Hihumi123

22/03/2026

🐦‍🔥The origins of Horaijisan (Mt. Horaiji)🐦‍🔥Part 2

A tale based on the legend of Horaijisan
Horaijisan is often called a protected mountain.

Do you know why?

There are several versions of this story,
so I’d like to share it here with a little of my own interpretation 🙏⛰️👹✨💚

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○
After choosing Horaijisan as his home,
Rishu Sennin
spent his days in quiet spiritual practice together with the oni.

He listened to the wind moving through the mountain,and sometimes warmed himself in the hot springs at Yuyaonsen.
Balancing both body and spirit,
he lived peaceful days alongside the oni and the people of the nearby villages.

Then one day,
news arrived from the capital.

Emperor Monmu had fallen gravely ill.

Rishu Sennin was seen off by the oni,
and riding upon a phoenix,
he departed into the sky above Horaijisan.

Over mountains,
over rivers, and across the open sky
Rishu Sennin journeyed toward the distant capital.

At last he arrived,
and through prayer and the power of Chinese medicinal herbs,
it is said that he healed the emperor.

In honor of this great deed,
a temple was later built on this mountain
the temple now known as Horaiji.

In time,
the moment came for Rishu Sennin to depart once more.
Before leaving, he said to the oni,

“Please protect this mountain.”

The oni nodded and entrusted themselves to the mountain.

“This mountain… we will protect.”

It is said that beneath the Hondo,
like pillars supporting the mountain itself,
the oni continue to quietly watch over it.

And even today,
Horaijisan is said to remain protected
together with the promise of the oni.
○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○

Even today at Horaijisan,
it’s said the oni still support the mountain,
the dragon watches over the waters,
and phoenix soar quite y above the mountain.

So when you visit Horaijisan,
Try pausing for a moment….
And listen carefully.

satoyama

18/03/2026

🐦‍🔥The origins of Horaijisan (Mt. Horaiji)🐦‍🔥
A tale based on the legend of Horaijisan -Part 1 -

Horaijisan is often called a protected mountain.

Do you know why?

There are several versions of this story,
so I’d like to share it here with a little of my own interpretation 🙏⛰️👹✨💚

○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○○
Long, long ago,
before the mountain became a temple like it is today, this story began.

It was a time when nature and spiritual powers were close to one another.
A dragon ruled over the waters,
and a phoenix was said to soar through the sky.

In those days, three oni lived on this mountain.
They were known as Taro, Jiro, and Saburo 👹👹👹

The oni were incredibly strong.
They could move great rocks, topple trees,
and even shake the mountain itself.
But little by little, that great strength began to disturb the mountain.

The forests, the rivers, and even the lives of the people who lived nearby were affected by their power.

The oni never meant to hurt anyone.
They simply did not know how their strength should be used.
Then one day, a wandering ascetic named
Rishu Sennin arrived at the mountain.

Rishu Sennin was a devotee of Yakushi Nyorai,
the Buddha known for healing illness and saving people.
Rishu Sennin chose this mountain as a place for spiritual practice.

Rather than fighting the oni,
Rishu Sennin listened quietly to the voice of the mountain and to the stories of the oni themselves.

Then he spoke to them gently:
“Why not use your strength
not to destroy,
but to protect?”

His words carried no anger and no fear.
And something in them moved the hearts of the oni.

From that day on, the oni became the guardians of Mount Horaiji, and it is said that the mountain slowly returned to a peaceful and gentle place once again.

16/03/2026

Guided tours and unique experiences in Central Japan, well off the beaten track.
See what you just can’t see at sights full of tourists and the big cities! We’ll help you to discover what makes Japan Japan, unique experiences that you’ll never forget.
Get in touch to get your chance to really understand this beautiful country.

11/03/2026

Yesterday we had a day trip to Daigoji Temple near Kyoto, to visit the quiet and historic Kami-Daigo (upper Daigo) temples on top of the mountain, where the Daigo branch of the Shingon sect of esoteric Buddhism started over 1,000 years ago. The Daigo branch is really close to Shugendo and Yamabushi (mountain monk) culture, and up on the mountain it’s easy to see why it mixed so well. Kami-Daigo is a very quiet place that isn’t very open for tourism, but I feel it helped it to feel more real and powerful.

The climb through the forest was nice, and we could listen to our horagai (conch horn) sound echo around the mountains where people have heard horagai echos for centuries. It’s not a destination we can recommend for everyone, but the lower part of Daigo-ji is beautiful and great for anyone looking for beautiful temples!

