Mountain Gods () are Asian

tutelary deities A tutelary (; also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety and ...

associated with mountains. They are related to landlord deities and tudigongs and City Gods. They are well-known in Korea and some prominent Chinese mountains have shrines to similar deities in the

Daoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...

traditions, called ''Shanshen''. The Japanese equivalent is the '' Yama-no-Kami'' (; also pronounced as ''yamagami'') and the Vietnamese equivalent is ). Houtu is the overlord of all the Tudigongs ("Lord of Local Land"), Sheji ("the State"), Shan Shen ("God of Mountains"), City Gods ("God of Local City"), and landlord gods worldwide.

China

In China, legends about ''Shanshen'' () have a long history. The Classic of Mountains and Seas (), which was written more than 2,000 years ago, has already recorded various legends about ''Shanshen''; specifically the Wuzang Shanjing () part contains a detailed description of the appearance of the mountain gods. The Taiping Guangji () also contains the story of Dayu, who imprisoned the Shangzhang clan and the Dulu clan, among other ''Shanshen''. Ancient Chinese people worshipped mountains by deifying them. From the ''Shanshen'''s title to see the mountain god worship is extremely complex, all kinds of ghosts and spirits are attached to the mountain. Eventually, the names and differences of the various ghosts and spirits disappeared, or they merged with each other. It evolved into a situation where the main peaks of each region were inhabited by personalised ''Shanshens''. According to the Law of Sacrifices in the

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

classic Book of Rites, "the mountains, forests, valleys and hills, which can produce clouds, provide wind and rain, and see monsters, are all called gods." When Emperor Yu and Shun had the sacrificial system of "looking at the mountains and rivers, all over the gods", legend has it that Shun had a tour of Mount Tai, Mount Heng, Mount Hua and Mount Heng. Successive generations of the Son of Heaven Zen carry out sacrifices to heaven and earth, and also to the gods of the mountains. Most of the mountain sacrifices were made with jade and jade buried in the ground, and there were also the sacrificial methods of "casting" and "hanging", whereby offerings of chickens, goats, pigs or jade were thrown into the valleys or hung in the treetops. The deities of the Five Sacred Mountains of China are collectively known as ''Wuyue Dadi'' zh">:zh:五嶽大帝">zh(, lit. Great Kings of the Five Sacred Mountains): * Chidi of Mount Heng (South Mountain) * Dongyue Emperor of

Mount Tai Mount Tai () is a mountain of historical and cultural significance located north of the city of Tai'an. It is the highest point in Shandong province, China. The tallest peak is the ''Jade Emperor Peak'' (), which is commonly reported as being t ...

(East Mountain) * Heidi of Mount Heng (North Mountain) * Huangdi of Mount Song (Center Mountain) * Xiyue Dadi of Mount Hua (West Mountain)

Other mountain deities

* Lishan Laomu, the goddess of Mount Li *

Yaoji Yaoji (), is a Chinese gods and immortals, Chinese goddess of Wu Gorge, Wu Mountain. A shaman and master herbalist, Yaoji is responsible for the presence of many medicinal herbs on Earth. She is a protective weather goddess who raises and soothes ...

, the goddess of

Wu Mountains Wuxia Gorge (), sometimes called Great Gorge (), is the second gorge of the Three Gorges system on the Yangtze River, People's Republic of China. Formed by the Wu River, it stretches from Wushan to Guandukou, and is located downstream of ...

Korea

''Sanshin'' or ''Sansin'' () are local mountain-spirits in

Korean Shamanism Korean shamanism, also known as () is a religion from Korea. Religious studies, Scholars of religion classify it as a folk religion and sometimes regard it as one facet of a broader Korean vernacular religion distinct from Buddhism, Taoism, Dao ...

and folk-beliefs. In South Korea, most

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhism, Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat, khurul and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in B ...

s and major Shamanic-shrines, and some traditionalist villages, have a dedicated shrine called a ''sanshin-gak'' () or an altar called a ''sanshin-dan'' dedicated to the local ''sanshin''. This nature-deity is typically represented in the enshrined icons (paintings and/or statues) as an elder male (in rare cases, mature female) figure in royal-Confucian clothing, always accompanied by at least one

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

and a Korean Red Pine tree. There are many other symbols being held by the Sanshin, offered to him by servants or in the backgrounds of the more elaborate paintings, derived from Oriental

Daoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

Neo-Confucianism Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a moral, ethical, and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, which originated with Han Yu (768–824) and Li Ao (772–841) i ...

