Find Yourself Deep in the Mountains: The Experience of Shugendo

The five-story pagoda on Mt. Haguro in the “Dewa Sanzan,” a group of three sacred mountains in Yamagata prefecture

“Shugendo is a practice rather than a religion,” explains Tim. “It combines elements from multiple belief systems that are part of the fabric of Japanese culture, including Buddhism, Shinto, and Taoism.” A practitioner of Shugendo, known as a gyoja (ascetic) or yamabushi, goes into the mountains to see the world and their place in it in a new way, emerging transformed by the experience.

A practitioner of Shugendo, goes into the mountains to see the world and their place in it in a new way, aiming to emerge transformed by the experience

There are many different lineages and schools of Shugendo, but most revere the same figure as the tradition’s founder: En the Ascetic, a mystic who lived on Mount Katsuragi, west of Nara, more than a thousand years ago. Not much is known for certain about his life, but the official histories of Japan record that he was banished to the island of Izu Oshima on vaguely specified charges of deception in the year 699. Outside these histories, there are countless legends about En the Ascetic’s powers, which reportedly ranged from commanding spirits to traveling great distances in the blink of an eye.

En the Ascetic was the most prominent of many mountain-dwelling holy figures in ancient Japan. The word yamabushi, meaning “those who lie in the mountains,” first appears in writing around 1000, and the yamabushi as an archetype has remained part of Japan’s cultural landscape ever since.

After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, however, the government set about enforcing a new separation between Shinto and Buddhism. As an inherently syncretic tradition, Shugendo as such was banned in 1872, and all yamabushi were ordered to become Buddhist monks or Shinto priests, or return to lay life. Fortunately, some of those who became monks or priests managed to keep mountain asceticism itself alive despite this disapproval, and once freedom of religion was granted in the postwar constitution, Shugendo could safely reveal itself once more.

Interest in Shugendo continues to grow, and in recent decades some yamabushi trained in surviving lineages have begun reestablishing local ascetic traditions in areas where the traditions were previously broken.

Shugendo is practiced deep in the mountains in rural areas of Japan

So much for the history—what do yamabushi actually do in the mountains?
“For yamabushi, the mountain is a place of rebirth,” explains Tim. The distinctive white clothes worn by yamabushi are the same as the outfits corpses are dressed in. The experience thus begins with a symbolic death, followed by practices in the mountains symbolizing a voyage through the Ten Realms of Buddhism.

The distinctive white clothes worn by yamabushi are the same as the outfits corpses are dressed in. The experience thus begins with a symbolic death, followed by practices in the mountains symbolizing a voyage through the Ten Realms of Buddhism

For example, yamabushi avoid bathing or shaving while in the mountains, symbolizing the Animal Realm. The famous “waterfall meditation,” in which practitioners stand motionless under a thundering waterfall chanting the Lotus Sutra, represents existence in the fierce Asura Realm. Some regional traditions have unique practices, too. The yamabushi of Mount Omine in Nara enact the Hell Realm through a practice called “Insight from the West” (Nishi no nozoki), in which participants are held upside-down over a 200-foot cliff. (“We don’t do anything that extreme in the Dewa Sanzan,” says Tim with a laugh.)

Silence and acceptance of one’s situation are also key elements of yamabushi training. The only thing non-leaders are permitted to say during training is “Uketamo,” literally “I understand” or “I accept.” No questions, no comments—it’s harder than it sounds! As Tim explains, this also has a deeper meaning, training you to accept yourself as you are, and embrace the world as it is.

At the end of the practice, practitioners emerge from the tainai (womb) of the mountain spiritually reborn. “A few days in the mountain can change your life,” says Tim. “I’ve seen it happen.”

Sendatsu Hoshino and a group of Yamabushi-in-training

A formal yamabushi training session runs for a week or longer, but for those with less time to spare, Tim’s Yamabushido project offers shorter sessions of two or three days. Yamabushido participants are led through the Dewa Sanzan by a trained yamabushi, visiting sacred sites and engaging in spiritual practices (“even walking is meditation,” Tim explains), but staying in more comfortable lodgings than the crowded camps where a hundred yamabushi might squeeze in together during formal sessions.

While many mountains were originally off-limits to women, today female participants are actually in the majority in this kind of yamabushi activity. In recent years, Yamabushido has also added “depressurization sessions” after the experience so people can ask questions and process their experience—because the only thing you can say on the mountain is “Uketamo”!

Getting there: There are yamabushi groups throughout Japan. Some welcome outside visitors, while others keep to themselves. Tim Bunting’s Yamabushido project is associated with a group active around Dewa Sanzan, headed by sendatsu (leader or guide) Fumihiro Hoshino. Reservations to participate in activities can be made via Facebook.

To get to Dewa Sanzan, take the Joetsu Shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Niigata Station, and then take a limited express train to Tsuruoka or Sakata. The trip takes around 4 hours in all. Getting into the mountains will then require a rental car or bus trip from the station, although if you are signed up for a Yamabushido experience, transportation will be arranged.