Mountain God

For the musical instrument, see Sanshin.

Mountain God
A Korean representation of a sanshin
Korean name
Hangul	산신
Hanja	山神
Revised Romanization	Sanshin
McCune–Reischauer	Sanshin

The sanshingak of Beomeosa, Busan

Sanshin or sansin (Korean: 산신; Hanja: 山神) are local mountain gods in Korean shamanism. They are often paired with tigers. In Korea, every Buddhist temple has a dedicated shrine called a sanshingak (Korean: 산신각; Hanja: 山神閣) to the local sanshin, who is typically represented as an elder male figure surrounded by tigers.

The Sanshin faith is interpreted in the folk scene as a belief devoted to the mountain gods. The mountain's beauty, its mystery, and the emotional shape that soared toward the sky are combined to create mountain worship on an emotional level. The mountain has the land of the gods and the outer view of the dead. The faith that the mountain is believed as a mystical body that provides abundance and protection can be found in today's Seonanggut. When the mountain is located between the heavens of God and the earth of human beings, and serves as a link between the two worlds, it is called the world mountain or the universe mountain. This mountain is also believed to rise at the center of the world at the same time.

There are Sanshins, such as Eunjesansungmo (Hangul: 운제산성모; Hanja: 雲梯山聖母), who is a wife if NamheaYongwang, Jirisansungmocheonwang (Hangul: 지리산성모천왕) and Mireukhalmi (Hangul: 미륵할미).

The Japanese equivalent is the Yama-no-Kami (山の神; also pronounced as yamagami).