Mount Miwa
| Mount Miwa | |
|---|---|
| 三輪山 | |
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| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 467.1 m (1,532 ft) |
| Coordinates | 34°32′06″N 135°52′00″E / 34.53500°N 135.86667°ECoordinates: 34°32′06″N 135°52′00″E / 34.53500°N 135.86667°E |
| Geography | |
Mount Miwa (三輪山 Miwa-yama) or Mount Mimoro (三諸山 Mimoro-yama) is a mountain located in the city of Sakurai, Nara Prefecture, Japan. It has been an important religious and historical mountain in Japan, especially during its early history, and serves as a holy site in Shinto. The entire mountain is considered sacred, and is home to one of the earliest Shinto shrines, Ōmiwa Shrine. Several burial mounds from the Kofun period can be found around the mountain.
The kami generally associated with Mount Miwa is Ōmononushi (大物主) (Ōmono-nushi-no-kami), a rain kami. However, the Nihon Shoki notes that there was a degree of uncertainly when it came to naming the principal kami of Mount Miwa, but he is often link to Ōkuninushi.
Mount Miwa was first described in the Kojiki as Mount Mimoro (三諸山). Both names were in common use until the reign of Emperor Yūryaku, after which Miwa was preferred. Mimoro has been held to mean something like "august, beautiful" (mi) and "room", or "hall" (moro corruption of muro). The current kanji 三 (mi) and 輪 (wa) are purely phonetic. It has also been written 三和, another a phonetic spelling with the same pronunciation.
Religious worship surrounding Mount Miwa has been deemed the oldest and more primitive of its kind in Japan, dating to pre-history. The very mountain itself is designated sacrosanct, and today's Ōmiwa Shrine still considers the mountain to be its shintai, or kami-body. The kami residing on Mount Miwa was judged the most powerful by the Fujiwara clan, and consequently palaces and roads were built in the vicinity.
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