Dewa Sanzan UC
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Sanshin gosaiden of Dewa Sanzan
(photos courtesy of the shrine) |
Date founded: According to
tradition, Dewa Sanzan first became known as a religious center in about 593
when Prince Hachiko (Nojo Taishi), the first-born son of Emperor Sushun (r. 587–92), built
shrines on the three mountains (sanzan) of Hagurosan, Mount Gassan, and
Yudonosan. The current main shrine building at Hagurosan dates from 1818.
Address: 7 Aza Toge, Toge,
Haguro-machi, Tsuruoka-shi, Yamagata 997-0211
Tel/Information: 0235-62-2355. A
pamphlet in English is available.
How to get there: To Hagurosan: JR
Uetsu Honsen Line from Niitsu Station in Niigata to Tsuruoka Station. Then take
the Shonai-Kotsu Bus for Hagurosan and get off at the Haguro Center to climb to
the top. Some buses continue to the top (the last stop) if you wish to avoid
the 2,446 steps of the omotesando stairs. Some buses that go to Hagurosan also
continue to the Hachigome bus stop on Mount Gassan. A separate bus leaves from
Tsuruoka Station bound for Yudonosan. Buses are infrequent (4 per day for
Gassan, 3 per day for Yudonosan) so timing, especially on the return, is
critical (the bus ride takes about 1.5 hours). Bus schedule also varies by season, with greater frequency in the summer. Gassan and Yudonosan
are not accessible in the winter.
Enshrined kami: At Ideha Jinja (on
Hagurosan): Ideha no kami and Uga no Mitama no mikoto (identified with Kannon).
At Gassan Jinja: Tsukiyomi (Tsukuyomi) no mikoto (identified with Amida
Buddha). At Yudonosan Jinja: Oyamatsumi no mikoto, Onamuchi no mikoto, and
Sukunahikona no mikoto (identified with Dainichi). (note: The kami of all three
mountains are also enshrined at the sanshin gosaiden hall on Mount Haguro.)
Prayers offered: Anything to do
with the basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing, and shelter.
Best times to go: Hagurosan is
accessible year-round, but Gassan and Yudonosan close during the winter months
due to snow. The mountain-climbing season is short, from July to mid-October.
The natural surroundings are attractive at any time.
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| Gojunoto of Dewa Sanzan |
Important physical features: The
three sacred peaks of Dewa include Hagurosan at about 1,358 feet, Mount Gassan
(6,500 feet), and Mount Yudonosan (5,000 feet). The three widely separated
mountains have comprised a single sacred landscape since about the seventeenth
century, but worship on these mountains is much older. Of the three, Hagurosan
is closest to the Sea of Japan, making it a sort of spiritual base station when
the heavy winter snows make the other peaks inaccessible. For this reason, of
the three peaks it is by far the most frequently visited. The bus from Tsuruoka
Station first takes you through the bright red, seventy-four-foot-tall
ryobu
torii built in 1929, which towers over the road to the shrine. The bus then
leaves you in front of the second
torii and the single-story
zuijinmon gate
that acts as the entrance to the entire Dewa Sanzan site. The
irimoya-style,
cypress bark–covered structure was originally a
niomon gate housing Buddhist
guardian figures. It was built in the late seventeenth century by the Satake
clan, which ruled Dewa Province (a combination of present-day Yamagata and
Akita prefectures).
Through the gate, a red-painted,
arched bridge crosses the river Haraigawa, and to its right is the suga no taki
waterfall. Historically, pilgrims purified themselves here before beginning the
ascent into the mountains’ sacred precincts. Slightly further along, to the
left of the path, is a designated National Treasure and the oldest structure at
Dewa, the five-story pagoda (gojunoto) of Haguro. It was originally built by
Taira no Masakado in 937, and rebuilt by Fujiwara no Ujiie at the behest of
Emperor Chokei in 1377. With only a ten-by-ten-foot base and ninety-five-foot
height, it is diminutive compared with the likes of the pagodas at Horyuji and
Kofukuji, but it is an exquisite example of the early-Muromachi wayo style. The
weathered surface and its setting amidst towering cedars, some far older,
add to its “organic” appearance. The pagoda somehow managed to survive the
Meiji religious repression that devastated the shrine-temple complex on the
mountain. It remains a fitting introduction to what was once one of the most
important sites of shugendo mountain asceticism in the country.
