Mount Yasumandake (安満岳) is the highest peak on the island of

Hirado is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The part historically named Hirado is located on Hirado Island. With recent mergers, the city's boundaries have expanded, and Hirado now occupies parts of the main island of Kyushu. The component ...

, Japan. The mountain was sacred to

Buddhists Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

and Shintoists, and as Christianity became prevalent in Hirado it also became an object of Hidden Christian worship. In 2018 the mountain became a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

as part of the "

Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region ( ja, 長崎と天草地方の潜伏キリシタン関連遺産) is a group of twelve sites in Nagasaki Prefecture and Kumamoto Prefecture relating to the history of Christianity in Japan. The Nagasaki ...

Geography

Mount Yasumandake is considered a

mesa A mesa is an isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill, which is bounded from all sides by steep escarpments and stands distinctly above a surrounding plain. Mesas characteristically consist of flat-lying soft sedimentary rocks capped by ...

and is covered with primeval oak forest. The mountain's surroundings form part of

Saikai National Park is a marine national park located in Nagasaki prefecture of northwest Kyūshū, Japan. It consists of the coastal regions of Matsuura Peninsula, extending northward from the port city of Sasebo and encompasses the Kujūku Islands, with over ...

, and the mountain's highest point is above sea level, the highest peak on

Hirado Island (also previously named Hiranoshima and Firando Island) is the 4th largest island in Nagasaki Prefecture. Its coasts are washed by Sea of Japan. The entire island and the part of the nearby Kyushu mainland is administered as part of Hirado, Nagas ...

. Mount Yasumandake used to have a large native

Sika deer The sika deer (''Cervus nippon''), also known as the Northern spotted deer or the Japanese deer, is a species of deer native to much of East Asia and introduced to other parts of the world. Previously found from northern Vietnam in the south to ...

population, but, due to hunting by locals and U.S troops, the population has declined. In hopes to preserve the mountain's deer population, a protected zone was designated near the mountain's center; it has been designated a Prefectural Natural Monument.

History

Yasumandake was a site of

mountain worship Mountain worship (sangaku shinko, ) is a faith that regards mountains as sacred and objects of worship. Description Mountain worship is a form of Nature worship that seems to have evolved from the reverence that ethnic groups closely associate ...

for Buddhists and Shintoists in

. The mountain's primary shrine, the Hakusan-hime shrine, was first built in 718; however, due to its later destruction, it was reconstructed in modern times. The mountain's frontal approach has been paved with stone since the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

and is considered the main access point for the mountain. This approach is part of the Kyushu Nature Trail, a roughly hike around the island of

Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...

. The mountain was a pilgrimage destination for

Yamabushi are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits. They are generally part of the syncretic religion, which includes Tantric Buddhist, Shinto, and Japanese Taoist elements. Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some (saints or ho ...

in surrounding areas. When Christianity was banned in Japan many Hidden Christians began to consider the mountain sacred, and they began making Christian pilgrimages to the mountain's Hakusan-hime shrine under the guise of being Shinto. In 2015 the mountain received roughly one hundred visitors per month. In 2018 Mount Yasumundake was included as a part of the

, "

". It was inscribed with Kasuga Village and Nakaenoshima under the name "Kasuga Village and Sacred Places in Hirado".

References

{{reflist Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region Mountains of Nagasaki Prefecture Sacred mountains