Author: John D. (Page 119 of 202)

Sacred groves

February 6, 2014 / John D. / 0 Comments

Sacred groves bring light, life and greenery to Japan's often concrete-encased cities

What trees would you find in a Buddhist grove that you wouldn’t find in a Shinto grove? It’s a puzzle answered by one of my favourite columnists, Keven Short, in The Japan News today, though judging by the Kyoto weather his headline is somewhat premature. 4C at midday doesn’t feel much like spring! (Short is a naturalist and anthropology professor at Tokyo University of Information Sciences.)

*************************************************************************************************************************

February 06, 2014
Kevin Short / Special to The Japan News
Spring is here at last!

At least in the traditional Asian koyomi calendar, this past Tuesday marked Risshun, or the official start of spring. In the lunar reckoning, the first moon of the New Year has been waxing toward first quarter. The setting Sun, in turn, has been slowly climbing up and over the snow-covered slopes of Mt. Fuji.

This year I’m continuing my study project on Japanese sacred groves. Almost all Shinto shrines are surrounded by a grove of old-growth trees. Even urban shrines will often have a few ancient oaks or keyaki zelkovas. Folklorists believe that the Japanese originally worshipped their kami deities in dense groves of tall trees. Later, actual shrine buildings were constructed to house the deities, but the traditional animistic cosmology was continued in sacred trees and groves.

Although not as well known as those of Shinto shrines, some Buddhist temples also support a substantial grove of protected trees. The Buddhist cosmology is infused with a strong ecological ethic. All living creatures are thought to derive their life energy from the same universal source.

(courtesy Kevin Short)

Temple groves often contain species of trees that are almost never found around Shinto shrines. These are trees that are considered sacred to the Buddhist faith. A typical example is the bodaiju lime tree. According to Buddhist tradition, the historic Buddha Shakyamuni (Shaka-Nyorai in Japanese) obtained enlightenment while meditating under the branches of a sacred fig tree (Ficus religiosa).

Buddhism later spread from India westward into Pakistan and from there eastward along the old Silk Road trading route to China. The sacred fig, however, is a tropical species that does not thrive in the cool temperate zone. The Chinese thus substituted a native tree with similar-looking heart-shaped leaves. The priest Eisai, founder of the Rinzai sect of Zen Buddhism, is said to have brought the first bodaiju to Japan sometime in the late 12th century.

The small white lime flowers bloom in midsummer. They are extremely fragrant, and are a favorite of honeybees. The flowers are attached to a distinctive structure called a bract. Later, when the small hard fruits develop, the bracts turn aerodynamic, dropping off intact and carrying the still-attached seeds away on the wind.

In Japan, fibers pulled from the inner bark of the native species were traditionally used to weave cloth and baskets, and to make paper. The temple bodaiju, being protected trees, are not used for this purpose, but the hard fruits are sometimes strung together to make simple Buddhist juzu rosaries.

Another tree often seen around temples is the mukuroji soapnut tree. This deciduous species is native to the warmer areas of western Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands, as well as to Taiwan and the southern Asian mainland. The large leaves are compound, with an even number of small leaflets attached in a featherlike pattern along a long central axis. Tiny flowers bloom in midsummer. The berries ripen in autumn and consist of a single, very hard, round, black seed inside a leathery rind.

The rind of the mukuroji fruits contains copious amounts of chemicals called saponins. When stirred or shaken in water, these chemicals produce abundant foam. Many species of plants contain saponins, which botanists believe may help make the plants poisonous or at least unpalatable to certain insects. Throughout the world people have traditionally used these foamy plants as shampoos, soaps and laundry detergents. Soaps made from the mukuroji rinds are still available at natural cosmetics stores.

The hard black seeds of the mukuroji can be polished to a beautiful sheen, and are used to fashion high-quality juzu rosaries. The saponins are found only in the rinds, not in the seeds themselves, which actually contain edible oils that can be extracted and used for cooking. In addition, there are old folk beliefs that the mukuroji trees have a magical power to protect children from illness. The kanji used to write the tree’s name can be interpreted as something like “No (mu)—Illness (wazurai)— Child (ji).”

A sense of the sacred in the shrine precincts of Togakushi Jinja in Nagano

Mini-torii

February 5, 2014 / John D. / 0 Comments

Happiness is a tight squeeze!

