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Three Holy Mountains

The Three Holy Mountains (三霊山, Sanreizan) of Japan are Mount Fuji, Mount Haku, and Mount Tateyama, a trio of sacred peaks revered in Shinto and Buddhist traditions for their spiritual powers and as sites of pilgrimage since ancient times.^[1]^[2] Mount Fuji, straddling Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures, is Japan's tallest mountain at 3,776 meters (12,389 feet) and symbolizes volcanic energy, having been worshipped as the kami Konohanasakuya-hime since the Ainu era and later as a Buddhist manifestation of Dainichi Nyorai.^[1] Mount Haku, located at the convergence of Gifu, Ishikawa, and Fukui prefectures with its highest peak Gozengamine at 2,702 meters (8,865 feet), represents the power of water and is dedicated to deities like the dragon kami and spirits associated with agriculture, fishing, and longevity, featuring pilgrimage routes with seven shrines including Shirayama Hime Shrine.^[1]^[2] Mount Tateyama, in southeastern Toyama Prefecture within the Hida Mountains, embodies guidance for the spirits of the dead and is renowned for its heavy snowfall and challenging ascents, with ancient pilgrimage traditions dating back over 1,300 years.^[1]^[3] These mountains hold profound cultural significance as embodiments of Japan's syncretic religious heritage, where Shugendo mountain asceticism blends Shinto reverence for nature with Buddhist cosmology, drawing pilgrims for rituals of purification, meditation, and renewal.^[1] Mount Fuji attracts around 200,000 climbers during the summer season as of 2024, subject to new daily quotas of 4,000 on the popular Yoshida Trail introduced in 2024 to manage crowds and ensure safety, while Mount Haku and Mount Tateyama offer more remote, strenuous paths that emphasize spiritual discipline amid pristine alpine environments.^[4]^[5] Collectively, they underscore Japan's enduring view of mountains as portals to the divine, influencing art, literature, and national identity.^[2]

Overview

Definition and Composition

The Three Holy Mountains, collectively known as Sanreizan (三霊山) in Japanese, denote a trio of revered peaks central to Shinto mountain worship traditions dating back over a millennium. These mountains—Mount Fuji, Mount Haku, and Mount Tateyama—embody sacred landscapes where the natural world intersects with the divine, serving as focal points for spiritual reverence and ascetic discipline in Japanese culture. The term Sanreizan highlights their unified status as holy sites, distinct from other regional sacred groupings like the Dewa Sanzan, and underscores their enduring role in fostering a deep connection between humanity and the kami, or Shinto deities.^[6]^[7] Comprising Mount Fuji at 3,776 meters on the border of Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures, Mount Haku at 2,702 meters (Gozengamine) spanning Gifu, Ishikawa, and Fukui prefectures, and Mount Tateyama at 3,015 meters (Onanjiyama) in Toyama Prefecture, the Sanreizan represent some of Japan's most iconic volcanic landmarks. Each mountain's imposing presence has inspired awe and pilgrimage, with their elevations and locations contributing to their mystique as gateways to the spiritual realm.^[8]^[9]^[10] What unites these peaks as the Three Holy Mountains is their shared identity as active or dormant stratovolcanoes viewed as abodes of kami, where the earth's raw power manifests divine presence. They hold particular importance in the practices of yamabushi, mountain ascetics who follow Shugendo—a syncretic tradition blending Shinto and Buddhist elements—to achieve enlightenment through rigorous training amid harsh terrains. Individual veneration of each mountain traces to ancient times, with Mount Tateyama's worship documented over 1,300 years ago through poetry and rituals, while their collective designation as Sanreizan gained prominence in Edo-period (1603–1868) literature, reflecting broader cultural syntheses of faith and nature.^[7]^[6]^[11]

