Mount Inunaki is a sacred site of Shugendo and was established six years before Mount Ōmine in Yamato. It remains one of the nation’s leading destinations for ascetics, who still gather here to practice; at Gyōja Falls, you can see Shugendo practitioners standing beneath the cascading water. Mount Inunaki is also known as “Women’s Ōmine,” and many female ascetics practice here as well.
Located in Izumisano City, Inunaki Mountain is known not only for Inunaki Shippō Takiji Temple—Japan’s oldest fundamental Shugendō training center, founded by En no Gyōja approximately 1,300 years ago—but also for its hot spring district.Within the mountain, the “Yamauchi Nijuhachi-shuku” (Twenty-Eight Sacred Sites of Yamauchi) has been developed to allow visitors to tour major training sites, waterfalls, rocks, halls, and shrines, enabling many people to experience Shugendo practices firsthand. Inunaki Mountain is also known as “Onna Ōmine” (Women’s Ōmine) and is famous as a training ground where women can also practice.The name Inunaki Mountain is said to have originated during the reign of Emperor Uda (887–897), when a hunter was targeted by a giant serpent in the mountains; his beloved dog barked furiously and sacrificed itself to protect its master.Along the path leading to Shippōtaki-ji Temple on Mt. Inunaki stands a grave dedicated to the famous dog, Giken.Furthermore, in the hot spring town along the mountain stream at the foot of Inunaki Mountain, you can soothe your mind and body in open-air hot springs while enjoying the unique charms of each season—mountain cherry blossoms in spring, fireflies and the “stag frog” (so named because its call resembles that of a stag) in summer, autumn foliage in fall, and fluttering snow in winter.