What makes Hokari-yama ‘Mother Hunter Mountain’?
Of all the 100 Famous Mountains of Yamagata, Hokari-yama has probably the weirdest name; Hokari-yama literally means ‘Mother Hunter Mountain’. The term ‘hunting’ in this regard doesn’t mean hunting for a kill though. Rather, it is chasing after someone.
The story of Hokari-yama goes that in the late Heian period (794–1185), two brothers of the Abe family were escaping from the feudal lord Minamoto no Yoshiie. Their mother had gone ahead of them, and this mountain is said to be where they were ‘hunting’… er… searching for her.
It is said the two Abe brothers dropped off their armour on Yoroga-mine, literally ‘Mt. Armour’, before heading up Hokari-yama in search of their mother. It’s uncertain whether the brothers ever found her. What is certain, however, is that they stayed. The region at the bottom of Hokari-yama is home to many Abe families, which apparently is no coincidence.