Geographical and Geological Context

The Three Holy Mountains—Mount Fuji, Mount Haku, and Mount Tate—are situated in central Honshu, Japan, within tectonically active regions shaped by plate interactions. Mount Fuji rises in the prefectures of Yamanashi and Shizuoka, approximately 100 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, serving as a prominent landmark visible from the capital on clear days. Mount Haku, also known as Hakusan, spans the borders of Gifu, Ishikawa, and Fukui prefectures in the Chubu region, forming the core of Hakusan National Park. Mount Tate, the highest peak in the Tateyama range, is located in Toyama Prefecture within Chubu Sangaku National Park, part of the rugged Northern Japan Alps.^[12]^[13]^[10] In terms of prominence, Mount Fuji stands as Japan's highest peak at 3,776 meters, dominating the surrounding landscape with its symmetrical cone and significant topographic relief. Mount Haku reaches 2,702 meters (Gozengamine), making it the tallest mountain in western Japan and a key elevation point in the Ryohaku Mountains. Mount Tate attains 3,015 meters at its summit (Onanjiyama), contributing to the dramatic alpine skyline of the Hida Mountains and offering substantial prominence amid the northern alpine chain. These elevations place all three mountains in high-relief zones conducive to diverse vertical ecosystems.^[14]^[13]^[15] Geologically, the trio consists of active or potentially active stratovolcanoes formed through the subduction of the Philippine Sea Plate beneath the Eurasian Plate along the Japan Trench and Nankai Trough, a process that generates magma ascent and volcanic edifices across central Honshu. Mount Fuji, a basaltic-andesitic stratovolcano, last erupted in 1707 during the Hoei event, which produced significant ashfall extending to Edo (modern Tokyo). Mount Haku, an andesitic stratovolcano with multiple summit craters, experienced its most recent eruption in 1659, involving phreatic explosions and ash emissions. Mount Tate represents an eroded stratovolcano complex with caldera features from prehistoric activity, remaining dormant since the 19th century with the last phreatic eruption in 1836, though geothermal activity persists in areas like Jigokudani valley. This shared volcanic origin underscores their classification within Japan's volcanic arc system.^[16]^[14]^[13]^[17] Climatically, these mountains feature harsh alpine environments with year-round snow cover on summits, subzero average temperatures (e.g., -7.1°C annually at Fuji's peak), and distinct seasonal variations that support specialized ecosystems. Their high altitudes create vertical zonation from montane forests at lower slopes to alpine tundra above the treeline, fostering biodiversity hotspots with endemic flora like Japanese gentians and cotton grass, as well as fauna such as ptarmigans and alpine insects. Protected within national parks, these zones highlight the mountains' role as dynamic natural entities, where ecological richness stems from volcanic soils and climatic extremes.^[18]^[19]^[20]

Historical Development

Ancient Origins

The roots of mountain veneration in Japan lie in the prehistoric animistic beliefs of the Jōmon period (c. 14,000–300 BCE), when mountains were regarded as vital life sources embodying spiritual forces essential for survival. Archaeological findings from this era, including ritual clay figurines (dogū) and pottery discovered in highland and foothill sites across Japan, indicate early communal practices honoring natural features like mountains for their associations with fertility, water sources, and seasonal abundance. These artifacts suggest that volcanic peaks, with their dramatic landscapes and geothermal activity, were perceived as dynamic embodiments of animistic energies, predating organized religion and laying the groundwork for later sacred designations of specific mountains such as Fuji, Haku, and Tateyama. During the Yayoi (c. 300 BCE–300 CE) and Kofun (c. 300–538 CE) periods, these foundational beliefs evolved into more structured concepts of nature kami, or divine spirits inhabiting the landscape, with mountains symbolizing protection and agricultural prosperity. In the Yayoi era, marked by wet-rice cultivation and metalworking introduced from the continent, communities at the bases of prominent peaks likely attributed kami to these landforms to ensure bountiful harvests and safeguard against natural disasters, as evidenced by ritual deposits of bronze bells (dōtaku) and mirrors found in surrounding lowlands. By the Kofun period, as social hierarchies emerged with the construction of large keyhole-shaped tombs (kofun), myths linking specific mountains to ancestral guardians and fertility deities began to circulate orally, positioning peaks like Fuji, Haku, and Tateyama as protective sentinels in regional lore, though without the formalized pilgrimages of later eras. Continental influences, particularly Chinese geomancy (feng shui), arrived via migration and trade by the 5th century CE, transforming indigenous views by framing volcanic mountains as conduits between earthly and celestial realms. Geomantic principles, emphasizing mountains as channels for qi (vital energy), resonated with Japan's terrain, elevating volcanoes like Fuji, Haku, and Tateyama as auspicious sites where eruptions signified divine communication or renewal. The earliest textual allusions to such mountain spirits appear in the Kojiki (712 CE) and Nihon Shoki (720 CE), ancient chronicles compiling oral traditions that predate structured Shinto. For instance, the Kojiki describes Konohanasakuya-hime, daughter of the mountain deity Ōyamatsumi, whose fiery parturition trial symbolizes volcanic purity and life's transience, later explicitly tied to Mount Fuji as its tutelary goddess. These works reference broader mountain kami as benevolent forces tied to imperial descent and natural order, establishing the spiritual precedence for Fuji, Haku, and Tateyama without detailing pilgrimages, which developed subsequently.

