Teaching Resources

Akakura Mountain Shrine Rituals

Pilgrimage to Mount Taihei (Taheizan)

Each June, Akakura Mountain Shrine worshippers journey on a two day pilgrimage to Mount Taihei (Taiheizan), a sacred mountain in Akita prefecture (immediately to the south of Aomori prefecture) re-enacting a pilgrimage circuit followed by the shrine foundress. They first stop to pray at Taiheizan Miyoshi Jinja in Akita city, a shrine with which the foundress had close relations. They then ascend Taiheizan mountain (singing "Saigi, Saigi") and sleep on the summit, attending nighttime and dawn services in a beautiful small Shinto shrine on the mountaintop, considered the innermost shrine of Miyoshi Shrine.

Internet Resources on Mt.Taihei

Taihei-zan Prefectural Natural Park

http://www.media-akita.or.jp/akita-nat.-beauty/taiheizan-pnpE.html

SEE:

• Other websites on Sacred Spaces and Sacred Mountains in Japan
• Websites on Sacred Mountains outside of Japan