This is Part 2 of a 3-part series on Yamagata Prefecture, as part of our Travel & Books focus. You can still listen to Part 1: Samurai, Beef and Bashō.

Content Warning: This podcast episode talks about death and dying.

In this episode, Amy visits Mount Yudono, one of the three sacred mountains of the Dewa Sanzan in Ymagata Prefecture, the Tōhoku region. This mountain has a shrine that is so sacred, those who enter are not allowed to talk about their experience afterwards. Before going into the Yudono Shrine grounds, she asks a Japanese person what the rules are. Once explained, she enters the mountain with her new Japanese guide.

Amy decides to “talk around” the sacred shrine for this episode, and we think you’ll be genuinely surprised at some of the mountain’s secrets, at least the ones we’re allowed to talk about. She introduces Shugendō mountain worship as well as the sokushinbutsu self-mummified monks of the past that have been found among the Dewa Sanzan.

She also reflects on Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi), esoteric Buddhism, the Morning Star Meditation and the Shikoku 88-Temple Pilgrimage and .

Books mentioned:

Living Buddhas: The Self-Mummified Monks of Yamagata, Japan (McFarland & Co., 2010) by Ken Jeremiah

Articles mentioned: 

Diane Neill Tichner’s Sokushinbutsu—Self-Mummification to Attain Buddhahood 

Songs mentioned:

The Sukiyaki Song by Kyu Sakamoto

Shout-outs:

Thanks to Yamagata Experience for their support on my hike to Mount Yudono, Heartland Japan for the Yamagata Onsen Tour and to “Miki” for her interview about Yudono Shrine.