Happee Monkee

In 593 AD, a Japanese prince developed a religious centre in Dewa Sanzan, central of Yamagata prefecture. Prince Hachiko, the eldest son of the 32^nd emperor of Japan, established mountain asceticism called Shugendo as means of improving the mind and body.

1400 years later, I am on top of Mt. Haguro-san, trying to cleanse and purify a lifetime of clutter. I’d signed in to Saikan, an atmospheric temple-lodging (shukubo in Japanese) built over a century ago. It is a modest-looking architecture with rows of paper-screened sliding doors and tatami mats. Most Japanese have never stayed in a shukubo. However, it is a worthy opportunity to observe Buddhist or Shinto ceremonies, or, to temporarily remove yourself from reality.

A shukubo is not your usual Shangri-La. There is no house-keeping and there are no private baths. As my guide puts it, a shukubo is more for “praying tourists, not sight-seeing tourists.” It serves the purest form of Japanese cooking, shojin-ryori, or temple cuisine. Shojin means ‘perseverance and devotion’, and ryori means ‘cooking’. The meals are prepared with special care in five methods (raw, steamed, grilled, boiled and fried); five colours (green, yellow, red, white and black/ purple); five tastes (sweet, hot, bitter, sour and salty); and is served to enhance spiritual growth rather than gastronomic pleasure. Even so, since only the freshest mountain vegetables are used, the result can be quite delicious.

In some shukubo, guests are required to join the morning meditation or soul-cleansing calligraphy. Saikan is one of the lax few. Guests are completely left to their own devices so I enquire if there were any soul-cleansing activities at Saikan (I’m desperate for some spiritual healing) and was told to wake up for prayers at 7a.m.

The next morning, we were on our knees in Sanjin Gosaiden, the main shrine which enshrines gods of all the three sacred mountains of Dewa Sanzan: Mount Haguro-san, Mount Gas-san and Mount Yudono-san. The interior of Sanjin Gosaiden is completely covered with gold, orange and black Japanese lacquer. Shinto priests in grave white robes chants a beautiful and ritualized prayer called norito. The mantra echoes in the large hall and it is so peaceful, so resplendent, and then, it fades into the mountains around us.

Dewa Sanzan is celebrated to have the longest history of mountain worship in Japan. Shugendo asceticism encompasses both Buddhism and Shinto and involves mental and physical endurance. The Yamabushi, or ascetic pilgrims, travel from the three sacred mountains on foot every autumn, dressed in traditional white robes and diadem. They follow a strict vegetarian diet, have minimal sleep and perform purification rituals like nanban-ibushi – ingesting smoke of burning peppers and body immersion in icy waterfalls. The most extreme and revered form of Shugendo is self-mummification, or, sokushin-butsu (“the mummified remains of those who attained Buddhahood while still in the flesh”); a practice so Spartanic that the government had to put a ban in the late 19^th century.

Matsuta-san, a Buddhist priest from Dainichibo temple, explains that there are 27 mummies in Japan; nine of which are in Yamagata. The best-preserved sokushin-butsu is encased in Dainichibo temple. Shinnyokai Shonin, who at age 96 underwent the process of self-mummification, “Shinnyokai Shonin wanted to help all people from poverty and hunger by being a living Buddha,” said Matsuta-san. “He made up his mind to be sokushin-butsu when a big famine hit Japan in the Tenmei period (1781 – 1789).”

To be a sokushin-butsu, one has to undergo three parts of 1,000 days. For the first thousand days, one follows a strict vegetarian dietary of nuts and seeds. For another 1,000 days, the diet is reduced to tree barks and roots. Some monks drink a special tea made from the urushi tree. The sap of the tree is poisonous and is used to make Japanese lacquer. The monk drinks not enough to kill themselves but to make the body too poisonous to be eaten by maggots.

The monk then locks himself into a stone tomb and move into the lotus position. A breathing tube, along with a stringed bell, is inserted into the tomb. The self-mummifying monk pulls the string to communicate that he is still alive. Once the bell stops ringing, the breathing tube is sealed and the tomb is only opened 1,000 days later. If the body is intact, the monk has successfully attained Buddhahood. In most cases, the body has rotted, while still respected for their fortitude, they are not considered enlightened.

At an altitude of 1,504 meters is Mt. Yudono-san. The Yudono-san jinja (shrine) is known as hallowed land and deemed the ultimate ascetic disciplinary practice ground. This is known as the last of the three mountains visited by pilgrims (Mt. Haguro-san is said to represent birth, Mt. Gas-san death and Mt. Yudono-san as re-birth).

A short walk on my bare feet, I am surprise to find a red monolith overflowing with mineral-rich hot spring instead of a regular shrine structure. The rock is the divine body of the goddess of Yudono-san. To make a prayer, one throws some coins into a wooden cradle, ring a bell to inform the goddess of your arrival, bow deeply twofold and then clap your hands twice. Make your wish or prayer and finally, bow deeply.

A strange air of mystery hangs over Yudono-san. Photography or video-taking are strictly prohibited; visitors are asked not to speak of Yudono-san; and everyone must remove shoes and agree to be purified before entering the shrine. Yudono-san closes during the winter months because of heavy snowfall but is still feasible to visit in poor weather thanks to its road access.

The dark-reddish cedar trees, known in Japan as sugi, commonly found around temples and shrines symbolizes strength and perseverance – the two characters that are so vital in the path to enlightenment. Dewa Sanzan reverberates a sense of purity and sanctity very few places in the world still contains. Could it be the austerity of Shugendo practices, the devotion in shojin-ryori, or the enigmatic silence of the Yudono-san shrine? I’m not sure. But I do hope that spiritual wonder in Dewa Sanzan stays intact for a long time yet.

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