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What is Gakkeido?

Gakkeido is an indigenous folk religion based in the mountain worship that has passed down in the Kyushu region in Japan. About the name of Gakkeido, it was given by “Yamabushi”, who is a Japanese mountain ascetic, in the Showa era (1926-1989), but in fact, “Bāsama”, who were sorcerers did not always call their religion Gakkeido by this name. Before the Showa era, the sorcerers were called "Nanashimono", which means a nameless person, but because it contained nuances of contempt, they were called "Otazune-san" and "Osirushi-san" who when they had some hesitation to say “Nanashimono”.


Gakkeido is a belief based on mountain worship. It is a characteristic of Gakkeido that it contains the concept to mediate between nature and people. It is the belief that calls everything other than oneself or the entire universe “Shinra” and also the belief that the idea of “Shinra” is conscious of the center. “Shinra” is sky, earth, mountains, seas, and rivers.  

Basically, it is an folk religion centered on magic practiced only by women, and is close to Western Shamanic. Shamanic is the same in that they perform prayers, invocations, and rituals based on interaction with oracles and divine beings, and they practice and work on the spell and the way of life as a basis for daily magic. 


Due to the development of transportation networks in various parts of Japan, the trend of urban concentration and regional depopulation, the rapid economic growth term of Japan, the departure of young people from the islands to the large city for group employment in factories and shops by each school and each region, and the enhancement of welfare for the disabled, the transmission of indigenous folk religions is almost extinct today. The incumbent kiRin became the last successor of Gakkeido.
Because it is a culture that will become extinct if she will pass away, she would like to pass on this culture through the website.

© 2026 Gakkeido kiRin

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