Mount Daisen

Daisen (大山, Daisen), is a volcanic mountain located in Tottori Prefecture, Japan. It has an elevation of 1,729 metres. This mountain is the highest in the Chūgoku region, and the most important volcano on the Daisen volcanic belt. The Daisen volcanic belt is a part of Southwest Honshū volcanic arc, where the Philippine Plate is subducting under the Eurasian Plate.

Outline

Daisen is a Complex volcano, which was made by repeated volcanic activity over thousands of years. Eruptions in this area started 1.8 million years ago and resulted in Old Daisen somme 500,000 years ago. The Daisen of today, New Daisen resulted from a second group of eruptions which started 50,000 years ago and ended 10,000 years ago in the caldera of Old Daisen. 50,000 years ago, this mountain had aplinian eruption from which volcanic ash can be found as far away as the Tohoku Region of Japan. This mountain is one of the 100 famous mountains in Japan, and also one of the Chūgoku 100 mountains.

History and Religion

Daisen, which stands directly on the Sea of Japan, was regarded as one of the most important mountain for Japanese Shugendo. According to the Izumo Kokudo Fudoki, completed in 733, this mountain was called Ōkami-take, literally, Mountain of the great god.

Daisen has been called Hōki Fuji and Izumo Fuji depending on which which side of the mountain the viewer is standing on. These names are based on the old Hōki and Izumo provinces^[1].

In the middle of the mountain, there is a Buddhist temple, called Daisen-ji. This temple has existed as a centre of worship since the Heian Period. The temple was founded by the Tendai sect in 718^[1].

Climbing the mountain used to be severely prohibited without a selected monk of Daisen-ji and common people could not access the mountain until the Edo Period.

The mountain has also been important to the mountain ascetics of the Shugendō sect. Just above the temple is the Ōgamiyama Jinja, literally, shrine of the mountain of the great god^[1].

Route

After the Great Tottori Earthquake in 2000, some of Daisen's peaks are on the verge of collapse. It is prohibited to ascend the mountains highest peak, the Kengamine (1,729 metres (5,673 ft)). Climbers are able to access the Misen Peak (1,709.4 metres (5,608 ft))^[2]. The most popular route is from Daisen-ji to the Misen Peak. It takes three hours to reach the summit.

Reference

^ ^a ^b ^c Paul Hunt, Hiking in Japan: An Adventurer's Guide to the Mountain Trails, pg 73
^ "伯耆大山" (in Japanese). Geographical Survey Institute. 2008. Retrieved 2008-07-21.

Geographical Survey Institute
Paul Hunt, Hiking in Japan: An Adventurer's Guide to the Mountain Trails, Tokyo, Kodansha International Ltd., 1988. ISBN 0-87011-893-5 and ISBN4-7700-1393-0 C0075