Standing beneath the towering, vibrantly crimson Zuishin Gate, we took cowl from the downpour. My soaked white gown was now clear, and we’d solely walked .3-mile. After a couple of moments, we chanted a single phrase to unify ourselves with nature—and its tumultuous temper: Uketamo.
“Undergo the forces of nature to achieve a broader frame of mind and open your coronary heart, for full perception on Mount Haguro,” shared Grasp Kazuhiro Hayasaka (as translated by Sara Millot), a neighborhood Yamabushi mountain monk and our information for at present’s pilgrimage. “Whether or not it’s a sunny or wet day, Yamabushi settle for what nature offers us,” he added.
A minimum of we weren’t mountain climbing by means of a lightning storm.
After touching down in Tokyo two days prior, we’d traveled by prepare a number of hundred miles north to the Yamagata Prefecture for at present’s guided ascent. A chosen Nationwide Heritage web site, Mount Haguro is one in every of three sacred mountains often called the Dewa Sanzan, the oldest places of mountain worship in Japan. This beginner-friendly day trek follows one of many nation’s oldest pilgrimage routes, a densely forested path with 2,446 stone steps. The land’s stewards, Yamabushi, follow Shugendō, a convention that blends Shintoism, Buddhism, and Taoism with mountain worship. As a lifelong Coloradan and high-altitude dweller, one in every of my favourite pastimes is mountain climbing by means of mountains. Whereas I’m not a devotee of Shugendō, Hayasaka’s name to follow psychological adaptability in nature resonated with me.
A horn-like bellow broke the rain’s pitter-patter on the emerald cover of maples, alders, and oaks. One of many Yamabushi guides, who put on haragai shells round their necks, blew the conch, signaling our ceremonious begin. We started a single-file descent by means of the hall of gigantic old-growth cedars. Dozens of slender, 6-foot picket staffs tapped the stone steps, as we walked down into the basin of judgement, in any other case often called Jigokudani: Hell’s Valley. Given the unpredictability and dangers of wilderness, I may perceive the title.
On the backside of the steps, we started to see massha shrines on plinths lining the fern-decorated path: Between right here and the 1,350-foot summit, we’d move almost 110. Moments later, Shinkyo Bridge got here into view above the fast-flowing Haraigawa River. As I approached the overpass, Suga Falls appeared, filling my ears with thunder. I puzzled how a lot the cascade had swelled with the heavy rain. Up to now, the route felt solitary in mid-September. Traditionally, a number of million Japanese sought these hillsides yearly, earlier than the Meiji Restoration that exiled Buddhism within the 1860s. Right now, Japan’s two widespread religions, Shintoism and Buddhism, are sometimes practiced concurrently—and this pilgrimage continues to be pursued by 1000’s 12 months over 12 months.
However for our Yamabushi guides, this place is dwelling, spiritually and traditionally. As Japanese mountain monks, they search non secular rebirth right here by means of asceticism and immersion in nature. Whereas the neighborhood is adaptive and resilient, its not exempt from trendy societal pressures. On the motion’s peak lower than two centuries in the past, 300 pilgrim lodges thrived. That quantity has dwindled to 30, following a decline in visiting pilgrims. Over the previous 5 years, Yamabushi leaders have created experiential packages for vacationers, giving individuals like me a window into their rituals, which concurrently helps protect and assist their lifestyle.
The trio of Dewa Sanzan mountains every signify a stage of life, and Haguro symbolizes the current. My non secular activity for the day, shared by Hayasaka, was to mirror on my private needs for this present life. With little or no meditation follow, my thoughts went in all places besides that. I hopped between deep puddles on the base of Suga Falls—and one misjudgment led to a completely submerged foot. Now every thing I wore was really soaking wet. It wasn’t chilly out, and I wasn’t involved about hypothermia, however I puzzled how the remainder of the trek would go in such stormy circumstances.
