Matsuo Basho

In the year 1689, haiku poet Matsuo Basho departed Edo on what would be a two-year journey to the north of Japan. The collection of prose and travel verse inspired by the excursion yielded 奥の細道, or Narrow Road to the Interior. Basho spent a week at Mt. Haguro at Minamitani, or South Valley, at a temple no longer existing.

Path to South Valley

South Valley, where Basho spent a week in 1689

(Some of) The 2446 Steps

Pics from Haguro

Yamabushi Pilgrim

Photos from Mt. Haguro

Zuishinmon Gate

Shrines and Cryptomeria

Mt. Haguro

Mt. Haguro, located on the outskirts of Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture, is sacred to shugendo, a belief system which is perhaps best described as an amalgam of Buddhism, Shinto, and ancient Japanese beliefs. Practitioners, or yamabushi, believe in the restorative and regenerative power of nature and of mountains in particular. Mt. Gassan and Mt. Yudono, both nearby, form a holy mountain trinity with Haguro known collectively as Dewa Sanzan, the three mountains of Dewa, the old provincial name of the prefecture. Pilgrimages undertaken to the area to experience renewal and rebirth- 生まれかわりの旅, as a sign above the entrance to the local culture museum puts it- begin at Haguro, which represents one's present life. The next stop on the pilgrimage route is Mt. Gassan, the highest of the group, signifying the past, with Mt. Yudono (the future) the last.

Sanjingosaiden Shrine, Mt. Haguro, and the largest thatch roof in Japan