Cultural Assets－Sutra Mounds

From Kami-iwaze, go up Sainokamidani Valley (guarded by the deity Sai no Kami) to reach Mt. Kyozuka in Iwaze. Sutra mound #18 is on the summit. You’ll find several stone monuments there. One marks the sutra mound, while another commemorates past Shugendo leaders. Mt. Kyozuka is mentioned in the Katsurei-zakki (a guidebook on Katsuragi Shugen published in 1850) as being sutra mound #18. That’s how visitors today treat it. But conflicting records suggest that, up until the early 17th century, sutra mound #18 was actually at Hashiramoto on the Kimi-toge Pass in Hashimoto, Wakayama Prefecture. Like sutra mound #18, the sutra mounds and training sites of the Katsuragi Shugen change their location with the times.