These pictures are of the Hahakodou (母公堂) on Mt. Oomine. Oominesan is a mountain sacred to Shugendou, a Shinto-Buddhist syncretic folk practice closely linked to esoteric Shingonshuu (Mantra Buddhism). Shugendou practicioners put on a special outfit fraught with Buddhist symbols and enter a mountain. In the old days they would spend an entire winter inside a cave on the mountain then return to the village, which was thought to imbibe in them the power of the sacred mountain. These days they tend to do pilgrimages. The founder of Shugendou was En-no-Gyouja, who climbed Oominesan for a long stay. His mother was worried about him and stayed at the bottom of the mountain to wait for him to return. This is a shrine to her.
This is the approach to the mountain itself. You see here a Shinto torii (gate) without a shrine behind it. That's quite an unusual sight. Viewed properly you can see a mountain through the gate. The mountain itself is being enshrined as sacred.
Oominesan is off limits to women as part of a 1300-year-old tradition of physical separation from worldly desires. Helen Hardacre thinks that this means shugenja consider women's bodies "impure". She also happens to be a feminist blowhard. Probably women deserve their own mountain at this point, since today more women than men come to train in the Oominesan area, but the mountain is still owned by the Shingon and Tendai sects and it is a sort of natural monastery. In any case, we did not proceed any further up the mountain, and instead took a forest trail along the artesian river.
We walked for about half an hour, and time passed very quickly. The beauty of the riverside was spectacular, as is almost everything in Japan. We found a toad. We found some waterfalls. But the real surprise awaited us at the end of the path. Brian-sensei called us into a slapped-together wooden building on the side of the highway. Inside were some chairs bolted down to metal, and helmets. We were to sit in the chairs and be pulled up to an almost vertical mountain on a thin metal track.
"Cheap monorail," explained our guide.
Some of my friends back at home would have opted out of this death trap, but we were all hardy explorers and took the route of adventure. At the top of the cheap monorail was a cave with lots of pretty colors and Buddha statues. It was much like a cave I went to with my dad in southern France.
At the bottom of the hill there were some taps where people could fill up their water from the artesian spring for free. Several minivans were always coming and going, and never with industrial-sized jugs; always with water coolers or even a box of empty Pocari Sweat bottles. This is quite a common thing in Japan-- I saw it in Oita-ken as well.
We rode back into town, but almost immediately we were out on another adventure, somehow even crazier than the monorail and cave. We put on geta (Japanese sandals) and pilgrim clothing and walked down the street to a perilous waterfall inside a Shingon temple. We were to duplicate the shugendou practice, often seen in anime and kung fu movies, of standing under the waterfall for concentration. What would make it difficult is that we had to repeat a mantra while standing there. Brian-sensei assured us that we would forget the mantra quite quickly.
When I stood under there, I did indeed forget it quickly. I chanted louder than most of my mates, but I got out of there a lot quicker, too. I felt if I stood under that waterfall any longer I would start to cry. I was wobbly when I got out and had to lean on the wall for support. It's something I would like to do again.
We missed the biggest festival of Oomine town by one day. In preparation the Shingon temple was making mochi to throw at the villagers. They also gave a speech but it was not interesting. I did learn that there is a group of feminists in Japan who climb Oominesan from time to time, but it is not a regular occurrence.
The next morning, after a hearty Japanese breakfast, I walked around the town a little, and found cute things. I received a packet of local stomach medicine, which the site coordinator told me was very rare and very good for any stomach ailment. If it is so good why don't they sell it across the country? It's not like it would go bad... Japan is very interesting...
We then took off down a little-used mountain road to Kouyasan (高野山) where we spent the entire day. And what can I say about Kouyasan? Geez! That merits its own post.
edit: Omine town provides a live webcam so you can see if anyone is using the free artesian taps or insanely dangerous tram. Click the buttons 1 through 8 to see the different things available at the roadside. It is more up-to-date than any picture I could provide!
