, is a sacred mountain in
Nara
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...
,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, famous for its three tests of courage.
Officially known as , it is more popularly known as Mount Ōmine due to its prominence in the Ōmine mountain range. It is located in
Yoshino-Kumano National Park in the
Kansai region
The or the lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropol ...
,
Honshū
, historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian ...
, Japan.
The temple Ōminesanji, located at the top of the mountain, is the headquarters of the
Shugendō sect of
Japanese Buddhism
Buddhism was first established in Japan in the 6th century CE. Most of the Japanese Buddhists belong to new schools of Buddhism which were established in the Kamakura period (1185-1333). During the Edo period (1603–1868), Buddhism was cont ...
and the entire mountain is part of a pilgrimage and training ground for the
Yamabushi
are Japanese mountain ascetic hermits. They are generally part of the syncretic religion, which includes Tantric Buddhism and Shinto.
Their origins can be traced back to the solitary Yama-bito and some (saints or holy persons) of the eighth ...
(山伏, one who prostrates oneself on the mountain).
History
The monastery at Mount Ōmine was founded in the 8th century by
En no Gyōja, as a home for his new religion of Shugendō. Shugendo literally means "the path of training and testing," and is based on the self-actualization of spiritual power in experiential form through challenging and rigorous ritualistic tests of courage and devotion known as ''shugyō''.
During the
Meiji period
The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...
, in 1872 the imperial government forbade all "superstitious practices" including belief in folkloric creatures such as
Yōkai
are a class of supernatural entities and Spirit (supernatural entity) , spirits in Japanese folklore. The kanji representation of the word comprises two characters that both mean "suspicious, doubtful", and while the Japanese name is simply ...
and
Yūrei
are figures in Japanese folklore analogous to the Western concept of ghosts. The name consists of two kanji, (''yū''), meaning "faint" or "dim" and (''rei''), meaning "soul" or "spirit". Alternative names include , meaning ruined or departed ...
, as well as gender bans on sacred mountains such as
Mount Fuji
is an active stratovolcano located on the Japanese island of Honshu, with a summit elevation of . It is the highest mountain in Japan, the second-highest volcano on any Asian island (after Mount Kerinci on the Indonesian island of Sumatra), a ...
and all of the rituals of Mount Ōmine. During this time the mountain was closed, and any Shugendo practices were carried on in secret. However, in 1945 the Japanese Culture Act repealed these edicts, and the mountain was opened again. Shugendō practicers were quick to reclaim the mountain and restore the traditions.
In 1964,
Mountaineer
Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sports ...
/
author
In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
Kyūya Fukada
was a Japanese people, Japanese writer and mountaineer active during the Shōwa period in Japan.
Early life
Kyūya was born in what is now Kaga, Ishikawa, Kaga city, Ishikawa prefecture. He attended the Fujishima High School, followed by the pr ...
selected Mount Ōmine as number 91 of his
100 famous mountains in Japan. Fukuda's three criteria for the selection of 100 celebrated mountains was their physical grandeur, historical and spiritual significance to Japan, and its individuality, meaning it must have a unique shape, phenomenon or event associated with it. In 1980 an area of 36,000
ha in the region of Mount Ōmine and
Mount Ōdaigahara was designated a
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
Man and the Biosphere Reserve.
In 2004, it was designated as an
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
World Heritage Site
World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...
, as part of the ''"
Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range
Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located on the Kii Peninsula in Japan.
Selection criteria
The locations and paths for this heritage site were based on their historical and modern im ...
"''.
Ban on women

Mount Ōmine lays claim to a continuous 1300-year legacy as a male-access-only sacred peak. A thirteen-foot-tall stone pillar reading "From here
nwardis the zone restricted to women" (從是女人結界) stands at the main trailhead to the Sanjōgatake 山上ヶ岳 peak of the mountain. Accompanying it is a roughly eleven-foot-tall wooden gate topped by metal spikes that bears the words "Zone restricted to women gate" (女人結界門). Before both gate and stone pillar, a signboard roughly six feet tall and three feet wide has been erected, stating in English and Japanese, "'No Woman Admitted': Regulation of this holly
icmountain Ominesan prohibits any woman from climbing farther through this gate according to the religious tradition."
