Mount Maya stands quietly on the northern side of Kobe. While it welcomes many visitors today as a popular tourist destination, tracing its history reveals a sacred realm of quiet gravity—one that conveys the enduring essence of ancient Japanese spiritual devotion to the present day.

When following the flow of time from the past to the modern era, the various sites scattered throughout the mountain emerge not merely as scenic viewpoints, but as traces harboring memories of ancient faith. These vestiges seem to silently narrate how people of old understood the world in harmony with local spirits and Buddhist deities.

By shifting our perspective from ancient mountain worship to Shugendo, and further to the concepts of the Womb Realm Mandala (Taizokai Mandala) in Esoteric Buddhism, the layers of meaning bestowed upon Mount Maya over the ages gradually come to light. Following this process deepens our understanding of the background behind why this mountain has long been embraced as the “Mother Mountain.”

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