Last Updated: Aug 10, 2023

Uketamo (I Accept)

Training with the Dewa Sanzan Yamabushi

Back to nature, back to yourself.

— Yamabushido

Faithful readers, are you anything like me, a hopelessly addicted social media junkie? Have you lost all sense of connection with nature and the real world around you? Upon waking, do you immediately open up the Instagram app to see how many likes your latest selfie got without ever once stopping to contemplate the miracle that is your own life? Do you feel like a manbaby (or whatever the female equivalent is) whose supposed transition into adulthood is little more than an outward charade? If so, then listen up because this is the article for you. You see, though it had long since been on my bucket list, I recently finally had the chance to train with the Yamabushi in the Dewa Sanzan mountains of Yamagata Prefecture. Suffice to say, it was the most transformative experience of my life, bar none.

Before diving into the details, allow me to first provide you with some context on the Yamabushi and their complex “religion” of Shugendo. This way, you can appreciate what’s to come. Essentially a highly syncretic amalgam of esoteric Buddhism, indigenous mountain worship, Shinto and Taoism, Shugendo has roots dating way back to the…