My Mother's Garden: Transitional Phenomena on a Japanese Sacred Mountain

Drawing on Winnicott's concept of transitional phenomena and Doi's approach to dependence, this article explores ascetic disciplinary practices undertaken by women at a northern Japanese mountain shrine. In dreams and visions, the mountain evokes infantile desires and anxieties of dependence and encompassment. Pilgrims may be kidnapped or possessed by sexually ambiguous demons or "trapped" in the mountain's feminine apertures, associated with wombs and vaginal passages. Over time, however, many women worshipers report being able to transcend proximate generational crises and familial predicaments, and to achieve a measure of peace and autonomy at home and at work.