Dewa Sanzan Sacred Mountains & Mount Haguro National Treasure Pagoda

Category: Sacred Mountain Shugendo Pilgrimage & National Treasure Pagoda | Location: Haguro-machi Touge, Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture

Rising prominently across the historic Shonai coastal basin of western Yamagata Prefecture, the Dewa Sanzan (Three Sacred Mountains of Dewa) encompass one of Japan's most ancient and revered alpine spiritual sanctuaries. Comprising Mount Haguro (414 m), Mount Gassan (1,984 m), and Mount Yudono (1,500 m), this sacred tripartite realm has served for over 1,400 years as the epicentre of Shugendo—a syncretic tradition of mountain asceticism founded in 593 AD by Prince Hachiko. The pilgrimage across the three peaks embodies the mystical 'Journey of Spiritual Rebirth' (Umare-kawari no Tabi): Mount Haguro represents the present mortal world, Mount Gassan symbolizes death and the ancestral past, and Mount Yudono signifies miraculous spiritual rebirth. The accessible year-round threshold to this mystical realm is Mount Haguro. Stepping through the crimson Zuishinmon Gate, travelers descend into a sacred valley along a two-kilometer pilgrimage trail of 2,446 moss-encrusted stone steps. The route is shaded by a magnificent cathedral of over 400 towering cryptomeria cedars aged 350 to 500 years, awarded a coveted Three-Star rating in the Michelin Green Guide Japan. Deep within this primeval forest glade stands the Mount Haguro Five-Story Pagoda (Hagurosan Gojunoto)—a sublime 29-meter unpainted timber masterpiece rebuilt in 1372 by samurai general Fujiwara no Ujinori, recognized as one of Japan's most precious National Treasures. At the summit of Mount Haguro presides the monumental Sanzan Gosaiden shrine, crowned with a massive 2.1-meter-thick thatched roof—the thickest in Japan—enshrining the kami spirits of all three sacred mountains together. Pilgrims and cultural travelers frequently lodge or dine at Saikan, a historic Edo-period monastic temple lodging, to savor traditional Shojin Ryori (sacred Buddhist vegetarian cuisine). This multi-course feast is meticulously prepared from wild mountain vegetables (sansai), Gassan bamboo shoots, local mushrooms, and mountain herbs gathered by ascetic yamabushi priests from the surrounding holy slopes.