What Water Represents in Shugendo: Purification and Renewal

It’s not hard to see why June is traditionally known as the month of water, Minazuki, in Japanese. By now, the snow on the mountains is melting away, most of the rice fields are inundated, the hydrangeas are blooming, the frogs are croaking, and Tsuyu, the rainy season, is (usually) just beyond the horizon.

During yamabushi shugyo (training), water represents a ritualistic cleansing. We collect impurities simply by living our daily lives, and water, such as in waterfall meditation, literally and figuratively helps us refresh. This is exactly why you always wash your hands and rinse out your mouth before entering any sacred area in Japan.

In a somewhat more extreme example, the Haraigawa River at the base of Haguro-san translates to ‘the river of purification’, or even ‘exorcism river’. In what is known as Misogi, in olden times at least, the custom was to purify yourself of impurities in the frigid water before even being permitted to head up the sacred mountains.

If you’re looking for the chance to truly refresh, the chance to rid yourself of the impurities of the last few years, we couldn’t think of a better way than through yamabushi shugyo on the Dewa Sanzan mountains.