From there begins the famous set of
2,446 steps to the top of the mountain. There are said to be thirty-three
images of lotuses, gourds, and saké cups engraved in the stairs, bringing good
luck to those who can find them all. The trek takes about an hour through an
old forest of tall pines and Japanese cedars—one of which is thought to be over
a thousand years old. To be sure it snows here too, making the stone
steps treacherous in winter. At the top is the third torii and the main compound of the
shrine. There are about fifteen structures in all, but the main one is the
sanshin (or sanjin) gosaiden. It is said to be the largest thatched-roofed shrine
in Japan (ninety-two feet tall, eighty feet long, and fifty-six feet deep). The
thatch itself is kaya (miscanthus), almost seven feet thick and beautifully
packed, curved, and trimmed. The roof is an irimoya-zukuri type, with
chidorihafu and a karahafu step canopy. The building is lacquered in red inside
and out, except for the four posts supporting the step canopy. Like the ornate
sculptures of tigers and dragons under the eave of the karahafu, they are
painted white. The building was reconstructed after a fire in 1818 and
enshrines the kami of the three mountains, combining both honden and haiden in
one gongen-zukuri building.
Directly in front of the shrine is
a pond called mitarashi ike or kagami ike. Hundreds of small bronze mirrors
were excavated from the pond, most dating from the Heian and Kamakura periods.
As women were not allowed within the precincts, they would send small mirrors
as offerings to the kami, which were thrown into the pond. A number of them,
together with other treasures, are on display in the shrine museum (open from
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., for an entry fee of ¥300). Another important structure
is the bell house built in 1618, the second-oldest structure at the shrine. The
bronze bell that it houses, is inscribed with the date 1275. The bell is 5.5 feet in diameter and 7 feet tall, making it one of the largest in Japan.
The
next of the three peaks is Gassan, which can be reached on foot or by bus from
the station in front of Hagurosan (it’s a twelve-mile walk). Even if you decide to take the bus, it leaves you at a place
called the “eighth station,” and from there it’s another seven miles uphill to
the peak. Most of the walk is a gradual slope, some of it through marshy land,
before you arrive at the nakanomiya. From there it is more than two hours to
the peak, over some rough hewn stone paths and through fields of tall grass
punctuated by alpine plants. There is no great edifice but only a “purification
hut” that you must pass through to get to the small shrine at the summit. A
priest performs purification (harai) for a ¥500 donation. If the skies are
clear, you will be rewarded with a magnificent 360-degree view. If it is rainy
or foggy, you might experience something of the desolate and lonely journey
undertaken by yamabushi ascetics,
and something of the confrontation with self that is an essential part of their
training.
If
you plan to continue on, the next leg of the journey must be made on foot. It’s
another two and a half hour walk—but this time all downhill. Mount Yudono is
fifteen hundred feet lower than Gassan, and the valley where the shrine is
located is another fifteen hundred feet lower still. While most of the walk is
down gentle slopes on rocky roads, one part known as the gakko zaka (“moonlight
slope”) is a sheer drop of more than seven hundred feet. There are narrow steel
ladders and chains to cling to and keep from falling. It gets a little less
hairy after that, but is still a long way to the shrine. There is also a
roundabout bypass road that you can take, if you don’t feel the need for such
Spartan training. You also have the alternative of taking a bus directly from Tsuruoka
Station that leaves you at the front entrance to the shrine (the bus would also
be the way to return to the city).
Here, as at Gassan, the shrine is
not about architecture but about ritual practice in nature—this time in the
form of a huge rock over which hot water gushes (the characters for
“Yudono” mean something like “hot water place”). Before entering the area,
purification is performed, with shoes and socks removed. The floor around the
spring is red from the iron-saturated water, as is the rock—which has grown
over the centuries from the accumulated effluent. The proper way to worship is
to walk clockwise around and across the rock through the hot water, with hands
folded in prayer.
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Self-mummified figure of Daijuku Bosatsu
preserved in Yudonosan Dainichibo temple
(photo from temple website:
www.dainichibou.or.jp/english.html) |
Important spiritual features:
Although the shrines collectively known as Dewa Sanzan enshrine
kami and are
therefore revered in Shinto, by far the most important spiritual feature is its history as
one of the main centers of
shugendo mountain asceticism.
