Towering over the Kanto Plain, the sacred mountain oyama (literally, Big Mountain ) has loomed large over the religious landscape of early modern Japan.

By the Edo period (1600 1868), the revered peak had undergone a transformation from secluded spiritual retreat to popular pilgrimage destination. Its status as a regional landmark among its devotees was boosted by its proximity to the shogunal capital and the wide appeal of its amalgamation of Buddhism, Shinto, mountain asceticism, and folk beliefs. The influence of the oyama cult the intersecting beliefs, practices, and...