Squeezing through tight holes for good luck is very much a Japanese tradition that seems to cross the board in Buddhism, Shugendo and Shinto. No doubt it’s related to the act of being (re-)born. One of the fun things at Todai-ji in Nara is to watch schoolchildren and young women giggling with delight as they squeeze through the hole at the bottom of one of the giant pillars. And here in Kyoto we have the Yasui Konpira-gu shrine where people pass through a hole in a rock in one direction to cut off a bad relationship (enkiri) and then in the reverse direction in the hope of making a new relationship (enmusubi).

I’ve also noticed one or two mini-torii on my travels, and now Gabi Greve of the Joys of Japan blog has alerted me to an article on the subject. The extract below comes from a blog by ampontan, and the original can be found here.

***********************************************************************************************************
HOW’S THIS for a bright idea? Religious institutions where they encourage people to have some playground fun!

That seems to be the motivation for the Shinto shrines in Japan which have what are called mini-torii. The torii is the distinctive shrine gateway, and it serves as both the marker of the sacred space and as a symbol for the shrine itself. It’s usually erected near the start of the path leading to the main hall.

But just because something’s sacred doesn’t mean it can’t be used for amusement. One example is shown in the first photo, which is a scene from the Flower Festival at the Awashima shrine in Unzen, Nagasaki. (You might remember that Unzen was the location of some severe volcano eruptions in the early 1990s.)

In addition to the regular torii at the front of the premises, the Awashima shrine has three mini-torii. It’s a festival custom for women to try to crawl through these gateways. Successfully squeezing through all three is said to bring several benefits, such as safe childbirth, the rearing of healthful children, and a happy marriage. (Perhaps I should rearrange the order of those benefits!)

The torii are made of stone and have inner dimensions of 33 centimeters, 30 centimeters, and 27 centimeters. The women pass through the largest one first and then go on to the smaller ones in succession, which is supposed to represent the process of childbirth.

Five-sided pencil torii - pass through and you may squeeze through your exams too!

Meanwhile, the Awashima shrine in Uto, Kumamoto (this Awashima is written with different kanji), bills itself as having the number one mini-torii in Japan, as you can see from its Japanese-language website. They also have three mini-torii that people crawl through, though all three have 30-centimeter-square openings.

Since mini-torii are the shrine’s specialty, the parents in the district asked the authorities to create some special ones so their kids could crawl through in the hope of helping them pass school entrance examinations. That’s how the shrine’s chief priest came up with the idea for the one he’s showing off in the photo. The shrine has assembled it during the exam period during the past two years, and this year it was left up until March 31.

The pencils are 60 centimeters high and have a diameter of 10 centimeters. The inner opening is also 30 centimeters square. Pencils usually have six sides, but the priest must have been divinely inspired to make these with five. The word for passing a test in Japanese is gokaku, with a slightly elongated o sound. Make the o sound shorter, and the word can mean “five angles”.

It might not be so easy for some women—or bigger students—to pass through those torii, but it’s got to be easier than a camel passing through the eye of a needle on the way to heaven!

************************************************************************************************

For more on the subject, see Gabi Greve’s piece at this Japanshrinestemples blogspot here.

*************************************************************************************************

Passing through to the other side at Awashima Jinja in Kumamoto (source:　www.city.uto.kumamoto.jp)

Some mini-torii are just too small even for a Japanese to climb through! (Fushimi Inari in Kyoto)

A young woman about to cut off a bad relationship by passing through the hole in the stone at Yasui Konpira-gu

Passing through a bit more than the eye of a needle at the base of one of the massive pillars in Nara's Todai-ji

Animal rights (dolphins)

February 3, 2014 / John D. / 3 Comments

The Japan Times carried an excellent editorial the other day, speaking out against the inhumane slaughter of dolphins at Taiji. This is defended by nationalists like prime minister Shinzo Abe as a Japanese tradition. So at various times was infanticide, slavery, and a samurai’s right to chop off necks – one wonders whether Abe would like to revive those too.

Where does Shinto stand on this? The issue has brought worldwide condemnation of Japan, but why don’t we hear the voices of Shinto priests on this issue? As the Japan Times article says, “Japan has another tradition, one of deep respect for nature and the creatures in it.”

It’s high time for Shinto to rediscover its affinity with nature and put its mouth where its heart claims to be. Compassion for animals should be at the very centre of its agenda.

*************************************************************************************************

Defend dolphins, not a ‘tradition’
FEB 1, 2014 Japan Times editorial

In mid-January, somewhere between 250 and 500 dolphins were driven into the cove near Taiji, a small town in western Japan made famous in the award-winning film, “The Cove.” There, at least 100 of the dolphins were slaughtered for their meat. Others were packed up and sold to aquariums.

