What is a Yamabushi? The Ancient Mountain Dwellers of Japan

As a practitioner of Shugendo and a resident of Yamagata, I follow the ancient path of the Yamabushi—the mountain ascetics who seek spiritual awakening through nature. This guide explores the rituals, history, and modern endurance of the Yamabushi tradition, providing a first-hand account of a spiritual lineage that has defined Japan’s sacred peaks for over 1,400 years.

For starters, the only way to really understand what yamabushi are, is to become one yourself. However, I understand this isn’t exactly practical for most people, so I will give a rudimentary introduction of my understanding of yamabushi from my perspective as a Dewa Sanzan Shrine Yamabushi.

It’s important to note that my experience is only limited to the Dewa Sanzan Shrine and Daishobo pilgrim lodge yamabushi trainings, the only primarily Shinto yamabushi trainings in Japan.

What are yamabushi?

In short, Yamabushi are the mountain dwellers of Japan, practitioners of the ancient belief of Shugendo, the way (do) of attaining divine natural powers (gen) through ascetic practices (shu). Otherwise known as Shugenja, ‘those who practice Shugendo’, the word yamabushi comes from Yama (山) meaning mountain, and fushi or fuseru (伏せる), meaning to promulgate, or to be on all fours. This is because yamabushi are often found crawling all over the mountains during Shugyo ascetic training.+1

For those who want to know how I became a yamabushi, and how you too can become a Yamabushi, watch this video:

What is Shugendo and “Uketamo”?

Yamabushi have been practicing Shugendo on Dewa Sanzan for over 1400 years, and centuries of wisdom passed down through the generations can be condensed down to one concept: Uketamo, which we translate into English as ‘I accept’.

According to my master, Master Hoshino of Daishobo pilgrim lodge on Mt. Haguro, ‘Uketamo (and Shugendo) is both the philosophy and field of study of those who put themselves in nature, use their senses to feel, then reflect on what they feel’.

Sounds simple, right? Get out into nature, sense, then reflect on what you sense. However, simple and easy are two different things. The activities we partake in come from centuries and centuries of our ancestors’ trial and error for one goal: attain knowledge from nature. Since ancient times in Japan, mountains have been regarded as a sacred location that holds life’s secrets. We follow the rituals and rites that generations and generations of ancestors took part in and passed down, all in the hope that we can better tune our senses, learn from nature, and in turn become more effective human beings.

Why Do Yamabushi Train on Mountains?

Mountains, or nature in general, is believed to be covered in knowledge incomprehensible to humans through written or spoken means, and spending time in the mountains is seen as a way to absorb this knowledge.

In addition, mandala (and Buddhist mantras) are believed to be projected onto mountains, and some places on the mountains are named after specific places seen in mandala. Thereby walking on the mountains is akin to walking through these mandala and again to absorb the knowledge.

How did Shugendo develop?

Shugendo developed in the 7th century as a fusion of primitive folk practices, pre-Buddhist mountain worship, Vajrayana/Esoteric Buddhism (Mikkyo), Shintoism, and Taoism. The beliefs, philosophies, and ritual systems were organised into a doctrine by En no Gyoja (En the Ascetic), who spread the practice across Japan.+1

Historically, the three biggest locations for Shugendo in Japan that survive (somewhat) to this day were:

• Dewa Sanzan (Yamagata Prefecture)
• Omine and Kumano (Wakayama and Nara Prefectures)
• Mt. Hiko (Fukuoka Prefecture)

The Different Types of Yamabushi

Yamabushi sprung up all over Japan, and often they practiced Shugendo under the guise of Tendai and Shingon Buddhism, as these two sects were seen to closely follow the beliefs of Shugendo. On the Dewa Sanzan alone, and Mt. Haguro specifically, there are two main schools of yamabushi who essentially train side by side:

• Buddhist Haguro Shugen: The original practitioners who have trained there for over 1,000 years.
• The Shinto Yamabushi: These were formed when the Dewa Sanzan was forcibly switched to Shintoism following the decree to abolish Buddhism during the Meiji Restoration in the 1870s. I am a primarily Shinto yamabushi, which puts me deeply in the minority.

