Culture and History of Tateyama

In Japan, humanity coexists with a diverse and abundant natural environment, including mountains, rivers, and seas. Nature provides vital resources like water, food, and raw materials. However, nature is also the source of devastating disasters like floods and volcanic eruptions. The Japanese people developed a sense of reverence toward these phenomena beyond human control, offering prayers and expressing gratitude for nature’s blessings. Over time, this led to the belief that the divine resides within nature.

Great mountains in particular became regarded either as divine beings themselves or as dwelling places of the divine. People considered it too presumptuous to enter these sacred mountains directly, which gave rise to mountain worship in the form of “yohai”—the practice of venerating mountains from afar.

Mt. Tateyama has been a sacred site of mountain worship since ancient times. This is evident from a poem written 1,300 years ago that speaks of “snow that never melts even in midsummer due to diverse power.” These sacred grounds were considered “the other world” and “gathering places for the souls of the deceased” where the living were forbidden to trespass.

Over time, Buddhist beliefs became intertwined with the worship of Mt. Tateyama, with the mountain serving as a site where ascetics conducted spiritual training. This process gave birth to the unique religious tradition known as Tateyama Worship.

Believing mountains to be connected to the afterlife, Tateyama Worship introduced the concept of heaven and hell coexisting within Mt. Tateyama. This belief is shaped in part by the mountain’s diverse and dramatic natural features.

Jigokudani, or Hell Valley, with its continuous emissions of toxic gases, and Mt. Tsurugi, with its jagged rock faces resembling a bed of nails, were compared to jigoku or Buddhist hell—the realm of those who committed evil deeds in life. In contrast, places like Mt. Jodo, abundant with blooming flowers, were envisioned as the Pure Land, where virtuous souls would find eternal peace.

In Buddhist doctrine, people are reborn in various worlds after death based on their good or bad deeds in life in an endlessly continuing cycle. This is called samsara, the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. These realms are referred to as Rokudo, or the Six Realms, which encompass both the human world and hell within the cycle. While it was believed that most people would fall into hell, Tateyama Worship offered hope: “Those who climb Tateyama and purify their body and spirit will be spared from hell.” This led people to scale the mountain seeking rebirth in The Pure Land, a practice called Zenjo Tohai (mountain ascent pilgrimage). In Tateyama Worship, climbing the mountain wasn’t about conquest—it was a spiritual practice and a rite of passage for young men entering adulthood.

During the Edo period, the villages of Ashikuraji and Iwakuraji, located at the foothills of Mt. Tateyama, became centers for Zenjo Tohai pilgrimages with rows of temple lodgings, or Shukubo, lining their streets. The lodge proprietors traveled throughout Japan carrying “Tateyama Mandalas”—pictorial representations of Tateyama Worship’s worldview—to spread their teachings and encourage pilgrimage to Tateyama. It was said that simply listening to the explanation of the Tateyama Mandalas would bring the same spiritual benefits as making the actual pilgrimage to Tateyama.