The dolphins are herded, butchered and sold every year, but this year, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, together with CNN news uploaded videos of the dolphin hunt. The video, available online, is not for the faint of heart. Despite claims of humane killing methods, the video shows the fishermen hacking into the heads and backs of the panicked dolphins, then leaving them to bleed to death, turning the entire cove bright red.

Photo courtesy Michael D Sellers

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe defended the practice in an interview with CNN and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters at a news conference that marine mammals including dolphins were “very important water resources.” Suga insisted “Dolphin fishing is one of the traditional fishing forms of our country and is carried out appropriately in accordance with the law.”

Their argument that the force of tradition justifies the herding, capturing and slaughtering of dolphins is a flimsy one. Many past cultural practices, such as slavery, bordellos and beheading were stopped for ethical reasons. Tradition and culture are forces that change in accordance with new scientific understanding and evolving ethical standards. In addition, the Taiji hunt didn’t even become institutionalized on a large scale until 1969, so its roots are quite shallow.

Their argument that the slaughter adheres to principles of the law is equally questionable. Veterinarians and behavioral scientists who viewed the covertly recorded video contend that the killing method used in this year’s Taiji dolphin hunt would not be permitted in any slaughterhouse in the developed world.

Indeed, it is open to question whether the method would be acceptable if used to slaughter cows or other livestock in Japan.

Japanese law states that all methods of killing livestock should reduce the animals’ suffering as much as possible. The method of sending “fishermen” into the water with knives to stab the dolphins, clearly evident in the video, does not begin to meet that guideline. The desperate flailing of the wounded animals and the long time it takes them to die go against the accepted animal welfare standards employed in advanced societies.

Japan has already stopped invasive research and other harmful practices on species such as chimpanzees. Intelligent animal species have always held a special closeness to humans because of their intelligence, capacity for suffering and complex social relations. Dolphins are even known to commit suicide when distressed or confused.

Japan has another tradition, one of deep respect for nature and the creatures in it. That tradition would be much easier to defend. The dolphin hunt is an inhumane practice that should be stopped.

Setsubun – why beans?

February 2, 2014 / John D. / 3 Comments

Demons and beans are what Setsubun is all about - but why?

February 3 is Setsubun when Japanese mark the seasonal break and look forward to the coming of spring. In Japan’s old lunar calendar, taken from the Chinese, it used to be associated with the New Year which took place around this time. It’s deeply syncretic, celebrated at both temples and shrines alike.

The main activity at Setsubun is bean-throwing, the idea being that you throw beans at wicked demons to banish them for the coming year. ’Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi,’ (Out with the demons, in with happiness) is the accompanying cry. But why beans? What on earth do beans have to do with demon disposal?

An article in the Japan Times had a full page spread all about Setsubun and the food connection. History, types, recipes – it was a true feast of Setsubun fare. The extract below is taken from it, and the full article by Makiko Itoh can be read here.

**************************************************************************************

On Setsubun, each household loads up asakemasu, the wooden box in which sake is sometimes served, with roasted daizu, or soybeans. Then the head of the household (or a male in the household whose Chinese zodiac animal matches that particular year) throws handfuls of beans outside of the front entrance while chanting, “Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi” (“Demons outside, good luck inside”).

Packet of lucky beans for throwing at home from Yasaka Jinja in the geisha district of Gion

Sometimes the rest of the household chants along, “Gomottomo, gomottomo” (“That’s right, that’s right”) as he performs this task; some, especially the kids, play the part of oni by donning paper masks and running from the bean-thrower. This ritual is called mamemaki, or the scattering of beans. Afterward, everyone eats the same number of roasted beans as their age for luck.

(In the north and some parts of the south, peanuts are used instead, probably because they are cheaper and more convenient.)

These days, local temples and their priests perform mamemaki, especially in densely populated urban areas. Perhaps this is for practical reasons: A whole apartment block of people throwing soybeans might be a bit messy. The more likely reason is that the father of any given family is too busy working to be scattering beans, since Setsubun is not an official public holiday.

But why throw roasted soybeans? In Japanese folklore, beans of all types are considered to be symbols of good luck. Stewed kuromame (black beans) are served as part of the New Year’s osechi feast as a symbol of fertility, and osekihan (short-grain mochi rice with adzuki beans that is a bright reddish purple) is a festive dish at many events throughout the year.

