This is pretty amazing!! These have to be some of the toughest monks in Japan! The Yamabushi Monks are a group of monks who are one with nature, and in order to achieve spiritual enlightenment, it involves a grueling, and hard journey. Very physical and mental. This ritual stimulates death, and rebirth, where the monks must hike up a mountain located in the Yamagata Prefecture. Every year, they invite outsiders on the quest. It's a 2 day, 3 night trip, which is tough!! You take a pounding from a waterfall, jump over a fire, and more!! This seems very intense, and I would head to Japan to give it a try, and train with the monks!! Would you?