Medieval and Early Modern Periods

The introduction of Buddhism to Japan in 538 CE marked the beginning of profound syncretism with indigenous mountain worship practices, transforming sacred peaks like Mount Fuji, Mount Haku, and Mount Tateyama into sites envisioned as mandalas representing Buddhist paradises on earth. This blending, known as shinbutsu shūgō, integrated Shinto kami with Buddhist deities, elevating the mountains' spiritual roles in esoteric rituals. En no Gyōja (634–706 CE), revered as the founder of Shugendō—the ascetic tradition of yamabushi mountain ascetics—played a pivotal role by incorporating these peaks into rigorous training regimens that combined physical endurance, meditation, and shamanistic elements drawn from Taoism and early Buddhism. His legendary ascents and establishment of mountain trails laid the groundwork for organized pilgrimage and asceticism that later centered on sites including the trio.^[21]^[22] From the 8th to 12th centuries, base shrines emerged at the foothills of each mountain, solidifying their institutional status within Shugendō networks. On Mount Haku, Taichō Shōnin (682–767) ascended in 717 CE, founding the Hakusan faith and establishing Shirayama Hime Jinja as the central shrine, which served as the head of over 2,000 affiliated sites nationwide and a hub for syncretic worship blending the kami Shirayamahime with the bodhisattva Kannon. Mount Tateyama saw the development of ascetic caverns like Tamadono, used for over a millennium in Shugendō practices, while Mount Fuji's early Buddhist overlays included associations with Dainichi Nyōrai, fostering temple-shrine complexes that attracted esoteric practitioners. These establishments, often under the influence of Tendai and Shingon sects, turned the mountains into training grounds for yamabushi, emphasizing purification rituals and visionary experiences amid volcanic and alpine terrains.^[7]^[23]^[22] During the Edo period (1603–1868), the Three Holy Mountains gained widespread popularity among the populace, fueled by ukiyo-e woodblock prints and haikai poetry that romanticized their majesty and spiritual allure, encouraging collective reverence through accessible depictions in urban culture. Artists like Hokusai elevated Mount Fuji as an icon of national identity, while similar artistic and literary motifs extended to Haku and Tateyama, portraying them as interconnected symbols of enlightenment and rebirth. Shugendō formalized into Honzan-ha and Tōzan-ha factions, broadening pilgrimage access beyond elites. By the 17th century, textual references, such as those in pilgrimage guides and religious treatises, explicitly recognized the trio as Sanreizan—"Japan's Three Holy Mountains"—embodying a unified national spirituality that transcended regional cults.^[22]^[23] The Meiji era (1868–1912) brought state-mandated separation of Shinto and Buddhism (shinbutsu bunri), severely disrupting syncretic practices on the mountains by banning Shugendō as a hybrid faith and reallocating shrines and temples to pure Shinto oversight. Yamabushi activities were curtailed, with many ascetic halls converted or closed, yet the inherent sacred status of Fuji, Haku, and Tateyama endured, preserved through residual cultural reverence and gradual revival efforts that maintained their role as enduring spiritual landmarks.^[22]^[7]

The Mountains

Mount Fuji

Mount Fuji, standing at an elevation of 3,776 meters, is Japan's highest peak and a classic example of a symmetrical stratovolcano formed by layered lava flows over millennia.^[24]^[25] Its near-perfect conical shape, often capped with snow, results from repeated eruptions, the most recent being the Hoei eruption in 1707, which created a prominent crater on the southeastern flank and deposited ash across eastern Japan.^[26] The mountain's base features the Fuji Five Lakes—Yamanaka, Kawaguchi, Sai, Shoji, and Motosu—formed by ancient lava dams, and the dense Aokigahara forest, known as the Sea of Trees, which covers about 30 square kilometers of lava flows from the 864 Jōgan eruption.^[27]^[28] Worship of Mount Fuji dates back to at least 27 BCE, according to shrine records, when the deity was enshrined at the base to appease frequent eruptions and ensure safety.^[29] From the 17th century, Fujikō associations emerged as organized pilgrim groups, enabling broader participation in mountain worship through communal funding and rituals, transforming Fuji from an elite ascetic site into a popular spiritual destination.^[11] In 2013, the mountain and its surrounding cultural landscape were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as "Fujisan: Sacred Place and Source of Artistic Inspiration," recognizing 25 related sites for their enduring religious and artistic value.^[11] Spiritually, Mount Fuji is dedicated to Konohanasakuya-hime, the Shinto goddess of blossoms and fire, who embodies volcanic power and is enshrined as the mountain's protective deity at key Sengen shrines.^[30] This association links her to the volcano's fiery nature, as detailed in ancient texts like the Kojiki, where she proves her purity through a miraculous birth in a cauldron of flames.^[31] The upper slopes host okusha, or inner shrines, serving as secluded sites for ascetic retreats by yamabushi practitioners, who engage in Shugendo rituals blending Shinto and Buddhist elements to achieve spiritual purification amid the harsh terrain.^[32]^[11] Unique practices center on the annual climbing season from early July to early September, when trails open and approximately 200,000 visitors ascend annually (as of 2024–2025), often as a form of devotion echoing ancient pilgrimages. Since 2024, regulations including a daily limit of 4,000 climbers on the popular Yoshida Trail and a 2,000 yen entry fee have been implemented to ensure safety, reduce overcrowding, and preserve the site's spiritual integrity.^[33]^[34] Torii gates along routes, such as at the Yoshida Trail's fifth station, demarcate sacred boundaries, inviting climbers to transition into a reverent state before proceeding.^[35] These ascents emphasize purity, with participants traditionally donning white attire to symbolize spiritual cleansing, a custom rooted in Fujikō traditions that continues to draw modern pilgrims seeking renewal.^[26]

