My Journey to Dewa Sanzan (The Three Sacred Mountains)

Dewa Sanzan means "Three Mountains of Dewa" and indeed comprises the three sacred mountains of Mt. Haguro (羽黒山), Mt. Gassan (月山) and Mt. Yudono (湯殿山), clustered together in the ancient province of Dewa (modern-day Yamagata prefecture). Holy to the Japanese Shintō religion and especially the mountain ascetic cult of Shugendō. Travelling there is a form of Shugendo in its self. In this video you can see some of the scenery during the train part of the journey. The whole route after you have spend 12 hours on the plane is to take the bullet train from the airport to Tokyo and then take a series of trains to get to Tsuruoka. Its such a hard journey that you may be able to feel my relief as we drive under the shrine gate that designates we have entered the sacred mountians.