Shugen-dō, a Japanese religious tradition combining folk beliefs with indigenous Shintō and Buddhism, to which have been added elements of Chinese religious Taoism. The Shugen-dō practitioner, the yamabushi (literally, “one who bows down in the mountains”), engages in spiritual and physical disciplines in order to attain magical power effective against evil spirits. Mountains, considered in folk religions “other worlds,” were for the esoteric Buddhists training grounds for ascetics.
Shugen-dō flourished during the Heian period (ad 794–1185) and allied itself with the esoteric schools of Buddhism, Tendai, and Shingon. As a “mountain religion,” Shugen-dō emphasized pilgrimages and retreats to sacred mountains. The yamabushi served as guides for pilgrims visiting Yoshino and Kumano, sacred mountains inhabited by Shintō kami (sacred power or gods). In this way the yamabushi helped the spread of Buddhism through northern Japan.
Many Buddhist priests belonging to esoteric traditions regularly spent some time in mountain retreats developing yamabushi techniques, and Shugen-dō practitioners often served as priests of Shintō shrines. This latter practice was discontinued by the Meiji government, which abolished the Shugen-dō in 1872. Three of the religious movements recognized by the Meiji regime under Sect Shintō, as distinguished from the nonreligious and nationalistic State Shintō—the Jikko-kyō, the Fusō-kyō, and the Ontake-kyō—are mountain cults, featuring practices similar to those found in Shugen-dō, such as pilgrimages to sacred mountains.
After 1945, with the establishment of complete religious freedom, some Shugen-dō groups that had survived within Buddhism once more attempted to establish Shugen-dō organizations. However, the membership and influence of Shugen-dō groups are now greatly diminished.