Mount Haku

Mount Haku, also known as Hakusan, is a prominent stratovolcano standing at 2,702 meters, with its highest peak, Gozengamine, forming part of a triple-peaked structure that includes Oonanji mine and Bessan.^[13]^[36] This dormant volcano, last erupting in 1659, features a summit crater and surrounding alpine terrain enriched by volcanic activity, which sustains numerous hot springs at its base and contributes to the area's geothermal features.^[13] The mountain encompasses at least seven crater lakes, such as Midoriga-ike, and is bordered by diverse ecosystems, including alpine meadows that bloom vibrantly in summer. Nearby, the UNESCO World Heritage-listed village of Shirakawa-go lies at its foothills, showcasing traditional gassho-zukuri farmhouses sustained by the mountain's waters.^[37]^[36] Historically, Mount Haku gained prominence as a sacred site when the Buddhist monk Taichō Daishi (682–767 CE), a practitioner of Shugendō, became the first recorded person to ascend its peak in 717 CE, establishing it as a center for mountain asceticism.^[36] This event founded the Hakusan Shugendō tradition, blending Shinto and Buddhist elements, and led to the development of the Hakusan-kyō sect, which reveres the mountain as a spiritual hub. Earlier volcanic activity, including eruptions dating back centuries, influenced local myths, portraying the mountain as a dynamic force of nature intertwined with divine origins.^[38] Spiritually, Mount Haku serves as the abode of Shiramine-no-kami, the white mountain deity enshrined at Shirayama Hime Jinja, and is closely associated with Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion, whom Taichō reportedly envisioned during his ascent, affirming the site's merciful qualities.^[39] The Gozaisho, a key shrine at the Gozengamine summit, acts as a central pilgrimage destination, symbolizing the mountain's role in purification and enlightenment within Shugendō practices.^[36] Unique to Mount Haku are the rigorous yamabushi training rituals, where ascetic monks undertake winter ascents through heavy snow to cultivate spiritual endurance and harmony with nature. These practices emphasize the mountain's healing waters, derived from perpetual snowmelt revered as pure and life-giving, often incorporated into rituals for physical and spiritual renewal. Folklore surrounding the site includes centipedal motifs, symbolizing protection and resilience, drawn from ancient tales of guardian spirits inhabiting the volcanic landscape.^[36]^[38]