But the use of roasted soybeans for mamemaki is a bit more complicated. Raw soybeans are hard and long-lasting and impossible to eat, just as an oni (demon) or evil is hard to get rid of. But by roasting the beans with fire, they are conquered and become edible — and imbued with special powers. So the throwing of the beans symbolizes the throwing out of evil spirits, and eating them means the person has conquered and digested those demons. It’s a bit complicated, but I’m sure it made a lot of sense to the people of old.

One enormous ehomaki about to be devoured - but in which direction is the key question.

Mamemaki and soybeans are not the only lucky food associated with Setsubun. One that has become very popular in the last decade is the ehōmaki. Each person takes an uncut fat sushi roll, faces the ehō or lucky direction (this changes annually; this year it’s east-northeast), and eats the whole roll in silence. This is supposed to bring good luck to that person for the rest of the year.

The ehōmaki tradition originated in the Osaka area but has spread around the country, mainly due to some convenience store chains heavily promoting the sushi rolls, filling the marketing lull before the big chocolate rush of Valentine’s Day.

Yet another food associated with setsubun is iwashi (sardines). In some regions of Japan, a whole sardine is skewered through the eyeballs on a holly branch, then grilled and displayed outside the house. Sardines are used because they are “blue” fish containing lots of oil, which when grilled emits smoke — believed to ward off evil. Piercing the eyes with the holly, which is considered a sacred plant, symbolizes the piercing of an oni‘s eyes, incapacitating it and making it unable to enter the house.

Occasionally the fish and holly branch are stuck into a knotted rope displayed outside the main entrance. Dried soybean pods are hung with the fish too in some regions. But in some households the bulk of the fish is eaten as part of a Setsubun meal and only the pierced head is hung outside. When my mother was growing up, she and her brothers and sisters would hang the fish heads under the outside porch, since the open underside of their traditional Japanese house was believed to be particularly vulnerable to attacks by evil spirits. Invariably the neighborhood cats would come to make a feast of the fish heads, so they were usually gone by the next day.

A red devil terrorises the locals at Rozanji Temple in Kyoto

Bean throwing at Heian Jingu, when geisha too get in on the act

Bean throwing at Shimogamo Jinja, complete with Kyoto Tower mascot

Maiko from nearby Gion leave the stage after participating in the bean-throwing at Yasaka Jinja in Kyoto

Setsubun yamabushi-style with a gomaki fire rite at Kyoto's Shogo-in

Nara Deer Call

February 1, 2014 / John D. / 0 Comments

The deer at Kasuga Taisha have the freedom to roam - and beg

Announcement of the Shika-Yose (Deer Call) in Nara Park, which begins today…

The Shika-Yose or Deer Call is a seasonal event of the ancient capital of Nara that first started in AD1892, whereby the sound of a natural horn is used to call out to the deer in Nara Park.

The deer in Nara Park are wild animals designated as a protected species. It was said that at the time the Kasuga Grand Shrine, a World Heritage Site, was first built, the god of Kashima Shrine came in a white deer when it was transferred to the new shrine. Since then, they have been revered as messengers of the gods and thus carefully protected.

The Shika-Yose will be conducted in an area known as the Tobihino in Nara Park. As the sound of the horn reverberates, the view of about a hundred deer appearing from deep within the forest is a splendid sight indeed. Do come and enjoy a sight that can only be experienced in Nara in a Nara Park that is enveloped in the still and refreshing morning air of winter.

Date and Time: Feb 1 (Sat) – Mar 16 (Sun) 2014, From 10:00 am (about 15 minutes)
(*Except for Feb 3, 10, 17, 24 and Mar 3, 10)

Venue: Tobihino, within the grounds of the Kasuga Grand Shrine (south side of Kasuga Grand Shrine Sando)

Access: Take the city loop bus from JR / Kintetsu Nara Station and walk minutes from the Kasuga Grand Shrine Omote-sando bus stop, or 20 minutes walk from Kintetsu Nara Station.

The water basin honours the shrine's sacred animal, which the Buddhists at nearby Todaiji adopted too as a sacred animal in honour of Buddha's first sermon after enlightenment in the Deer Park at Benares, thus making the animal doubly blessed.

One happy deer grazing happily on sacred grass. Kasuga is noted for its lanterns, with 1000 hanging lanterns and 2000 stone lanterns. The total of approx. 3000 equals the number of its branch shrines,

Himiko’s magic mirror

January 31, 2014 / John D. / 4 Comments

An amazing youtube video has just come out showing the effect of the legendary bronze mirror delivered by China to shaman queen Himiko (c.250 AD). It shows the stunning effect of light reflected on the mirror, which not only produces a sunlike golden orb but reflects the markings on the back of the mirror. Please do take a look at it – it’s only just over a minute but quite stunning.

