の石柱である町石は、参詣者や人夫によって大切に現在の場所に運ばれました。
過酷な仕事だったに違いありませんが、物品、奉納品、さらには石さえを高野山まで運ぶという苦労は、信奉者にとって高野山の開祖である空海という僧（諡号 弘法大師、774-835）への献身を表明するために非常に重要でした。
Kasagi Pass
This mountain pass played an important part in the survival of the Koyasan community, as the steep slopes and forests and the cold climate of higher altitudes were not conducive to food cultivation. In the years before the mountain roads to Koyasan were paved, pilgrims (and people making deliveries) had no choice but to ascend via narrow paths like the Choishi Michi (Stone Marker Trail).
Kasagi Pass was an important stop on the route, and residents from the nearby village of Kasagi would offer their services as porters and guides to carry daily necessities and offerings. As the trails were too narrow for pack animals, everything had to be brought up on foot. This included the huge blocks of stone used to construct graves, pillars, and masonry. Though they weighed several tons, each one of the choishi stone pillars that mark the trail was reverently carried to its current location by pilgrims and porters.
While it must have been backbreaking work, the effort of bringing goods, offerings, and even stones to Koyasan was deeply significant to believers as a way to express devotion to the priest Kukai (known posthumously as Kobo Daishi; 774–835), the founder of Koyasan.