Mount Tateyama

Mount Tateyama, the highest peak in the Tateyama Mountain Range of the Northern Japan Alps, rises to an elevation of 3,015 meters and forms a dramatic centerpiece within Chubu Sangaku National Park.^[10] The range's rugged terrain includes stark volcanic features such as Jigokudani, or Hell Valley, where steaming sulfur vents and boiling pools evoke an otherworldly landscape, alongside iron-rich red ponds at Chinoike and expansive alpine meadows at Midagahara and Murodo that burst with wildflowers in summer.^[40]^[23] The nearby Kurobe Dam, standing at 186 meters as Japan's tallest, adds an engineering marvel to the natural spectacle, channeling massive water discharges during the warmer months.^[40] Reverence for Mount Tateyama dates back over 1,300 years, with records from the 8th century describing its eternal snows as a mark of divinity and establishing it as a site of mountain worship blending Shinto and Buddhist elements.^[6] By the medieval period, the mountain's spiritual narrative solidified through legends like that of Saeki no Ariyori, who founded its sacred status, and pictorial Tateyama Mandala scrolls that emerged in the Edo period to depict the pilgrimage as a symbolic journey through the afterlife.^[41] These scrolls illustrate hellish realms transitioning to paradisiacal vistas, promoting the faith among pilgrims and emphasizing the mountain's role in salvation.^[41] In Shugendo tradition, Mount Tateyama embodies a profound spiritual transition from infernal depths to heavenly realms, with Jigokudani representing the torments of hell and higher peaks symbolizing the Pure Land under the protection of Jizo Bosatsu, the bodhisattva who safeguards travelers and spares souls from damnation.^[6]^[42] Jizo statues along the slopes reinforce this role, invoking mercy for those enduring the harsh ascent as a rite of purification and rebirth.^[42] The mountain's cosmology posits hell and paradise coexisting in its landscapes, where climbers confront sulfurous vents and steep ridges to achieve spiritual renewal.^[43] Pilgrims historically traversed routes like the Kurobe path, navigating challenging terrains that tested endurance and fostered a sense of transcendence through physical hardship.^[23] Seasonal closures during winter, when heavy snow renders the heights inaccessible, align with traditions of spiritual purity, limiting access to preserve the sacred isolation and allowing natural forces to reclaim the site until spring openings.^[44] These practices underscore the emphasis on perseverance, as ascetics and devotees alike view the grueling climbs—amid snow corridors up to 20 meters high and volcanic hazards—as essential for confronting inner demons and attaining enlightenment.^[40]^[43]

Religious Significance

Shinto Associations

In Shinto tradition, the Three Holy Mountains—Mount Fuji, Mount Haku, and Mount Tateyama—are revered as sacred sites embodying the presence of kami, the divine spirits inherent in nature. These mountains serve as direct manifestations of Shinto's animistic worldview, where natural features like volcanoes and peaks are not merely geological but living entities housing deities that influence human affairs, particularly through natural forces such as water sources and volcanic activity.^[45]^[39]^[46] Each mountain is attributed to a specific kami, reflecting distinct aspects of Shinto cosmology. Mount Fuji is associated with Konohanasakuya-hime, the princess of blossoming flowers, symbolizing the ephemeral beauty and transience of life, as she is enshrined as the mountain's primary deity to embody its volcanic fertility and renewal.^[45] Mount Haku honors Shirayama Hime no Kami (also known as Kukurihime no Kami), a goddess linked to reconciliation among the gods, protection, and the life-giving waters originating from the peak, underscoring the mountain's role as a source of purity and harmony.^[39] Mount Tateyama venerates Oyama no Kami (Tateyama no Kami), the great mountain deity referenced in ancient texts like the Manyōshū, representing the formidable power of the alpine landscape and its capacity for both destruction and spiritual elevation.^[46] Rituals centered on these mountains emphasize purification and reverence, aligning with Shinto's core principle of restoring harmony between humans and the divine. Misogi, the ablutionary rite involving immersion in cold mountain waters, is performed at the bases of the peaks, such as at Shirayama Hime Shrine for Mount Haku, where participants cleanse body and spirit in streams fed by the sacred waters to remove impurities and connect with the kami's essence.^[47] Sacred precincts known as utaki, often located in the inner sanctuaries of these mountains, historically enforced nyonin kisei, a prohibition on women entering core areas to preserve ritual purity, a practice that was addressed by Meiji-era reforms including the 1872 edict against such bans at Shinto sites, though implementation varied across locations like Fuji, Haku, and Tateyama.^[48]^[49]^[50] Philosophically, the mountains function as utsu no miya—recessed or hidden palaces of the divine—serving as profound symbols of Shinto's emphasis on living in balance with nature's rhythms, where the peaks represent inaccessible realms of kami that demand respect for ecological and spiritual integrity.^[7] Collectively, these mountains form Japan's spiritual backbone, with annual matsuri at their associated shrines, such as those at Fuji's Sengen shrines and Haku's Shirayama complex, invoking the kami's protection against eruptions and natural calamities to safeguard communities.^[45]^[39]

