For those who love to be in nature or off the beaten path, but also want to feel that they are most definitely in Japan, Mt Hiko (aka Hikosan) in the mountains of eastern Fukuoka Prefecture may be just the ticket. The lush mountainsides are home to a number of hiking trails, many developed as part of the ascetic religious practices that have been observed here for centuries. At the same time, the once substantial religious community here has, through the exigencies of time, dwindled to give the area a “lost city” atmosphere that equally inspires the imagination.

In ancient times, the 1,200 meter peak of Hikosan and its two subordinate peaks were regarded as manifestations of three of Shinto’s deities: Izanami and Izanagi (the couple who fished the Japanese islands out of the sea) and their grandson, the progenitor of Japan’s imperial line. During the introduction of Buddhism to Japan, native kami deities were syncretized to Buddhist deities, resulting in gongen (merged) deities. As a result, the three peaks of Hikosan eventually came to be regarded as Senju Kannon (the thousand-armed goddess of mercy), Shaka Nyorai (the Buddha of the present) and Amida Nyorai (the Buddha of the past).

Hikosan’s significance as a site for religious observation prospered with the development of shugendo , the syncretic mountain asceticism that developed in the seventh century as a particular blend of traditional Japanese folk practices with Buddhist rituals. For 12 centuries Hikosan w.