A Site for Purifying the Six Roots of Perception and Healing the Six Senses~Japan’s Most Dangerous National Treasure and a World-Famous Radon Hot Spring~

Mount Mitoku features a characteristic landscape that interweaves steep topography used as the training ground for mountain asceticism, with architecture which displays the syncretic fusion of Shintoism and Buddhism in its design and structure. The solemnity of the mountain has continued to inspire awe for 1000 years. Misasa Onsen serves as a place where visitors can purify their body and mind before a pilgrimage to Mount Mitoku. According to a local legend, the hot spring was introduced to a traveler on a pilgrimage to the mountain by a white wolf. 900 years after its discovery, Misasa Onsen continues to maintain close ties to the religious beliefs at Mount Mitoku. Current visitors purify their six roots of perception (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind) through a religious pilgrimage to the mountain’s sheer cliff, and come to embody a unique world through the healing of their six senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and spirit) at the therapeutic springs.