Shugendo

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Model of a Shugenja in the Shugendō Museum of the Shippōryū Temple (Shippōryū-ji, Inunaki-san, Osaka Prefecture )
Ascetic exercise under the supervision of a Buddhist monk of the Shippōryū Temple (Shippōryū-ji, Inunaki-san, Osaka Prefecture )
Group of figures from a carrying shrine with (from left) Shōbō (monk) alias Rigen Daishi, next to En no Gyōja in a grotto with the demons Goki and Zenki serving him, on the right Zaō Gongen, the avatar Zaō

Shugendō ( Japanese 修 験 道 ; roughly: "way (dō; Chinese Dao ) of practicing miraculous powers") is an old Japanese , syncretistic religion. The followers of Shugendō , called Shugenja ( 修 験 者 , “Shugen person”) or Yamabushi ( 山 伏 , “hiding in the mountains”), perform magical-religious rituals and ascetic practices in the mountains, which means “becoming a Buddha in this life ”( sokushin-jōbutsu ) and the attainment of supernatural abilities. These skills are used for the benefit of the population, for example in the form of fortune-telling or to cure illnesses.

history

The story of Shugendō begins in the mountains of the island of Honshū . During the Asuka period , Buddhist monks and religious laypeople went to the mountains here for the first time to practice ascetic and magical-religious practices. The most famous among them was the legendary En-no-Gyōja , who is said to have lived at the end of the 7th century. He is said to have acquired supernatural abilities through asceticism on Mount Katsuragi and later established practice centers in many holy mountains. He is revered as the founder of the Shugendo . During the early Heian period , the number of Shugenja , and others, increased. a. as a result of the establishment of the esoteric Buddhist Shingon school by the monk Kūkai , as well as the establishment of the Buddhist Tendai school by the monk Saichō . Both monks practiced ascetic exercises in the mountains, and many followers followed their example.

During the Japanese Middle Ages two main lines of Shugendō developed : the Tōzan branch ( Tōzan-ha ) connected with Shingon Buddhism and the Hozan branch (Hozan-ha) connected with the Tendai school. In addition, regional, independent branches emerged, for example on Mount Hiko on the island of Kyūshū and on Mount Haguro (in today's Yamagata Prefecture ).

In the course of tightened control of religious communities and the persecution of Christianity by the Tokugawa Shogunate established in 1603 (see Edo period ), the Shugendo also attracted the interest of those in power. In 1613 a law ( Shugendō Hatto ) was passed that officially recognized the Tōzan and the Hozan branches and provided that all other groups and persons should join one of these branches.

At the beginning of the Meiji period , the new government began with the establishment of the state Shinto ( Kokkashinto ) and the separation of Buddhism and Shinto ( Shinbutsu-Bunri ). In the case of the Shugendō, with its close mix of autochthonous and Buddhist elements, such a separation proved impracticable, so that in 1872 the Shugendō as such was banned. In terms of organizations, this could be done, but not a few Shugenja continued their practice on an individual basis. In Shrine Shinto , however, still some of the were Shugendō celebrated -Fixed. Some traditions were continued in sectarian Shinto , such as the Fusō-kyō ( 扶桑 教 ; only worships the first three Kami in Kojiki ), the Jikkō-kyō ( 實行 教 , simplified 実 行 教 ); founded by Takekuhi Fujiwara (1541–1646) and spread by Hanamori Shibata (1809–1890), and the Mitake-kyō (also Ontake-kyō ( 御 嶽 教 ); prays mainly Kuni-toko-tachi, Ō-namuchi and Sukuna- hikona, the main practice site is the Ontake-san in Nagano), from which several dozen new religious movements split off in the period that followed .

It was only with the statutory provisions on religious bodies of 1945 ( shūkyō hōjinrei ) that the Shugendō became publicly active again, for the first time in its history independently and without the Buddhist schools, under whose patronage the individual lineages of the Shugendō had previously stood. Nevertheless, we still find a close relationship between temples and Shugenja at famous practice sites .

Today, the Shingonshū Daigo-ha , Hozan Shugenshū , Kinpusen Shugen Honshū and Haguro Shugen Honshū belong to the main branches of Shugendō .

Sites

The three most important practice sites of Shugendō are the mountains Ōmine and Kumano in the Kii Mountains for the Tōzan and Honzan branches and the Dewa Mountains for the Haguro branch ( Haguro-ha ). There are also other holy mountains such as the Kimpu-sen, the highest elevation of the Yoshino Mountains , the Fujisan and the Ontakesan in Nagano , which, however, have no essential infrastructure. Also important are the three holy places of Kumano: Kumano Hayatama-Taisha , Kumano Hongū-Taisha and Kumano Nachi-Taisha .

Deities

The syncretistic nature of the Shugendō is evident in the diverse deities that have their roots in many religious currents. This includes the main deity, Fudō Myō-ō , who is of Buddhist origin. Other Buddhist deities in Shugendō are the four mantra kings ( 明王 , Myō-ō ), the Yaksha , the Gohō , Kannon , Kongō Dōji and Daikoku .

Important deities ( Kami ) of Shintō in Shugendō are Inari , Hiei Sannō, Gion, the three Sumiyoshi-Kami , Kaga, Kasuga, deities of the streets and crossroads ( dōsojin ), Katte and Komori, as well as avatars of Shintō-Buddhist syncretism ( shinbutsu shūgō ): Haguro Gongen and Zaō Gongen ( 蔵 王 権 現 ).

The deities adopted from Daoism include the North Star, Konjin and Kōshin.

literature

  • Hakim Aceval: Cyber-Yamabushi: En-no-Gyôja in the Japanese-language Internet (www): Traditional religious concepts on the Internet using the example of an ancient Japanese founder of religion. Vdm-Verlag, 2007, ISBN 3-8364-5090-9 .
  • H. Byron Earhart: Mount Fuji and Shugendo. In: Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. Volume 16, No. 2-3, 1989, pp. 95 and 208-209,
  • Bernard Faure, D. Max Moerman, Gaynor Sekimori (Eds.): Shugendō: The History and Culture of a Japanese Religion. In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie. Volume 18, 2012, ISBN 978-2-8553-9123-6 .
  • Hitoshi Miyake: Shugendō: Essays on the Structure of Japanese Folk Religion. Center for Japanese Studies, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 2001.
  • Hartmut O. Rotermund: The Yuamabshi - Aspects of their faith, life and their social function in the Japanese Middle Ages. De Gruyter, Hamburg 1968.
  • Gaynor Sekimori: Shugendō: The State of the Field. In: Monumenta Nipponica. Volume 57, No. 2, 2002 (Sophia University).
  • Paul L. Swanson: Shugendo and the Yoshino-Kumano Pilgrimage: An Example of Mountain Pilgrimage. In: Monumenta Nipponica. Volume 36, No. 1, 1981 (Sophia University).

Web links

Commons : Shugendō  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The name has nothing to do with the warriors called Bushi . It is derived from fusu ( 伏 , prostrate) and refers to the ascetic practices.
  2. ^ Miyake, p. 13
  3. ↑ Earhart (1989), pp. 95, 208-209; Swanson (1981), p. 56
  4. ↑ Earhart, (1989), p. 209
  5. ↑ Swanson (1981), p. 56
  6. ↑ Earhart, (1989), pp. 95-96
  7. ↑ Miyake (2001), pp. 31-32
  8. ↑ Sekimori (2002), p. 211