These inscriptions demonstrate the practice of religion-based female taboos, a widespread cultural phenomenon in Japan. Most territorial proscriptions dissolved in 1872 when the
Meiji government granted women full access to mountain shrine and temple lands, but traces of gender-exclusive practices can be found at many mountains in Japan, especially those like Mount Ōmine which powerful Buddhist temples controlled.
The origins and early development of fixed male-only zones (''
nyonin kinsei
is a general term for a type of society custom against woman, women that is found in Japan.
In particular, it refers to customs that prohibit women from entering sacred places (shrines, temples, sacred sites, ritual sites, etc.). In this sense, ...
''; ''nyonin kekkai'') remain a subject of debate, owing to a disjuncture between religious narratives, historical and material records, and present-day practices. Extant textual records indicate that communities of celibate male Buddhist practitioners at places like Mt. Hiei and Mt. Kōya began implementing exclusionary measures from around the tenth century.
The rise of spatial proscriptions aimed at permanently ridding women from the putative pure spaces inhabited by male devotees and the divinities strengthened the association between women and the impure or polluted. Scholars debate the precise pathways through which temporary avoidances gave way to permanent bans, but they share a broad consensus that the phenomenon of women's exclusion derives at least in part—and in no small part—from Buddhist- and
kami
are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...
-related views of women's physiology as innately polluted.
Author
Edwin Bernbaum, who holds a PhD in Asian Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, says that the religious leaders in Japan banned women from Omin
becausethey were a distraction to their ascetic practices. A 1960 TIME story expands on Birnbaum's notion:
Said 75-year-old Abbot Kaigyoku Okada: "Can a man meditate on the Buddha in the midst of passing geishas? That is why we sought mountain solitude. But now girls are to be allowed on our mountain, presumably with their boyfriends. If one of my priests doing a cliff exercise happens to see a young couple, he may lose his balance and be killed." The abbot may have been thinking of a line popular with the mountain priests: "Woman is the root of disaster that even 500 reincarnations cannot absolve."
The ban has been challenged many times but without success. Supporters note that sexual segregation does not equal sexual discrimination. Supporters also state that the ban has an unbroken, 1,300-year tradition. Mount Ōmine's designation as a World Heritage site by
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
in 2004 was seen by critics of the ban to have given the gender ban a stamp of approval.
Mount Athos
Mount Athos (; ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox monasticism.
The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed ...
in Greece, an Orthodox Christian site, maintains a similar female taboo which extends to women as well as female animals.
Tests of courage
There are three ''shugyō'' on Mount Ōmine, each said to strengthen the spiritual power of the challenger. Climbers not wishing to take the tests can easily walk around them.
* Byodo Iwa: The Rock of Equality is only available by special request. It is a rock tower, overlooking a deep cliff. Several projections from the wall allow individuals to cross over to the other side.
* Kanekake Iwa: The Hanging Stone, also known as the Crab Rock due to the position one must take when ascending, is a roughly 30-foot cliff, most of which is easily climbable. However, at the top there is an overhanging rock. To climb the rock, one must swing out over the overhang, using an embedded length of chain to ascend.
* Nishi no Nozoki: The Insight from the West is a sheer cliff, roughly 60 metres high. Novices are held head-first over the cliff, where they are compelled to admit their faults and promise to follow the social and religious laws.
Gallery
Image:Omine1.JPG, A hospice of Ōminesanji Temple
Image:Omine2.JPG, The main gate of Ōminesanji Temple
Image:Omine3.JPG, The main building of Ōminesanji Temple
Image:Omine4.JPG, An entrance of a route to Ōminesanji Temple
Image:Omine5.JPG, Religious objects on a way to Ōminesanji Temple
Image:Omine6.JPG, The top of Mount Sanjō
Image:Omine7.JPG, A stone wall of Mount Sanjō
File:Mount Dainichi and Mount Inamura.jpg, Mount Inamura (Nara)
Image:大峯山龍泉寺本堂.JPG, The main building of Ryūsenji Temple
References
External links
The sacred meets the scared in Japan's Kii MountainsAscetic practice in mountains makes many feel betterZones restricting women's entry narrowing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omine, Mount
Mountains of Nara Prefecture
Sacred mountains of Japan
Mount Omine
Mount Omine
Mount Omine
Shugendō
Omine