Ōmine Okugakemichi


The Ōmine Okugakemichi is a pilgrimage route on the Kii Peninsula in the Kansai region of Japan. It begins in Yanagi-no-shuku, a former ferry station on the Yoshino River in Nara prefecture, leads through the 1200-1900 meter Ōmine mountain region of Yoshino and Kumano in Wakayama Prefecture and ends after about 170 kilometers at the Kumano Hongū Taisha.

Overview

According to tradition, the Ōmine Okugakemichi was established as a training ground for Shugendō, a syncretic religion incorporating aspects of Taoism, Shinto, esoteric Buddhism and traditional Japanese shamanism, by the Asuka period mystic En no Gyōja. It connects Kimpusen-ji in Yoshino district, Nara Prefecture with the Kumano Sanzan in southern Wakayama Prefecture. The route is very rugged and isolated, with a number of demanding sections up to narrow paths on steep slopes and steep climbs on cliffs. Mount Ōmine in the route's name is a specific holy mountain, but originally, the term referred to all of the Yoshino Mountains along the route. Believers took either Kumano or Yoshino as a starting point, depending on their religious orientation. The latter direction has dominated since the Edo period.
Along the route are 75 spiritual places called nabiki in caves, on rocks, at waterfalls, on mountain peaks, etc. are used for prayer or for spiritual exercises. For religious reasons, women have been forbidden to travel most of the route, and Mount Ōmine remains closed to women to this date. The path takes several days to complete, and is mostly wilderness with no settlements, and few possibilities to turn off the path once started.
During the Edo Period, Kishū Domain controlled most of the territory the path traversed, and often viewed Shugendō monks with suspicion. After the Meiji Restoration, Shugendō faced hostility from the Meiji government's separation of Buddhism and Shinto policies, and large portions of the path were lost or reverted to wilderness. In 1936, the area became part of the Yoshino-Kumano National Park, and from the 1980s, amateur historians and hiking groups have worked to restore the trail and to build mountain shelters for hikers and modern Shugendō followers attempting the trail. In 2002, the trail was designated as a National Historic Site, and it was included within the Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2004.

The 75 ''Nabiki''

  1. Yanagi-no-shuku
  2. Jōrokusan
  3. Yoshinosan
  4. Mikumari Jinja
  5. Kinpujinja
  6. Aizen-no-shuku
  7. Nizō-no-shuku
  8. Jōshinmon
  9. Sanjōgatake
  10. Ozasa-no-shuku
  11. Amidagamori
  12. Waki-no-shuku
  13. Fugendake
  14. Shō-no-iwaya
  15. Mirokudake
  16. Chigodomari
  17. Shichiyōdake
  18. Gyōjagaeri
  19. Ichi-no-tawa
  20. Ishiyasumi-no-shuku
  21. Kōbase-no-shuku
  22. Misen
  23. Chōsengatake
  24. Furuimajuku
  25. Hakkyōgatake
  26. Myōjōgatake
  27. Kiku-no-iwaya
  28. Zenji-no-mori
  29. Goko-no-mine
  30. Fune-no-tawa
  31. Shichimensan
  32. Yōji-no-shuku
  33. Busshōgatake
  34. Kujakudake
  35. Kūhachidake
  36. Shakagatake
  37. Totsumon
  38. Jinsen-no-shuku
  39. Shōten-no-mori
  40. Gokakusen
  41. Dainichidake
  42. Senjudake
  43. Futatsuiwa
  44. Sobakusadake
  45. Koike-no-shuku
  46. Chigusadake
  47. Zenkisan
  48. Zenkisanjūtaki
  49. Okumoridake
  50. Komoridake
  51. Hannyadake
  52. Nehandake
  53. Kenkōmon
  54. Jikyō-no-shuku
  55. Heiji-no-shuku
  56. Nuta-no-juku
  57. Gyōsendake
  58. Kasasuteyama
  59. Yarigatake
  60. Shia-no-shuku
  61. Kikugaike
  62. Ogamikaeshi
  63. Kōshōzan
  64. Furuya-no-shuku
  65. Nyoijugadake
  66. Tamakisan
  67. Mizunomi-no-shuku
  68. Kishi-no-shuku
  69. Godaisondake
  70. Kongōtawa
  71. Daigokudake
  72. Fukikoshiyama
  73. Shingū
  74. Nachisan
  75. Hongūtaisha

Literature

  • Morisawa Yoshinobu: Ōmine Okugakemichi 75 nabiki. Nakanishiya Shuppan, 2006 ISBN 4-779-50084-2
  • Shugendō shugyōtaikei hensaniinkai: Shugendō shugyōtaikei. Kokusho kankōkai, 1994 ISBN 4-336-03411-7
  • Swanson, Paul L.: Shugendō and the Yoshino-Kumano Pilgrimage - An Example of Mountain Pilgrimage. In: Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 36, No. 1, S. 55–84.