Japan’s Yamabushi priests offer visitors nature immersion and a unique insight into their culture on the slopes of the holy Dewa Sanzan.
Yamabushi primarily worship nature and their practice is called shugendo. It involves experiences in nature, like walking through the forest on a rebirth journey to the summit of Mount Haguro.In Yamabushi lore, the steps at the entrance to Haguro’s mountain sanctuary symbolise the descent into hell. But hell is the last thing on my mind as I stand at the carved wooden gate of Zuishinmon, with those steps before me.
I’m fully on board with this activity in theory, but as a life-long atheist I initially find myself flummoxed by the practice of praying — especially out loud. My tongue stumbles over the undulating rhythms and unfamiliar words derived from Sanskrit, printed out for me to carry with me for the duration of my time with the Yamabushi. My words falter even more when I realise that Hayasaka and I are being watched and photographed by a couple of Japanese tourists.
Master Yamabushi Takeharu Kato blows his horagai conch horn in the mountain fog to purify the sacred area and alert the gods to the Yamabushi’s presence.What I hadn’t bargained for was eating Saikan’s shojin ryori in the dark with my hands. My dining companion, Takeharo Kato — another Yamabushi priest who’s sharing my training with Hayasaka — believes that blackout sensory deprivation will heighten the meditative experience for me.
My final stop is the shrine itself, for a ceremony in the inner sanctum to mark the culmination of my training. As we kneel and then bow, preparing to chant, I’m desperate to look up at the gilt altar and the high priest’s robes as I sense I’m being wafted by talismans and showered in rice. But I know by now that I mustn’t raise my head, and I don’t.
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