Full-time and Part-time Yamabushi

• Seiso Shugenja: Full-time monks who were historically disallowed from having wives. In the past, Mt. Haguro was covered in Buddhist temples where these monks lived. These have completely disappeared.
• Saitai Shugenja: Yamabushi who run Shukubo (pilgrim lodges) and are allowed to marry. These still exist, such as Master Hoshino and Master Hayasaka of Daishobo and Daishinbo pilgrim lodge respectively.+1
• Satoyama Yamabushi: Those from outside the region (like myself) who have ordinary jobs elsewhere but travel to the mountains annually to take part in the Akinomine Autumn’s Peak Ritual. These yamabushi must be affiliated with a Shukubo pilgrim lodge, or directly with Dewa Sanzan Shrine.+1

Becoming a Certified Dewa Sanzan Yamabushi

To become a certified Dewa Sanzan yamabushi, one must complete the weeklong Akinomine Autumn’s Peak ritual that happens once a year at the end of August. Both the Buddhist and Shinto groups train alongside each other, staying only about 500m away from one another in a secret location.

Since ancient times, Yamabushi training on Mt. Haguro has been based around The Ten Realms of Buddhism, with yamabushi undertaking rituals that emulate each of these realms. The Shinto Shrine essentially adapted this training with a Shinto flair, praying to Kami instead of the Buddha and not visiting certain sites with deep Buddhist history.

What Does Training Involve?

Now, I’m not allowed to divulge too much for two reasons; one, because I have been sworn to secrecy, and two, because the training is meant to emulate a time before we are born, so we are not supposed to remember what happens during training.

However, yamabushi training essentially involves partaking in a number of rituals while out in nature.

• Walking in silence: A powerful form of meditation, most often on the three Dewa Sanzan peaks: Mt. Haguro, Mt. Gassan, and Mt. Yudono.
• Waterfall meditation: Purifying the self in freezing mountain water.
• Rituals: Such as jumping over fire and visiting sacred spots to pray to the Kami (deities) to show our appreciation.

Half-sacred, Half-secular: Hansei Hanzoku

Shugendo is rare in that if you are a yamabushi, you can also be a layperson. In most other belief systems, if you are a monk or a priest, that basically defines your life. For followers of Shugendo, Hansei hanzoku, literally ‘half sacred, half secular’, means that yamabushi have ordinary lives like you or I. This means we can have an understanding of life in the mountains and the lives of those who we wish to serve, and we can better bridge the gap between the two.

Other Yamabushi Trainings on Dewa Sanzan

To make matters even more confusing, some of the yamabushi who run the Shukubo offer their own forms of yamabushi training, such as Master Hoshino whose training combines elements of both the Buddhist and Shinto rituals in a true Shinbutsu-Shugo style.

It is also possible to join training through the Ideha Cultural Memorial Museum run by Tsuruoka City. However, this group is not allowed to associate with any religion, and so chanting Buddhist, Shinto, or Shugendo prayers is out of the question. For me, this takes away the entire point of the training. Chanting has a number of benefits that we still do not understand fully, such as helping you stay calm under pressure.

My Experience Doing Yamabushi Training

To date I have participated in two types of training; the weeklong Akinomine Autumn Peak Ritual of Dewa Sanzan Shrine, where I officially became a Yamabushi, and that of Daishobo’s Master Hoshino.

Master Hoshino’s training I find is the most practical, relying more on getting out in nature than on strictly following the rituals, although of course these are an important part, without which you can’t call it Yamabushi training. In that regard, a Yamabushi’s job is to take people out and show them different facets of nature, and letting nature be the teacher.

HOW HAS TRAINING AS A YAMABUSHI CHANGED ME?

This video describes (a little bit about) how becoming a yamabushi has changed me over the years. An abridged transcript can be found here.

How can I Join Yamabushi Training?

Head to yamabushido.jp. Tell them I sent you.

FURTHER READING

Books:

The Secret World of Shugendō: Sacred Mountains and the Search for Meaning in Post-Disaster Japan (Where Religion Lives) by Shayne Dahl (my friend, I’m mentioned in the book). Shayne not only walks the walk when it comes to yamabushi training, he is able to put it into a comprehensive overview in this book.

Eight Million Ways to Happiness by Hiroko Yoda (my friend, I’m not mentioned in the book), also her Substack is amazing.

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami (and oldie by a goodie) I found very similar in philosophy to yamabushi training, especially Chapter 6.

Yamabushi Posts

I have written a lot about yamabushi, especially my take on our philosophy of Uketamo over the years. You can find a list of all the posts here, but here are some for you.