S P O T ／ SPOT-257

Hoshuin (Kozu Fudo)

宝珠院（上津不動）ほうじゅいん こうづふどう

A yamabushi (mountain-ascetic) temple of the Buzan branch of the Shingon school, with the mountain name Kozusan and the Great Sacred Fudo Myoo as its principal image. Affectionately known as "Kozu Fudo," it is the 20th station of the Iga Shikoku Eighty-eight Sacred Sites pilgrimage. Its defining feature is that mountain-ascetic training is still practiced here in living form: at the "Kozu Fire Festival" on the fourth Sunday of October each year, ascetics walk barefoot over a blazing goma altar in a fire-walking austerity (saito-goma rite), and ordinary worshippers, too, may dedicate goma sticks and experience the fire-walk. What is unusual is that it also opens various forms of training to the public—sutra-copying on the third Sunday of each month, waterfall austerities in May and October, and more. A procession of ascetics bearing the Fudo Myoo image in its portable shrine parades through the grounds, praying for good health, the dispelling of misfortune, and the fulfillment of wishes. It is a sacred site where, in the mountains of Iga—homeland of the ninja—the tradition of Shugendo is carried on as a present-day experiential event.