A Melbourne woman has died after falling off a cliff while walking on a pilgrimage trail in Japan.
The ABC has confirmed passers-by called the fire department to the Kumano Kodo trail near Tanabe, on the island of Honshu, about midday on Friday, reporting that a person had slipped off a cliff.
The woman, a 66-year-old senior pharmacist, was found unconscious about 40 metres below the cliff.
She was taken to hospital, where she died four hours later.
Police are investigating the circumstances of the woman's death.
The woman was walking the UNESCO world heritage-listed pilgrimage trail with another Australian woman, police said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was providing consular assistance to the family of a woman who had died in Japan.
The Kumano Kodo is a network of pilgrimage trails in Japan's southern Kansai region which have been in use for more than 1,000 years.
It is one of only two pilgrimage routes worldwide to be designated as world heritage sites, along with the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
