The Mount Hiko region has long been an important training ground for yamabushi, itinerant Buddhist monks. Today, other pilgrims on quests of naturalism, heroism or masochism join the white-clad mountain mystics climbing the steep, forested flanks of 1,200-meter Mount Hiko.
Although just a stone's throw from northern Kyushu's expressway sprawl or the former mining town of Tagawa, Mount Hiko in Fukuoka Prefecture is hidden from urban ugliness by its ring of protective mountains. The region has been a mystic retreat for centuries, since Buddhism was first introduced to Japan and Mount Hiko was one of Japan's holiest mountains, in the class of Nikko or Nara's Mount Omine.
Once, according to a sign in the area, 3,800 yamabushi lived here. No women were allowed near the shrine; this ban was lifted in 1800, significantly earlier than similar bans on women on other holy mountains.