SHUGENDŌ is a distinctive Japanese tradition combining both indigenous and imported traditions, particularly Buddhism, and featuring the mastery of magical and ritual techniques to be practiced in and around sacred mountains. The name Shugendō means literally "the way [dō] of mastering [shu] extraordinary religious power [gen]"; the connection with sacred mountains is not included in the term but is implicit. Practitioners were called shugenja, "persons [ja] who master extraordinary religious power," but the more common name by which they have been known is yamabushi, "those who sleep [or lie down, bushi] in the mountains [yama]"—in other words, those who make mountains their home. Shugendō arose in part out of the ancient Japanese tradition of sacred mountains, but also features some Taoist influence, and especially ritual, divinities, symbolism, and doctrine from Buddhism.

Although Shugendō groups trace their origin to the late seventh- and early...