What is the purpose of Yamabushi training?

Yamabushi from the Yamabushido Team return from the Akinomine Autumn's Peak Ritual last night.

‘The purpose of yamabushi training is yamabushi training.’

- Master Hoshino.

While this may seem paradoxical at first, the more you do yamabushi training, the more you realize it isn’t. We do yamabushi training to do yamabushi training. 

Yamabushi training is a slow process. The way you enter the mountains, the way you walk, the way you chant, everything is deliberate. There is purpose in every movement, and there is purpose in every moment. 

And that’s all the purpose you need.

However, this doesn’t stop the oft-asked question ‘what is the purpose of yamabushi training?’ 

Well, you may not notice it while on the mountains. 

You may not notice it when you come down. 

You may not notice it even in the weeks or months after. 

But one day, you will.

In the way you respond to difficulty. 

In the quiet way you let things go.

In the way you move forward. 

That’s when you’ll know: Uketamo has seeped in. Meaning 'I accept', Uketamo is not an instant gratification kind of thing. Uketamo sneaks up on you. It absorbs you. 

At first it’s performative. You do it because the other yamabushi tell you to. Yet over time, Uketamo becomes reflexive, you live it without even realizing.

If there were to be a purpose to Yamabushi training, it would be this:

Uketamo, unbound.

Want to experience this for yourself?Join us on the mountains, and let Uketamo begin to seep in.