Mt. Ōmine, May 6-8 2014
Mt. Omine is a place of terrific beauty and wonder. It lies deep in the mountains of Nara Prefecture, and the small hot springs town of Dorogawa Onsen nestles at the base of its largest peaks, Sanjôgatake and Inamuragatake. I am watching late afternoon shadows casting over colorful hillsides, writing while sitting at the window of my inn. A few locals mill about, and the sound of running water from Gorogoro springs forth as a constant. This area has been held as sacred for well over a thousand years, and for good reason. Steep cliff faces, deep limestone caves, fresh spring water, not to mention the effervescent spirit of the locals and their histories. Mt. Omine is also the headquarters of Shugendo, Japan’s tradition of mountain asceticism…men (mostly) clad in white dangling themselves from cliffs, meditating under frigid waterfalls or in pitch black and seemingly endless caves. It’s my second research trip here to study a lesser-known aspect of the mountain’s history, its exclu