For us, these mountains are the dwellings of the kami and the buddhas…There is a unique school of Japanese asceticism called Shugendo, the Way of Acquiring Power, a blend of Shinto, Daoism and Buddhism. Practitioners perform arduous rituals in mountain wildernesses and are deeply committed to protecting the natural environment. Shugendo practitioners take guidance and inspiration from semi-legendary 7th century mystic En no Ozunu (or En no Gyoja), who is venerated as a bodhisattva. Shugendo is not one isolated tradition but various expressions of spiritual practice that share common practices and similar aims.Shugendo Now is a poetic and intimate journey into a rarely seen world between the developed and the wild, between the present and the infinite.Filmed on location in the Japanese mountains of Kumano and Yoshino, Tokyo and Osaka.BONUS FEATURE: Interview with filmmakers Mark Patrick McGuire and Jean-Marc AbelaAWARDS - Official Selection Buddhist Film Festival Europe - Official Selection Festival International du Film Ethnographique du Quebec - Official Selection Green Mountain Film Festival - Official Selection International Buddhist Film Festival