Mt. Iwaki

(see Immortal Wishes, pp. 32-35)

In many respects,the three-peaked Mt. Iwaki, a great volcanic cone arising out of the southern Tsugaru plain, dominates the Tsugaru popular religious imagination.

The mainstream Iwaki Mountain Shrine (Iwakiyama Jinja) is located at the base of the southern slope of the mountain.

The northeast section of Mt. Iwaki is considered to be its own sacred mountain, "Akakura", and is also seen as having three peaks (less discernible to the untrained eye). These rugged slopes are the sites of many small-scale unorthodox and alternative shrines, many of them associated with kamisama spirit mediums. One of these is Akakura Mountain Shrine, the subject of the book "Immortal Wishes"