Mount Mitoku

A mountain located in Misasa Town, Tohaku County, in central Tottori Prefecture. It has an elevation of 900 meters. It is known for the Tendai sect Sanbutsu-san Temple, and is designated as a national scenic spot and historic site. Its original form was a bell-shaped volcano that erupted by breaking through the breccia tuff bedrock, and the Sanbutsu-ji Okuin (Nageiredo Hall), a National Treasure building, is located inside a cave formed at the contact point between the upper and lower layers of different hardness. At an elevation of 350 meters or higher, virgin forests of deciduous broadleaves and cedars can be seen, and the lower limit of the beech zone is low. The Mitoku River flows along the north side of the mountain, and the Oshika River flows along the south side, forming valleys.

It is said that the name of Sanbutsu-ji Temple came from the fact that Ennin, the founder of the Buddhist sect of Buddhism, enshrined the three Buddhas Amida, Shaka, and Dainichi in 849 (Kasho 2), but the oldest of the temple's treasures is a bronze mirror (nationally designated Important Cultural Property) with an inscription dating to 997. The temple is known as a training ground for mountain ascetics on a par with Mt. Daisen, and within the mountain there are the Okuin as well as buildings such as the Monju Hall and Jizo Hall, and it is one of the Sanin region's largest in number of nationally designated Important Cultural Properties.

[Minoru Iwanaga]

"Mt. Mitoku and its Surroundings," edited and published by Tottori Prefectural Museum ("Nature and History of Tottori Prefecture 4," 1982)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

鳥取県中央部、東伯(とうはく)郡三朝(みささ)町にある山。標高900メートル。天台宗三徳山三仏(さんぶつ)寺があることで知られ、国の名勝・史跡に指定されている。原形は角礫(かくれき)凝灰岩の基盤を破って噴出した鐘状火山で、硬軟を異にする上下両層の接触部にできた洞窟(どうくつ)内に国宝建造物三仏寺奥院（投入堂(なげいれどう)）がある。標高350メートル以高では落葉広葉樹やスギの原生林がみられ、ブナ帯の下限は低い。山の北側を三徳川、南側を小鹿(おしか)川が渓谷をなして流れる。

　三仏寺は849年（嘉祥2）慈覚大師円仁(えんにん)が阿弥陀(あみだ)、釈迦(しゃか)、大日(だいにち)の3仏を安置したのが寺名のおこりと伝えられるが、寺宝のうちでは、銅鏡（国指定重要文化財）に長徳(ちょうとく)3年（997）と銘のあるのが最古である。大山(だいせん)と並ぶ山岳修験(しゅげん)道場として知られ、山内には奥院のほか、文殊堂、地蔵堂などの堂舎があり、国指定重要文化財の数も山陰屈指である。

［岩永　實］

『鳥取県立博物館編・刊『三徳山とその周辺』（『鳥取県の自然と歴史4』1982）』

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