Buddhist and Syncretic Elements

Shugendō, a syncretic tradition of mountain asceticism, was founded in the late 7th century by En no Gyōja, a legendary mystic who integrated esoteric Buddhist practices with indigenous shamanistic and animistic elements prevalent in Japan's mountain worship.^[51] En no Gyōja, born into the Kamo clan and active in the Katsuragi Mountains, employed rituals involving Taoist divination, Buddhist incantations, and knowledge of medicinal herbs to achieve spiritual enlightenment and healing.^[22] Central to Shugendō were the sacred mountains, viewed as ideal training grounds where ascetics, known as yamabushi, underwent rigorous disciplines such as fasting, meditation, and exposure to harsh elements to attain siddhi—supernatural powers believed to enable protection, prophecy, and salvation for practitioners and the broader populace.^[51] In syncretic developments, the Three Holy Mountains were reimagined through Buddhist cosmological frameworks, overlaying indigenous kami worship with mandalic structures. Mount Fuji emerged as a symbolic representation of the Diamond Realm (Kongōkai) mandala, embodying the wisdom of the Five Wisdom Buddhas and serving as a site for ascetic entry rites that equated its summit deity, Sengen Daibosatsu, with Dainichi Nyorai at the mandala's core.^[32] Mount Haku, revered for its pristine peaks, became linked to Kannon Bodhisattva, the embodiment of compassion, through the Hakusan Gongen syncretism, where the mountain's spiritual essence was interpreted as manifesting Kannon's merciful interventions in healing and salvation.^[7] Mount Tateyama, in turn, was mapped onto the Lotus Realm (Taizōkai), a womb-like cosmological domain tied to the Lotus Sutra, featuring hellish trials in its lower valleys—such as the sulfurous Jigokudani—as purifying ordeals leading to enlightenment and rebirth in the Pure Land at its summits.^[41] Key texts and figures further embedded these elements in medieval Shugendō practices. The Tateyama Mandala, a series of pictorial scrolls produced from the late 16th century through the Edo period, visually illustrated afterlife paths by juxtaposing graphic depictions of Buddhist hells with the mountain's pilgrimage routes, guiding devotees toward paradise through ascetic traversal.^[41]^[52] Figures like the hijiri—peripatetic holy men who were unofficial monks and pilgrimage guides—played pivotal roles in medieval Shugendō, leading groups on mountain ascents, performing rituals, and disseminating teachings that blended esoteric Buddhism with local folklore to facilitate communal enlightenment.^[51] Following the Meiji Restoration, overt Buddhist elements in Shugendō faced suppression under the 1872 shinbutsu bunri policies, which separated Shinto and Buddhism and deemed the tradition superstitious, leading to the dissolution of most temple-shrine complexes and forcing many yamabushi to abandon or secularize their practices.^[53] Despite this, yamabushi traditions persisted in isolated centers like those at Mount Haku and Mount Tateyama, where ascetic training and cosmological mappings endured through underground networks and post-World War II revivals, maintaining Shugendō's core emphasis on mountain-based siddhi attainment.^[53]

Pilgrimage and Cultural Practices

Traditional Pilgrimage Routes

Traditional pilgrimage routes to the Three Holy Mountains—Mount Fuji, Mount Haku, and Mount Tateyama—typically began at associated shrines or temples, where devotees gathered for preparatory rituals before embarking on ascents that emphasized communal spirituality and purification.^[54] Pilgrims often traveled in organized groups known as Fuji-ko or similar associations, donning white robes symbolizing purity and reciting chants (go-eika) accompanied by bells and wooden blocks to invoke divine protection during the journey.^[54] These processions fostered a sense of collective devotion, with guides (oshi) providing lodging, meals, and spiritual instruction along the way, particularly prominent from the Heian period (794–1185) onward.^[55] For Mount Fuji, the primary route was the Yoshida Trail, which originated in the 8th century but gained formalized structure during the Muromachi period (1333–1568), starting from the Kitaguchi Hongu Fuji Sengen-jinja Shrine in Fujiyoshida, where a large torii gate erected in 1480 marked the sacred entry.^[55] Pilgrims ascended via paths from the Koshu-dochu or Kamakura-kaido roads, resting at teahouses (ohachiya) and post-towns like Onuma's Shuku-dori, established in the Edo period (1603–1868) to accommodate group travelers.^[55] The spiritual climax occurred at the summit, where a peak torii (Kana-dorii) signified entry into the divine realm, culminating in rituals of worship and renewal.^[55] Mount Haku's routes, known as the Zenjōdō (Paths of Meditation), comprised three main paths—the Kaga, Echizen, and Mino routes—leading to the summit of Mount Gozenpō, with ascents popularized since the monk Taichō's climb in 717 CE.^[7] Journeys typically started at Shiramine Shrine (Shirayama Hime Jinja), the head shrine of over 3,000 Hakusan branches, where pilgrims, including Shugendō ascetics, performed misogi purification rites under sacred waterfalls depicted in Hakusan mandala artwork.^[7] These seasonal summer ascents, supported by seven guardian shrines along the routes, involved group meditations and rituals emphasizing harmony with the mountain's spiritual essence.^[7] On Mount Tateyama, the Tateyama Shrine Road served as the central route from the Edo period, guiding pilgrims from base shrines like Iwakuraji to the Murodo plateau, a high-altitude hub established as early as the 12th century with ancient mountain huts.^[23]^[56] The path traversed volcanic landscapes symbolizing Buddhist realms, including hellish sites like Jigokudani and Chinoike (Blood Pond), with strict taboos prohibiting entry to inner sanctums due to their sacred and hazardous nature.^[23] Stone Buddha statues lined the route as signposts, directing groups toward heavenly vistas at the peak, where Oyama Shrine's Chugu Kiganden offered final prayers amid ancient cedars.^[56] During the Edo period, these pilgrimages experienced a boom, attracting diverse participants including women from various social classes, who joined group ascents as part of a broader cultural surge in devotional travel.^[57]^[54] This influx stimulated local economies through commerce in lodging, guides, and ritual goods, transforming surrounding areas into thriving hubs that sustained communities reliant on pilgrimage traffic.^[57]

