http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFlcs8vwLK4

Since primeval days to date, the Japanese have regarded certain mountains as objects of worship believing that mountains are places where multitudinous gods (Kami) reside. This belief in mountains as sacred places still lives on and is practiced in the Japanese traditional religion, Shinto, which is based on animism and ancestor worship. Today, this notion of sacredness is generally accepted and understood together with concepts from Chinese philosophies, such as Confucianism and Taoism, and Buddhism, which have evolved over a long time. In Japan, volcanoes or high, well-formed mountains, as well as smaller hills standing close to human settlements, were believed to be sacred places.