In the youtube video the mirror is used too to reflect onto a cameraman, producing a kind of round aura around him. This must surely have seemed magical to the people of the time and one can well imagine it conferring an air of spirituality. There’s a theory that Himiko was the prototype of Amaterasu, and here in the shining convergence of female queen and sunlike qualitiy is substance for the supposition.

The replica of the original mirror was made using a 3D printer, curiously. It’s a most magical find!

************************************************************************************************************************************************

The original mirror in Kyoto National Museum, thought to be that of Himiko

Experiment indicates ancient mirror in Kyoto is Chinese magic mirror
Mainichi Jan 31, 2014

KYOTO — An official at Kyoto National Museum has announced that an ancient bronze mirror in Japan dubbed “Himiko’s mirror” may be a Chinese magic mirror — a type of mirror that can reflect the pattern on its back when a light is shined onto its face.

Museum official Ryu Murakami made the announcement based on an experiment using a replica created using laser measurements of the original. The mirror, whose diameter ranges between 21.4 and 23.8 centimeters, is designated as an important cultural asset.

The original article, unearthed from the Higashinomiya Tomb in Aichi Prefecture, belongs to the “sankakubuchi shinjukyo” (triangular-rimmed deity and beast mirror) category of mirrors. As the name suggests, these mirrors bear depictions of deities and beasts. Himiko, with whom the mirror is associated, was a queen of the Yamatai kingdom in ancient Japan.

Chinese magic mirrors, which look like ordinary mirrors, are said to have been around for over 2,000 years in China. The replica consists of 75 percent copper and 25 percent tin, close to the makeup of the original. When light was shone onto the face of the replica mirror, the pattern on the back was reflected onto a wall.

Looking at the pattern from the side, it has thick and thin sections. When the mirror is polished, stresses are exerted on the thin sections and the mirror bends and creates small elevations, making it harder for those sections to wear away, unlike the parts above the thicker sections. As a result, minute elevations and depressions matching the pattern on the back are formed, affecting the way light is reflected off the surface. This enables the pattern on the back to appear when light is reflected from the mirror onto another surface.

Modern mirrors used in shrines mimic the sacred bronze mirrors of old - but without the magic

Kumano asceticism

January 29, 2014 / John D. / 1 Comment

Prayer prior to entering a cave used for ascetic purposes at Dorogawa Onsen

The Seigantoji temple, to which the shugendo group in the article below are attached, is next to Nachi Waterfall, tallest in Japan

Mountain asceticism alive today: Kumano journey refreshes body, mind
by Masahira Ueno / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer January 28, 2014

A shugendo follower blows his horagai conch horn on top of a hill

NARA—Deep in the Kii mountain range, the sounds of horagai triton shell horns echo around Sho no Iwaya, a cave where mountain ascetics are said to have once spent the winters during their mountain-dwelling shugendo practice to develop their spiritual experience and power.

Kumano Shugen, a group of about 30 mountain ascetics based at Seigantoji temple in the Kumano district of Wakayama Prefecture, visit the cave every December as the conclusion of that year’s shugendo practice.
The Kii mountain range encompasses many peaks as high as about 1,500 meters and stretches across the Kii Peninsula. Since ancient times, the mountains have been worshiped as a sacred place and have been the site of numerous shugendo ascetics’ practice.

Shuichi Sakamoto, 61, is an experienced member of the group who serves as its guide to take the lead in walking, known as a sento sendachi. “We place ourselves in a severe environment to drive our mind and body to extreme situations. We refresh our mind by experiencing a situation of almost dying. We get these precious chances from nature. It’s shugen [practice],” Sakamoto said.

In daily life, Sakamoto works at a manufacturing company. For about 40 days a year, he trades his suits for traditional mountain ascetic attire to attend practice sessions in the Kumano district as well as in other regions. He also participates in gomaku rituals in which offerings are made into a bonfire.

Sakamoto has adored the Kumano district since he was young. He was born in nearby Wakayama city and began climbing mountains when he was a university student. But he had no opportunity to climb mountains in Kumano.

Shugendo fire ceremony attended by yamabushi (mountain ascetics)

When he was about 40 years old, he happened to learn that the Kumano Shugen group hosted a seven-day walk from Kumano to Yoshino, Nara Prefecture. So he joined the mountain ascetics to participate in the walk.