Modern Visitation and Preservation

Following World War II, visitation to the Three Holy Mountains experienced a significant boom driven by Japan's economic recovery and improved infrastructure, transforming these sites from primarily spiritual destinations into major tourist attractions. Mount Fuji's climber numbers surged from post-war levels to approximately 100,000 on the Yoshida trail by 1981 and over 200,000 total annually by the early 2000s, fueled by accessible trails and cultural promotion. The Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, opened in 1971, revolutionized access to Mount Tateyama by connecting Toyama and Nagano prefectures via a series of buses, cable cars, trolleys, and tunnels, attracting around 900,000 visitors yearly and highlighting the mountains' alpine scenery. On Mount Haku, modern eco-tours emerged in the late 20th century, offering guided hikes from bases like the Murodo Center to promote low-impact exploration of its wetlands and biodiversity.^[58]^[59]^[60]^[61] Preservation efforts intensified in the mid-20th century with national park designations: the Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park encompassing Mount Fuji in 1936, Chubu-Sangaku National Park including Mount Tateyama in 1934, and Hakusan National Park for Mount Haku in 1962, all aimed at protecting geological features and ecosystems from development pressures. Mount Fuji's inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013 under the title "Fujisan: Sacred Place and Source of Artistic Inspiration" further elevated global conservation priorities, leading to coordinated management plans across prefectures to safeguard its cultural and natural integrity. To address climate change impacts, such as delayed snowfalls and glacial retreat observed since the 1990s, authorities implemented emission controls, including proposals for low-carbon transport like electric trams on Fuji trails and restrictions on vehicle access in park buffer zones.^[62]^[63]^[64]^[11]^[65]^[66] Challenges in modern visitation include overcrowding, particularly on Mount Fuji, where peak-season congestion prompted Yamanashi Prefecture to introduce a mandatory 2,000-yen entry fee and a daily cap of 4,000 climbers on the popular Yoshida Trail starting in 2024, building on earlier voluntary contributions from 2014. In 2025, the fee was increased to 4,000 yen across all trails, with mandatory online reservations and completion of safety e-learning courses to enhance preparedness. All three mountains are subject to continuous volcanic monitoring by the Japan Meteorological Agency, which issues alerts based on seismic and gas data to mitigate eruption risks, as Fuji last erupted in 1707. Amid broader secularization in Japan, there has been a cultural revival of Shugendo practices, with organized ascetic retreats on these peaks drawing participants seeking spiritual renewal alongside tourism.^[67]^[68]^[69]^[53] Contemporary visits often blend spiritual and tourist elements, such as guided pilgrimage tours on Fuji that incorporate Shinto rituals with scenic hikes, while Tateyama's route facilitates hybrid experiences combining cable car rides with yamabushi meditation sessions. International recognition, particularly Fuji's UNESCO status, has boosted global pilgrimages, with foreign climbers comprising up to 30% of totals in recent years and drawing eco-conscious visitors to Haku's biosphere reserve trails as of 2025. These adaptations sustain the mountains' sacred allure while addressing sustainability.^[70]^[3]^[11]