Shugendo
developed out of a combination of esoteric practices of Buddhism,
kami worship,
Taoism, and yin/yang (onmyodo) beliefs. Its adherents are known as
shugenja or
yamabushi (“those who lie down in the mountains”). They sought enlightenment by becoming "Buddha in this body" and superhuman powers to control evil spirits through ascetic practice in the
mountains. Buddhism was originally able to flourish by supporting and being supported by
the ruling class. Most monks were of high birth and led sheltered
lives within religious communities. The
yamabushi tended to be
hijiri (“wandering
holy-men”) or
gyoja (“those undertaking practice/training”). Such unordained monks and
ascetics were originally branded outlaws and often banished for proselytizing among
the lower classes. Eventually the practice became widespread but
shugenja and many of these men also travelled the country as religious guides (
sendatsu) who lead pilgrimages to famous religious sites. The gradually became organized and aligned with major Tendai or Shingon-sect temples, which were responsible for their activities, until they were ultimately required to do so at the beginning of the Edo period. Dewa Sanzan remained unaffiliated with a
honzan (main temple of a particular sect) until the mid-seventeenth century.
Dewa
Sanzan claims a heritage that goes back to Prince Hachiko no miko. It is said
that he left the capital in 593 after his father was assassinated at the
command of Soga no Umako. Though he was the rightful heir he was ousted by
Suiko, the first Japanese empress. Legend has it that the prince sailed to the
province of Dewa and there came upon a three-legged crow (yatagarasu) that led
him to the mountains around Haguro. Given that the Dewa area was well beyond
the borders of the fledgling Yamato state in the sixth century, inhabited by a
feared people referred to as the Ezo or Emishi, and given that it was a mere
forty years after the introduction of Buddhism to Japan, it seems likely that
worship here is from a later date. In fact, the yatagarasu is from a story in
the Kojiki concerning this bird/kami guiding Emperor Jinmu through Kumano on his way
to establish the Yamato state. The symbolism would seem to point to a later date (the Kojiki
was written in the early eighth century), and to a connection with Kumano
shugendo.
The first mention of a shrine named
Ideha Jinja in Dewa comes from the Engi shiki of 967, possibly the village shrine
of Gassan. By the mid-thirteenth century, Hagurosan was already well
established as a shrine-temple complex called Hagorosan Jakkoji, and was a
major center of shugendo practice. Other centers (such as Omine and Kumano),
were affiliated with the Honzan-ha (Tendai) or Tozan-ha (Shingon), but
Hagurosan retained its independence. In the mid-seventeenth century, a betto
(shrine monk) at Hagurosan named Tenyu reorganized and affiliated the complex
with Tendai Buddhism. In this way it became associated to Toeizan (Kaneiji) in
Edo. The aim, it seems, was to protect Dewa Sanzan from the manipulations of
the rulers of the local domain, but the result was to bring Hagurosan—which
also controlled Gassan—into conflict with Yudonosan, which had a strong Shingon
heritage. Tenyu’s attempts to bring Yudonosan under Tendai control caused an
enduring schism.
In 1813, a new betto named Kakujun
moved to have Jakkoji recognized as the Ideha Jinja mentioned in the Engi
shiki. He also wanted the shrine’s legendary founder, Nojo Taishi, to be
recognized as Prince Hachiko. Jakkoji was subsequently raised in rank and,
although it was not completely clear that Jakkoji was actually Ideha Jinja, the
move strengthened a claim to Shinto (i.e. non-Buddhist) roots. This had further
consequences when the Meiji separation orders of 1868 forced the removal of all
Buddhist elements and the laicization of monks serving the shrine. In any case,
by now the point of protecting shugendo worship was moot, as the Meiji
government disbanded the religion, forcing members to become either Buddhist or
Shinto. However, important rituals of the shugenja were preserved at nearby
temples.
Today, the Akinomine-iri (“autumn
peak”), the “mountain-entering ritual” that was the most important of shugendo
activities, is continued on a less ambitious scale. Though entering the mountains
was once an individual pursuit lasting seventy-five, a hundred, or a thousand
days, it is now conducted almost entirely in groups and generally lasts seven
days. The Akinomine-iri is a rite of symbolic death and rebirth, which is
carried out on Hagurosan from 26 August each year. The mountains are considered
to be the place where the kami first descend and where the spirits of the dead
reside. As with other forms of shamanism, the yamabushi attains power by
visiting the land of the dead and communicating directly with the gods. He carries
out self-purifying rituals such as fasting, sleep deprivation, and repeatedly
performing misogi water ablutions. In this way he moves from being symbolically
dead to being reborn and revitalized. While the original purpose was
enlightenment and the attainment of supernatural powers, the yamabushi came to
have a two-fold purpose as healers and as guides for pilgrims. In the later
role, they acted as providers of lodging and conducted ritual prayers. At
Hagurosan, a large community of shugenja resided in the village of Toge at the
foot of the mountain, and since the end of World War II, Toge (also called
Haguromachi) has once again become the departure point for the Akinomine-iri.
