Mount Miwa in Yamato (present-day Nara Prefecture) is a sacred mountain, thought to be manifested spirit according to the indigenous animistic religious beliefs of Shinto. Pre-Nata-period Shinto (pre-645) focused on nature worship in sacred sites-roped-off clearings surrounding unusually-shaped mountains, trees, rocks, waterfalls and other natural phenomena. The present Omiwa Shrine at the base…