Mount Osore
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Mount Osore (恐山 Osorezan) is a region in the center of remote Shimokita Peninsula of Aomori Prefecture, Japan.
The name literally means "Mount Fear", and according to popular mythology, Mount Osore marks the entrance to Hell, with a small brook running to the neighboring Lake Usorisan equated to the Sanzu River, the Japanese version of Styx, which all souls must cross on their way to the underworld. The reputation is not unsurprising, given that the volcanically very active site is a charred landscape of blasted rock filled with bubbling pits of unearthly hues and noxious fumes.
The Bodai-ji Temple presides over it all and organizes the area's main event, the twice-yearly Itako Taisai festival when blind mediums known as itako come to commune with the souls of the dead.
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