photo #2217848

(Japan) A Japanese mountain monk known as a Yamabushi (山伏) (which translates to ‘one who prostrates himself on the mountain’) are a group of ascetic hermits that live in the Japanese mountains. These Buddhist monks of those days had quite an army of fighting priests to protect their rights or maintain their ground against rival creeds. This particular monk seen in this photo wears his clerical robes over his armour, and his head is covered with the sacred 'kesa'.