, shamanic-folklore and Korean "spiritual-ethnic nationalism"—making these multi-religious icons unique in the entire world.Prof. David A. Mason maintains a gigantic website about Korean Sanshin Mountain-spirits, at http://san-shin.org/ The ''Sanshin'' faith is interpreted in the folk scene as a belief devoted to the mountain gods. The mountain's beauty, its mystery, and the perceived shape that soars toward the sky are combined to inspire mountain worship on an emotional level. The upper mountain slopes, cliffs and peaks are seen as is the realm of the spirits and the places to communicate with them and attain visions or enlightenment. The faith that the mountain is believed-in as a mystical body that provides abundance and protection is very ancient in all Korea, and continues today in public or private Sanshin-je (mountain-spirit ceremonies) Seonang-gut (tutelary-deity rituals). When the mountain is located between

Heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

and the earth where human beings live, and serves as a link between those two worlds, it is believed to be a representation of the universal world mountain, thought by traditional religions like

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

and

Geomancy Geomancy, a compound of Greek roots denoting "earth divination", was originally used to mean methods of divination that interpret geographic features, markings on the ground, or the patterns formed by soil, rock (geology), rocks, or sand. Its d ...

to rise at the center of the world. There are particular shamanic-folklore individual Sanshins, such as Eunje-san Seongmo (), who is the wife of ''Namhae Yong-wang'' or Dragon King of the South Sea, ''Jiri-san Seongmo Cheonwang'' () or Exquisite-Wisdom Mountain Holy-Mother Heaven-king, and ''Mireuk Sanshin Halmi'' () or Future-Buddha Mountain-spirit Grandma, to name just a few. Such deities are officially sanctioned symbols of

Korean reunification Korean reunification is the hypothetical unification of North Korea and South Korea into a singular Korean sovereign state. The process towards reunification of the peninsula while still maintaining two opposing regimes was started by the Ju ...

, and are possibly moving towards being used as symbols of environmental preservation

Japan

Yama-no-Kami () is the name given to a

kami are the Deity, deities, Divinity, divinities, Spirit (supernatural entity), spirits, mythological, spiritual, or natural phenomena that are venerated in the traditional Shinto religion of Japan. ''Kami'' can be elements of the landscape, forc ...

of the mountains of the

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

religion of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. These can be of two different types. The first type is a god of the mountains who is worshipped by hunters, woodcutters, and charcoal burners. The second is a god of

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

who comes down from the mountains and is worshipped by farmers. This kami is generally considered as a goddess, or a female deity. A Kannabi is often associated with Mountain Gods. It is a natural area including a mountain which acts as a Shintai for a Kami.

List of Japanese mountain gods

Yama-no-Kami appearing in Japanese mythology include: *Hara-Yamatsumi () *Ha-Yamatsumi () * Konohanasakuya-hime (), the wife of

Ninigi-no-Mikoto is a deity in Japanese mythology. (-no-Mikoto here is an honorific title applied to the names of Japanese gods; Ninigi is the specific god's name.) Grandson of the sun goddess Amaterasu, Ninigi is regarded according to Japanese mythology as the ...

and great-grandmother of Emperor Jimmu. * Shirayama-hime (), the goddess of

Mount Haku , or Mount Hakusan (commonly referred to as simply Hakusan), is a dormant stratovolcano in Japan. It is located on the borders of Gifu and Ishikawa, on the island of Honshu. Mount Haku is thought to have first been active 300,000 to 400,000 y ...

san.''Shirayama Hime Shrine history compilation committee edition'' "Hakusan Faith illustration" (Shirayama Hime Shrine, 2003)''Emperor Keishinkai Digital Collection'', National Diet Library "Kokuzai Chusha Hakusanjo Shrine" "National Famous Shrine Photographs," Imperial Keishinkai, December 1922 .''Morokami Divine Festival Deity Dictionary'' pp. 446-447 "Shirayama Hime Shrine"''Shinto Encyclopedia Volume One'' piece 264 (original 455 pages) Kukurihimenomomikoto　Kikurihime/ref> *Kura-Yamatsumi () * Ōyamatsumi (), the father of Konohanasakuya-hime. *Masaka-Yamatsumi () *Odo-Yamatsumi () *Oku-Yamatsumi () * Omonoimi no Kami () of Mount Chōkai. * Ōmononushi of Mount Miwa. * Oyamakui no Kami (), the god of Mount Hiei. *Shigi-Yamatsumi () *To-Yamatsumi ()

Vietnam

Some of the most popularly worshiped mountain deities in Vietnam * Bà Chúa Xứ, the goddess of Sam Mountain * Bà Đen, the goddess of Black Virgin Mountain * Bà Rá, the goddess of Bà Rá Mountain * Mẫu Thượng Ngàn * Tản Viên Sơn Thánh, Thần Cao Sơn and Thần Quý Minh, the gods of Ba Vì mountain range

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mountain God Japanese deities Japanese folk religion Nature deities Shinto kami Mountain gods Korean mythology Mountain faith Tutelary deities Vietnamese deities