Gassan Omonoimi Legend

The Gassan Omonoimi tradition is a mountain-faith tradition compounding Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto enshrined at Mount Gassan, central peak of the Dewa Sanzan, with Omonoimi-no-Kami at neighboring Mount Chokai. Mount Gassan is a sacred mountain enshrining Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto of the Kiki; the Gassan Shrine head shrine sits above the eighth station and, with Yudonosan and Hagurosan, forms the core of Dewa Sanzan Shugen. In Shugendo, Gassan was set as the "moon mountain," the place of the dead, and from the medieval period a "three-pass three-times" practice that placed past, present, and future across the three mountains has been carried out. The story has three stages: the mountain enshrinement of Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto and entry into state rite, the building of Dewa Sanzan Shugen and the formation of the other-world view, and the establishment of the three-mountain combined rite with Haguro and Yudono. Mount Gassan represents the world after death, Mount Yudono represents rebirth, and Mount Hagurosan represents this world; touring the three mountains became the central rite of Shugendo. The combined-rite relation with the Omonoimi-no-Kami of Mount Chokai shows the layered nature of the deity figures of Dewa Province. The center is Mount Gassan (1,984 m), straddling Shonai-machi, Nishikawa-machi, and Tsuruoka in Yamagata, with the Gassan Shrine head shrine at the summit (Dewa Province first shrine). The Dewa Sanzan Shrine at the foot in Toge, Haguro-cho, Tsuruoka, serves as the gateway shrine for the three mountains; with the Yudonosan Shrine in Tamugimata, Tsuruoka, and the Hagurosan Three-Deity Hall, it forms the integrated system of Dewa Sanzan Shugen. With the neighboring Mount Chokai Omonoimi Shrine in Yuza, it is historically deeply linked. The Engishiki Jinmyocho "Dewa Province, Tagawa District, Gassan Shrine, Myojin Dai" notes the ancient rank; Nihon Sandai Jitsuroku and Nihon Montoku Tenno Jitsuroku record advances in divine rank. Medieval Shugendo texts Gassan Kyu-ki and Dewa Sanzan Engi, the Edo-period gazetteer Dewa no Kuni Fudo Ryakki (Meiwa 4, 1767), and Basho's Mount Gassan passage in Oku no Hosomichi carry the tradition.