That was how it all started for Sakamoto, and shugendo came to be very important to him. His parents are devout members of the Shingon sect of Buddhism and made the Shikoku Pilgrimage to visit 88 temples and the Saigoku Kannon Pilgrimage to visit 33 temples. With that family background, Sakamoto hoped to become closer to the mountain ascetics he was among.

About 15 years ago, he told Ryoei Takagi, vice chief priest of Seigantoji temple, that he and a group of mountaineers would climb Mt. Kinpusan, which lies on the border of Nagano and Yamanashi prefectures. The priest then gave him a wooden plaque meant to be a record of ascetic practice. These plaques have been offered to the deities on sacred mountain peaks by ascetics in Kumano for more than 1,000 years.

Sakamoto offered the plaque at the mountain peak, while wondering if he was truly eligible to do so. When descending the mountain, however, he fell on a road that was easy for him to cross and broke a rib.
“[The accident happened because] I performed the offering half-heartedly,” he thought and felt in awe of mountains for the first time.

The about 200-kilometer journey from Kumano to Yoshino is called the Kumano Omine Okugake. The altitude of some high and low points of the route differ by more than 1,000 meters. Participants on the seven-day trek walk more than 10 hours a day over steep rises and descents, a challenge that makes them feel like they’re walking several times the actual distance.

Kumano hiking. There are various trails which can take anything from one to seven days.

Walking through the dense forest on the route, many people performing ascetic practice sense the deities living in such vast nature. They are sometimes met by caves, huge trees that would need more than 10 people to encircle them, and round, taller-than-human rocks inscribed with Sanskrit characters. Each time, the group blows on the shell horn to purify the places and chant Hannya Shinkyo, the Heart Sutra.

Five years ago, Sakamoto was appointed as a guide to lead the Kumano Shugen group’s walk. The role is very important, as guides in ancient times are said to have been assigned to lead reigning emperors and former emperors when they visited Kumano. “I was very happy, because I felt like I was being allowed to be part of a history that dates back 1,000 years,” Sakamoto said.

Since the area encompassing the route was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2004 under the title Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range, Sakamoto has had to safely guide groups of more than 200 people, including people who are not part of Kumano Shugen. He always remains cautious and considerate. “I always tell myself that I should be humble toward nature,” Sakamoto said.

Reaching the highest point of a steep mountain path while guiding a group, he first sees the broad blue sky. When he looks back, he can see at a glance the distance he has covered. “I feel as if the surrounding mountains were within my reach and even the Kumano Nada sea, though I can’t see it,” Sakamoto said. The legendary En no Gyoja, the supposed founder of shugendo, probably felt the same way when he traveled across the nation for his ascetic practice.

After blowing shell horns in front of the Sho no Iwaya cave and completing their last practice of the year, Kumano Shugen’s mountain ascetics began descending a narrow mountain path and reached its foot right before sunset.
Several years ago, they saw the full moon illuminating the area like daytime as soon as they reached this location on a freezing night when icicles were seen hanging from rocky areas. “This means the mountains responded to our practice,” Sakamoto said. Everyone was thinking the same, and the ascetics blew horns and recited the Heart Sutra.

In addition to mountain practice, once a month Sakamoto conducts a rite and prays at a temple near his home in Kishiwada, Osaka Prefecture. The prayer is meant to send people’s various wishes to the deities. “It may be difficult for us to find the meaning of living now, but by being distant from social status, constraint or demands [during practice], we have time to think of what we are,” Sakamoto said. After beginning ascetic practice, he feels more comfortable at work.

En no Gyoja, legendary founder of Shugendo

Revived in 1988

The Kumano Omine Okugake route connects the three Kumano Sanzan shrines in Wakayama Prefecture, including Kumano Hongu Taisha, with Mt. Yoshino in Nara Prefecture. It was deserted after shugendo was banned by an 1872 law, but the postwar Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. Thus, local people rebuilt a path for practice that had been impassable, and the Kumano Shugen group revived the okugake practice in 1988.

Shugendo is a religion combining Shintoism and Buddhism with Japan’s ancient mountain worship. It has been popular since the Heian period (794-1192). Shugendo was supposedly founded by En no Gyoja, a legendary mountain ascetic during the Nara period (710-784). There are records of his visits to sacred mountains across the nation. Legend has it that he could fly and manipulate fierce deities with witchcraft.