A hell tour, tower of stones and colorful pinwheels etc…and there’s smell of sulfur is drifting around. Mt. Osore(Oserezan) of Aomori is so amazing!

At the northern end of the main island, Shimokita Peninsula, that Aomori Prefecture is located, there is a sacred place called “Mt.Osore (Osorezan)” where souls of the dead will gather. It was opened about 1,200 years ago. There is no single mountain called “Mt.Osore”, but this is a generic name for the eight mountains surrounded Lake Usoriyama and lake itself.

In Buddhism, it is said that the souls of dead cross the Styx and enter the world after death called Anoyo (next world). There are places named as “Sanzu no Kawa (the Styx)”, “Jigoku (the Hell)” and “Gokuraku (the Paradise)” in Mt.Osore. Also, the smell of sulfur is filled the whole neighborhood of Mt.Osore, so the atmosphere and scenery is just like “the world after death”.

The red arched bridge crossed over the Styx (Sanzu no Kawa) is the entrance of Mt.Osore (Osorezan). The Styx (Sanzu no Kawa) has been considered a legendary river at the boundary between the real world and the world after death for long time. It is said that good people can cross the bridge, but bad people cannot cross the bridge and they have to cross the river by themselves.
In Mt.Osore, people call Shozu River flowing from Lake Usoriyama as the Styx.

There is a place called “Sai no Kawara(Children’s Limbo)” around Lake Usoriyama. In Children’s Limbo(Sai no Kawara), children who died earlier than their parents without doing filial duty are piling stones up while apologizing to their parents. When the tower of stones is completed, those children are released, but since the demon comes and breaks the tower, it is said that they have to pile stones forever.

There is a hot spring in Mt.Osore (Osorezan). There are 4 hot spring huts and you can take a bath for free if you pay the entrance fee of the mountain. All hot springs are 100% free-flowing hot spring.
You can find 3 hot spring huts immediately after entering the temple gate, but the other one is located in the right in back and behind the hospice. It is also out of the route to go worship, so it may be a little confusing.
Originally, hot spring huts was a facility to take a hot bath to purify oneself before the worship, and everyone took bath at there in the past.

The hot-spring hut in the outskirts of the mountain is a mixed bath

Speaking of Mt.Osore (Osorezan), “Itako’s Kuchiyose (spiritualism by shaman)” is popular. Blind shrine maiden (spiritualist) called Itako tells the voice of dead such as ancestors, family members and close friends to people left behind. Itako is not permanently stationed at Mt.Osore, but they enters the mountain during “Osorezan Taisai Festival” which will be held from July 20 to 24 every year, and “Aki Mairi(worship in autumn)” to be held in three consecutive holidays in early October. There used to be 300 of Itako in the past, but now, there are less than 10 of them.

The white sand beach on the lake side of Lake Usoriyama is “Gokuraku hama (paradise beach)”. This is the location that when you cross the Styx (Sanzu no Kawa), and go further, there will be the paradise. The lake is abnormally transparent because the volcanic gas dissolves into the water and level of acidic range is high. It is a lake where almost no living things inhabit.

Access to Mt. Osore (Osorezan)

It takes about 3 hours from JR Tokyo Station to JR Hachinohe Station by Tohoku Shinkansen. Transfer to the Aoimori Railway Line at JR Hachinohe Station and it takes about 1 hour to get to Aoimori Railway Noheji Station. Transfer to JR Ominato Line at Aoimori Railway Noheji Station, 1 hour to JR Shimokita Station. Get off at JR Shimokita Station and from JR Shimokita Station it takes about 40 minutes by local bus to Mt.Osore (Osorezan.)