My ideas bounced across the morning we’d had—like consuming our Shojin Ryori breakfast, whereas rain poured off the gabled copper roof of the 300-year-old Daishinbo Pilgrim Lodge, the place we’d slept. These foraged mountain greens had been tasty. I mirrored on the morning ritual: Sanskrit is so difficult to learn and chant. I remembered getting robed up: I hope I didn’t maintain up the group because the final individual to reach within the girls’s altering room.
Our feminine information had wrapped us within the conventional head-to-toe garb of the Yamabushi mountain monks: a white gown, woven twine necklace, and headdress. The cap’s two twisted flaps hung at my temples, resembling mouse ears—which had been at present soggy and flopping over. The strands signify umbilical cords that join us to this panorama: an allegorical womb. Lucky for my tender toes, I used to be allowed to put on mountain climbing footwear slightly than the split-toe woven sandals. An ornate shime necklace—which is brief for Japanese Shimenawa ropes that mark sacred areas—fabricated from paper is worn backwards to keep off evil spirits. The cords had been now dissolving from moisture. As a hiker, I sometimes put on artificial layers whereas recreating, so this intricate cotton outfit was really one-of-a-kind.
All of a sudden, our group of pilgrims fell silent. The shuffling of toes and tapping of wooden canes grew to become quiet. I appeared over the intense umbrellas, held by a couple of higher planners than I, and stood in awe. Above us towered one of many highest, widest-reaching timber I’d ever laid eyes on: the oldest one on Mount Haguro, a 1,000-year-old development often called Grandpa Cedar. I stared at its multi-colored bark and tried to understand its measurement and age. After a second, my gaze fell to the correct of the tree, by means of a window within the forest. One other masterpiece was in view: a millennium-old five-storied Pagoda. The aesthetic was unliked any I’d seen. Every story was topped with a sweeping roof, with an upward curve on the corners. Albeit lovely structure, and spiritually meant to protect unfavorable energies, the pagoda can be structurally sound, creating stability in opposition to earthquakes and rainfall. Dwarfed by the everlasting Cedar, the Pagoda was yet one more illustration of Japanese resilience. Maybe all I wanted, in any case, was to cease interested by my current needs and easily be with my environment.
By the point we reached Mount Haguro’s summit, a 2-hour and 2-mile hike with 900 toes of climbing, I used to be prepared for an additional scrumptious Shojin Ryori meal on the Saikan Pilgrim Lodge. (Name me a inexperienced thumb, however it was amongst my favourite meals of the journey.) Afterward, we walked previous Sanjingosaiden Shrine, the first temple of the Dewa Sanzan, which is a dedication to Mount Haguro, Mount Gassan, and Mount Yudono. The Shinto-Buddhist shrine was reconstructed in 1818—with at least the assistance of 90,554 carpenters and craftsmen, a mind-boggling feat. As I gazed contained in the extravagant foremost corridor, I assumed concerning the deep lineage of the Yamabushi and Japan’s broader northeast area. In distinction, my dwelling state is an enormous cultural mosaic of immigrants, indigenous tribes, and Hispanic cultures, and it’s pretty unusual to attach with the land’s oldest-known stewards. To witness the Tōhoku Area’s residing heritage and cohesive satisfaction, whereas experiencing nature, was a singular, enriching expertise.
As guests for AdventureWEEK 2025 Tōhoku, we had been welcomed into centuries-old traditions that persist, regardless of standard challenges, within the panorama and every day rhythms of the individuals. Whereas exploring the pure world by foot, our adventures had been usually interwoven with historic practices from canyoning with a waterfall ritual on Mount Yudono with Yamabushi monks to foraging by means of Mongolian oaks of the Moriyoshi Mountains with Matagi tribal guides. Following our immersive week, what surfaces most for me is the common, deep reverence that our Japanese hosts carried for his or her land and heritage. In Tōhoku, historical past isn’t one thing that’s recited: It’s deep rooted and stays alive at present.
Every of Tōhoku’s six prefectures is filled with historic and geologic historical past woven into outside journey: