Rokugo Manzan

Collective name for the network of temples, shrines, and sacred sites scattered across the Kunisaki Peninsula in Oita. The term can be read as six mountainous regions, but it really describes a religious landscape that formed over centuries as Esoteric Buddhism merged with local Shinto belief. This blending probably began at a nearby shrine in Usa, and it produced a unique faith tradition where Buddhist temples shared space with Shinto shrines and the two vocabularies freely mixed. At its peak, more than 65 temples operated on the peninsula. Today, 31 Tendai sect temples remain, and walking between them through forested hills gives a clear sense of why this place was considered sacred.