Haguro-san Kaizan Legend

The Haguro-san kaizan legend records the founding of Mount Haguro, the satomiya of the Dewa Sanzan, under Emperor Suiko by Prince Hachiko (Nojo Daishi). Son of Emperor Sushun, Hachiko fled the killing of his father, wandered through the provinces, was aided by Prince Shotoku and reached Dewa, where a three-legged crow (identified with Yatagarasu) guided him to Haguro. On the summit he received the manifestation of Haguro Dai-Gongen and opened the mountain; he went on to open Mount Gassan and Mount Yudono, becoming the founder of the Dewa Sanzan Shugendo. He is said to have entered meditative repose in the mountains at over eighty. The structure has three parts: the killing of the father and the prince's wandering; the help of Prince Shotoku and the guidance of the three-legged crow; and the founding of Haguro and the establishment of the three-mountain Shugendo system. The composite of a wandering noble and a mountain-opening monk is a standard form of Shugendo founding legend. The central sites are the Dewa Sanzan Shrine and the three-deity assembly hall on Mount Haguro, and the Hachiko Shrine, said to be the prince's mausoleum, in Haguro-machi, Toge, Tsuruoka (Yamagata). The summit approach is famed for its cedar avenue and the five-storey pagoda (National Treasure); Minamidani and Arasawa-ji preserve the yamabushi training grounds. With Gassan Jinja in Shonai-machi and Yudono-san Jinja in Tamugimata, Tsuruoka, the three form the Dewa Sanzan Shugendo area, the central mountain-cult precinct of Tohoku. Sources include the medieval Haguro-san Kyuki and Sanzan Gashu, the Edo Dewa Sanzan Engi and Dewa-no-Kuni Fudo-ryakki (1767), and traditions of the Gassan monks; Basho's Oku no Hosomichi (1689) records the three-mountain pilgrimage in literary form. The Dewa Sanzan Shrine records and Yamagata and Tsuruoka cultural-property materials provide further documentation.