Cultural Impact

Representations in Art and Literature

The Three Holy Mountains—Mount Fuji, Mount Haku, and Mount Tateyama—have inspired a rich tradition in Japanese literature, often evoking themes of divine presence and enduring natural beauty. In the 8th-century anthology Manyoshu, Mount Fuji appears in numerous waka poems as a symbol of eternal splendor and awe-inspiring permanence, capturing its snow-capped form as an unchanging emblem of the landscape.^[71] Similarly, Mount Haku features in Heian-period (794–1185) texts such as Shirayama no Ki, which recounts divine encounters with the goddess Shirayamahime enshrined on its slopes, portraying the mountain as a realm of kami where pilgrims experience spiritual revelations.^[7] Mount Tateyama, in turn, is depicted in Noh plays like Utou (Murrelet), where its rugged terrain serves as the setting for a hunter's ghostly tale of postmortem suffering in hell, underscoring the mountain's role in illustrating life's transience and karmic consequences.^[72] Visual representations of the mountains in art further emphasize their sacred and ethereal qualities. Katsushika Hokusai's ukiyo-e series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (ca. 1820s–1830s) captures the peak from diverse angles and weathers, blending everyday scenes with the mountain's majestic, almost deified presence to highlight its cultural centrality.^[73] For Mount Tateyama, medieval mandala scrolls, originating from Heian-period legends but proliferating in the Kamakura era (1185–1333), illustrate the mountain's pilgrimage paths, volcanic hellscapes like Jigokudani, and paradisiacal realms, serving as didactic tools to propagate its worship by fusing real topography with Buddhist cosmology.^[41] Mount Haku, often shrouded in mists, appears in traditional ink wash paintings (sumi-e) that evoke its mystical aura, with artists using subtle gradations of black ink to convey the mountain's foggy veils and spiritual seclusion as a divine abode.^[7] Collectively, the mountains appear in Edo-period (1603–1868) haiku as motifs of mono no aware—the poignant awareness of impermanence—linking the Sanreizan to seasonal flux and human ephemerality, as seen in verses by poets like Matsuo Bashō that meditate on their transient beauties amid broader natural cycles.^[74] In modern literature, Yukio Mishima employs Mount Fuji in novels such as those in his Sea of Fertility tetralogy to evoke nationalist sentiments, portraying the mountain as a timeless icon of Japanese essence amid cultural upheaval.^[75] Over time, depictions evolved from esoteric religious icons in medieval scrolls and poetry to more accessible forms in the Meiji era (1868–1912), where the mountains featured in tourist posters promoting national heritage and scenic travel, reflecting Japan's shift toward modernization while preserving their symbolic allure.^[76]

Influence on Japanese Identity

Mount Fuji serves as a prominent national symbol of Japan, prominently featured on the reverse side of the series E 1,000 yen banknote issued by the Bank of Japan starting in 2004, with the design remaining in circulation alongside new series F notes introduced in 2024, depicting the mountain viewed from Lake Motosu to evoke its enduring cultural resonance.^[77] ^[78] As one of the Three Holy Mountains, collectively known as Sanreizan, Fuji embodies spiritual and aesthetic ideals central to Japanese identity, inspiring national pride through its recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2013 for its sacred and artistic significance.^[11] The Sanreizan are integrated into Japan's cultural heritage education, highlighting their role in Shinto and syncretic traditions as foundational elements of national history and values. Regionally, Mount Haku reinforces local identity in Ishikawa Prefecture, where it stands as the most prominent natural landmark and a source of communal pride through centuries of mountain worship and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve designation, which promotes conservation and cultural continuity through sustainable development initiatives.^[79] In Toyama Prefecture, Mount Tateyama drives economic vitality via the Tateyama Kurobe Alpine Route, a key tourism asset that attracts visitors and contributes to regional development goals, including diversified economic strategies amid national tourism targets of 60 million annual visitors by 2030.^[80]^[81] On a global scale, Mount Fuji extends Japan's identity through pop culture.^[82] International climbing surged post-1960s with infrastructure like the 1964 Fuji Subaru Line toll road, enabling broader access and turning Fuji into a worldwide icon of adventure and heritage.^[83] Its 2013 UNESCO inscription has bolstered Japan's cultural diplomacy, positioning the mountain as a bridge for global appreciation of its spiritual legacy.^[84] In contemporary contexts, the Three Holy Mountains sustain relevance in environmental movements, where Shinto sacred forests around sites like Fuji and Haku inform modern conservation efforts, linking traditional reverence to Japan's ecological policies.^[85] They also permeate pop culture, such as the setting of Persona 4 inspired by rural areas near Mount Fuji, contributing to global perceptions of Japanese aesthetics.

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