Title Shugendō Mountain Worship

  • Nagano
Topic(s):
Nature/Ecology Shrines/Temples/Churches Public Works & Institutions (Museums, etc.)
Medium/Media of Use:
Interpretive Sign
Text Length:
≤250 Words
FY Prepared:
2020
Associated Tourism Board:
kankyosho shinetsushizenkankyojimusho

修験道は一般的に、神道、道教、仏教、そして山を神・霊・死者の住む場所として信仰する山岳信仰が習合したものとして、7世紀に発達した。神道と同様、修験道は自然を敬う強い心を起源としており、山岳信仰は6世紀に仏教が伝来するはるか以前から日本で実践されていたものと考えられている。

その後数世紀にわたって、谷川岳の両峰は「耳二ツ」とも呼ばれ、仏教と神道の習合神である浅間大菩薩が宿る場所として知られるようになった。北側の峰"オキの耳"に浅間大菩薩をまつる神社が建立された。その後、山麓近くに二社(里宮)が建立され、富士浅間神社として現存している。伝承によれば1380年の春のある夜に、眠っていたある村人の夢に富士浅間大菩薩が現れ、この山頂に留まり、村人たちに恵みをもたらすと告げたと伝えられている。村人たちが山頂に登ると、1本の満開の桜を見つけ、その枝にかかっていた鏡をご神体として拝み、その場所に山宮を奉じたとされている。

現在では山岳関係者が7月第1日曜日に山開きの式典と安全登山祈願祭を執り行い、奥の院へ参拝登山を行っている。


Shugendō Mountain Worship


Shugendō is an endemic Japanese religion that developed during the seventh century as a blend of Shinto, Daoism, Buddhism, and the worship of mountains as the dwelling places of deities, spirits, and the dead. Much like Shinto, Shugendō is rooted in a strong sense of reverence for nature, and mountain worship is believed to have been practiced in Japan long before the arrival of Buddhism in the sixth century. During the centuries that followed, the two peaks of Mt. Tanigawadake, called the “two ears,” came to be known as the home of Sengen Daibosatsu, a syncretic fusion of Buddhist and Shinto deities. A shrine to Sengen Daibosatsu was erected on Okinomimi, the northern peak. A secondary shrine (satomiya) was established nearer to the base of the mountain and still exists today as Fuji Sengen Jinja Shrine.

According to legend, in the spring of 1380, Okinomimi was illuminated by a strange light, and Sengen Daibosatsu appeared to a sleeping villager in a dream, saying that he would bless the village with his presence on the peak. The next day, villagers climbed the mountain to find a single cherry tree in full bloom with a mirror hanging from its branches. They built a shrine to house the mirror.

Early in the seventh month of each year, Shugendō practitioners (yamabushi) used to climb to Okinomimi to worship at the inner shrine of Fuji Sengen Jinja. That practice no longer continues, but a formal ceremony to “open” the mountain is performed each year on the first Sunday in July. This is followed by a prayer for the safety of visitors to the mountain.


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