Spiritual Beliefs and Practices in Dewa Sanzan

At Dewa Sanzan, there is a 100-day seclusion training that is held for only two chosen people every year. This training program involves praying for peace and the happy livelihood of everyone in the region, the country and the world by praying in front of seeds of grains everyday for peace throughout the land, homeland security, abundance in harvests, elimination of epidemics, etc., and sowing these seeds of grains and rice on day 100, which falls on New Year’s Eve, at the “Shorei Festival.” Such tradition of “praying to a food” is deep-rooted and still remains at Dewa Sanzan.

As you go through the Zuijin Gate of Dewa Shrine, you will start climbing down an endless steep stairs. This resembles the process of dying and temporarily falling to hell. After a while, you’ll pass through the Harai River, which represents the Styx that flows between the present life and afterlife, where visitors can purify themselves before heading to the top of Mt. Hagurosan.

The path from the Zuijin Gate to the top of Mt. Hagurosan consists of 2446 stone steps that span roughly 1700 meters, which took 13 years to build in the Edo period. After passing through the cryptomeria forest that’s said to be several hundred years old, and climbing the long and strenuous stone steps for about an hour, you will see the dramatic sight of a gigantic shrine with a thick thatched roof that’s 2.1 meters thick.

The epitome of walking the path to the “Sanjingosaiden Shrine” is to experience a pseudo death from entering the gate, feel grateful to your family and those who took care of you in the past, and experience the process of rebirth. The special rendition for experiencing reincarnation and rebirth along the way is very interesting. This concept of “reincarnation” involves treating all life forms including plants and animals as precious, so that we can link our efforts to the future generations. This idea is also connected to the prayers in the 100-day training of praying for abundant harvests.

*1 - There's a shrine in each mountain. But since the shrines at Mt. Gassan and Mt. Yudonosan close during winter due to high elevation, the Dewa Shrine at the top of Mt. Hagurosan consists of the “Sanjingosaiden Shrine,” which honors the gods of the three mountains together. Nowadays, you can get there by driving through a toll road, but you can also take the traditional path by walking from the Dewa Shrine.

The details of this mountain asceticism practice are top secret. What they do during the training has never been publicized. What we do know, however, is that every trainee always says, “I realized how blessed we were for the things that we take granted for daily.” One of the realizations was regarding food. They only eat twice a day (once in the morning and evening) during the training. It consists of a simple meal of rice, miso soup and two pieces of pickled vegetables. By being able to become fully satisfied with this simplest meal plan after completing hard physical training routines throughout the mountain, they realize how extravagant we live on a daily basis.