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Yamabushi
from "Shinto Shrines:
A Guide to the Sacred Sites
of Japan's Ancient Religion" |
Description: The remote mountains
of Dewa Sanzan have been the site of ascetic religious practices since ancient
times. Along with the Omine Mountains of Wakayama, this area is one of the few
places that have managed to protect, however tenuously, the heritage of
mountain worship. It is also a shrine with a very strong flavor of
Shinto-Buddhist syncretic practice—both physically and spiritually. The people who join the Akinomine-iri these
days are from all walks of life, not just those who seek spiritual power. They
are also male and female—a twentieth-century innovation. Women were forbidden
to enter these mountains in the past, but this is not to say that they did not
play an important role. Female figures called
miko were and a part of Japanese
religious practice from at least the third century and an integral part of the
yamabushi’s shamanism. The
miko of Hagurosan were generally the wives, mothers,
or daughters of
shugenja. They performed exorcism, prayers, and healing
independently and in conjunction with
shugenja and had an important role as
vessels for spirit possession.
The community around Toge is still a place where
you can find temple lodgings called
shokubo. The lodgings are Spartan by hotel
standards, with communal toilets, baths and
tatami mat rooms (guests sleep on
futons on the floor). The set meals are a variation of
shojin ryori (temple food),
comprising mostly vegetables and fish. There may also be a requirement to join
morning meditation. Many of the
shokubo are run by he same
shugenja families
who have lived here for centuries.
Two final points of interest related
to Dewa Sanzan asceticism are the designation of "three peaks" (sanzan) and the practice by certain monks of
self-mummification. One of the greatest authorities on shugendo, Hitoshi Miyake, conjectures that the "three peaks" which are common to all shugendo holy sites, did not refer to actual mountains. He believes the original reference was to the kami of the mountain, the "guide" who represented the local residents who worshipped the kami, and the Buddhist "mountain-opener" who lead by the guide to this holy ground, established the first temple and brought Buddhism to the mountain. It is only later that the symbolic "three mountains" were transposed onto the physical landscape. The second point relates to a temple called Yudosan Dainichibo which lies between Hagurosan and Gassan. It houses the famous mummified figure of Daijuku Bosatsu
Shinnyokai-Shonin, who died in 1783 as a result of the singular practice of
sokushunbutsu. It was carried out most frequently in the area of Dewa Sanzan
and the purpose was to become a “Buddha in this body” to save mankind from
suffering. Tradition has it that Kobo Daishi introduced the practice on his
return from China in the early Heian period. There were a number of monks at
Yudonosan who practiced mokuji—eating only nuts and seeds for many years.
Coupled with vigorous ascetic practices, the diet radically cut body fat. In
some cases tree bark and roots were also eaten as part of the final
preparations. In the next stage only salt and water were taken, and finally, a
tea made of the sap of the lacquer tree was drunk. As this is a poisonous
material, it caused vomiting and further loss of body fluid. It also made the
body resistant to maggots. The monk was then shut in a stone enclosure
underground in a lotus or crouching position. A bamboo pole served as an air
tube, and a string was attached to a bell on the surface. The monk rang the
bell every day until he was dead. Other monks would then seal the tomb for an
additional thousand days. When the tomb was opened, if the body was still
intact it was a sign that the monk had attained Buddhahood. There are said to
be about twenty-eight self-mummified monks from the fourteenth to the
nineteenth centuries, of which sixteen or so can be viewed—one being in Yudono
Dainichibo temple. The oldest Japanese sokushinbutsu, the monk Kochi who died
in 1363, is housed in Saishoji temple in Niigata.
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| The Flower Festival of Dewa Sanzan |
Festival: Annual Festival/Flower
Festival, 15 July. The
mikoshi of all three shrines are paraded around the
kagami ike of Ideha Jinja. Along with the shrines are long poles with flowers
grouped at the top, from which long thin poles with more flowers are hung. The
pole and flowers represent a rice stalk, and participants try to pull flowers
off the stalk as it passes by. Grabbing a flower brings well-being to the
family for the coming year.