23/02/2026

Yesterday we had an amazing day out on a day trip we’ve been thinking about for a while. Tomiyama used to be Japan’s smallest self-governing village, and unfortunately it has been hit hard by depopulation (and the fact that most young people can’t make a living in the countryside). The village is so deep in the mountains it’s up in the very corner of the prefecture, and to reach it by train you end up coming from the next prefecture over, but the fact it has a train station nearby is incredible! Tomiyama is now part of Toyone Village, the Oku (deep) of Okumikawa.

It has a unique culture and feel because the village hangs off the side of the huge mountains and is so deep up the Tenryu River, so we really want to try and help it get the attention it deserves!

On a weekday it’s a very sleepy village with nothing open, making it an easy place to really relax in the scenery, and on a weekend it’s possible to get some amazing food and have a soak in the onsen. It’s all doable as a day trip using the train so it has to be one of the most convenient deep mountain locations in Japan.

We had some great experiences with locals and visitors on the day, and playing the horagai at the Shrine and hearing it echo so long was amazing.

Stay tuned for more about Tomiyama in the future…

10/02/2026

08/02/2026

On Saturday we had another great day, showing our guests some countryside life and the great things we have in Okumikawa. At our village we made the local flavour of gohei mochi, and enjoyed it with the views from our house. Then we enjoyed the true tase of green tea at a green tea ceremony, with locally made sweets. The tea was local too, from just over the mountain.

At night we visited the Yuyaonsen Hanamatsuri where you can see some of the mix of Buddhism and Shinto that still exists here, and there’s always fun chaos.

It was a great day! We’re so grateful for our guests for giving us the opportunity to share these things! 🙏

06/02/2026

We had a great today with our guests at Horaijisan! We managed to fit two experiences in today’s tour, making bamboo Yamabushi horns and sutra copying to get a temple seal the old-fashioned way.

It’s great to see Toyohashi calligraphy brushes (made nearby) used with inkstones from Horaiji to copy sutras, it feels so right!

Even though it’s too dry and hasn’t rained for a long time, the atmosphere at Horaijisan was amazing and green as always. We can’t wait for rain! Maybe we need a special ceremony to ask Kujyaku-myo (Alex’s favourite Buddhist god) for rain…

By the way, follow for updates and things about what’s happening at Horaijisan!

03/02/2026

Today we visited the Fudomyo waterfall near Yuyaonsen! We’re having a severe rain shortage at the moment, so there’s no water 😅 This rocky area only really has water just after rain anyway. The cliff is huge! And the Fudomyo statue is quite big too.

Fudomyo is the favourite Buddhist god of many Yamabushi mountain monks, he’s one that we love to introduce on our tours too!

Maybe someday we can do waterfall training here…

28/01/2026

Together with Myozenin Temple in nearby Gamagori ( ), we’ve put together a new experience that’s really something special for anyone wanting to really get hands on with Japanese Buddhism! This is brand new, so more details to come soon.

After an introduction to the temple and the basics of esoteric Buddhism, prepare your wishes for the goma ceremony in the Myozenin style 🔥. After the goma ceremony, take turns on the taiko drum and learn a chant to experience what we call the ‘heavy metal of Buddhism.’ (There’s only one drum, but everyone else can play shakujyo instruments while they wait their turn.)

More details are to come, but a discount is available for the first time we run the experience, so get in touch if you’re interested!

05/01/2026

Around new years is a busy time for everyone, and there’s so many festivals/ceremonies! We love to go to matsuri on tours when we can, but even if we can’t, our guests leave our tours with a new understanding of Japanese spiritual culture that helps them understand matsuri they see when they have the chance.
The Hanamatsuri museum in Toei Town is an extra special chance to discover Hanamatsuri even if someone visits outside of Hana season. We’re also working on a couple of VERY special on-demand ceremony experiences this year…

We went to so many events around new years that this post doesn’t even have them all 😅.

18/12/2025

Get access to the kind of tiny Japanese village you see from buses and trains but can never (respectfully) visit! On our Atera Countryside Life tour we will show you what life is like here, and share some of the countryside culture with included experiences.

Each season is totally different, so there’s always something to see and show! On top of that, we think our village has some of the best views around… but there’s some heavy bias there.

If you’re interested, get in touch or check out our website from our profile!