Osorezan

Aomori Things to See

Aomori, Japan Dec. 07 Sat 10:38PM

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Mt. Osore

The Japanese name of Mt. Osore means "Mt. Fear," as the many bubbling springs in the area caused the locals to consider it an entrance to hell.  To this day Mt Osore retains its otherworldly, slightly menacing ,atmosphere. However, it is not simply a place of darkness. Considered one of the three most sacred Buddhist sites in all of Japan, it is seen as a a place to connect with the dead.  For this reason, small Jizo statues, which are thought to guide children safely to the underworld, dot the area, warmly clothed in their red robes.

(WT-en) Jpatokal at English Wikivoyage [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

 

By Japanexperterna.se (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

 

By Japanexperterna (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

 

For this reason, the mountain is a place of comfort as well as fear, or rather, or place for people to confront death in a comforting manner.

The silence of the landscape is interrupted by the sound of the area's many windmills, planted in the ground by grieving parents, as well as running water.

By Mukasora (talk) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7187642

 

Like those twirling windmills, Mt. Osore is a place of both sadness and beauty, and is certainly worth visiting for the traveller interested in sacred Buddhist sites. 

 

Banner by Herry Lawford from Stockbridge, UK - Cropped from Osorezan, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39408107

 


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