Four Ritual Periods of Haguro Shugendō

Four Ritual Periods of Haguro Shugendō in Northeastern JapanAuthor(s): H. Byron EarhartReviewed work(s):Source: History of Religions, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Summer, 1965), pp. 93-113Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1061805 .Accessed: 05/03/2012 07:23

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PERIODS OF HAGURO SHUGENDO IN NORTHEASTERN JAPAN

In this essay the writer has the general intention of introducing the Japanese religious phenomenon of Shugendo by analyzing the four seasonal ritual periods of the Shugendo sect located at Mount Haguro in northeastern Japan. Although very little has been written in Western languages concerning Shugendo, it is an important aspect of Japanese religious history and deserves the wider attention of students of religion.l

Research for this article was made possible by a Fulbright grant to study at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, under Professor Ichir5 Hori. Special thanks are due also to Mr. Ansho Togawa of Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, and to the leaders and laymen of Haguro Shugend5 for kindly allowing me to visit their ceremonies.

In this article Japanese names are written in the Western style, with family name last. In lieu of Chinese characters, Japanese names, place names, and terms are romanized with long vowels marked. (In his dissertation on Haguro Shugend5 [University of Chicago, 1965] the author included a glossary of religious terms with Chinese characters, their romanized form, and a brief explanation.)

1 Engelbert Kaempfer appears to have published the first Western account of Shugendo in his reference to the "Jammabos" (see his The History of Japan. Together with a Description of the Kingdom of Siam 1690-92, trans. J. G. Scheuzer [3 vols; (Glasgow: James Maclehose, 1906)], II, 43-56 [orig. pub. London, 1727; 2 vols.]) Georg Schurhammer, S.J., described the first Western contact with Shugendo by analyzing the reports of the sixteenth-century Jesuits in Japan. See his "Die Yamabushis; Nach gedruckten und ungedruckten Berichten des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts," Zeitschrift fiir Missionswissenschaft und Religionswissen-

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FOUR RITUAL H. Byron Earhart

Four Ritual Periods of Haguro Shugendo

A BRIEF SKETCH OF SHUGENDO

Due to the scarcity of Western material on Shugendo, it is necessary to provide the reader with a short sketch of Shugendo in general before mentioning the sect at Mount Haguro and its rituals. Shugendo is one of the most pervasive examples of Japanese religion, since, on the one hand, it incorporates pre-Buddhist and even prehistoric religious elements and, on the other, its influence in turn can be seen in such recent developments as sect Shinto and some of the so-called new religions (shinko-shukyo). The ancient Japanese watershed and continuing milieu of Shugendo is found in the numerous religious beliefs and practices associated with the Japanese mountains. The religious character of mountains is traceable even to prehistoric times, is reflected in the earliest Japanese literature and mythology, came to be incorporated in both Shinto and Buddhism, and perseveres to the present in many folk practices. These beliefs and religious practices associated with mountains-or actually performed within the mountains- are too diverse to permit simple treatment. Japanese scholarship has come to refer to these diverse phenomena with the rather loose term "sangaku shinko." Although the term might be translated

literally as "mountain beliefs" (or "mountain cult," "mountain

religion"), it includes all the religious phenomena associated with mountains. Accordingly, mythology, folk beliefs, burial customs, agricultural rites, and hunting rites, as well as aspects of formal Shinto and Buddhist traditions, can be covered by this term. In this short essay it is sufficient to say that Shugendo has always been intimately related to sangaku shinko, receiving influence and in turn influencing later developments.2

Although both shrine Shinto and Buddhism reveal either aspects or the influence of sangaku shinko, it is Shugendo alone which was formed with the religious value of mountains as an organizing principle. Shugendo emerged from sangaku shinko as the mountain religion of Japan par excellence while at the same time receiving much influence from Indian and Chinese religious traditions. From

schaft, XII (1922), 206-28. More recently, Ichiro Hori has reported some of his research in English articles: "On the Concept of the Hijiri (Holy Man)," Numen V (1958), 128-60, 199-232; also "Self-mummified Buddhas in Japan: An Aspect of the Shugen-do ('Mountain Asceticism') Sect," History of Religions, I (Winter, 1961), 222-42.

2 The complex problem of sangaku shinko is treated at some length in my dissertation, which includes analysis of considerable Japanese literature on the problem. A very brief and interesting summary in English, is Hiromasa Ikegami's "The Significance of Mountains in the Popular Beliefs of Japan," in Religious Studies in Japan, (Tokyo: Maruzen, 1959), pp. 152-60.

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FIG. 1.-One of the two matsu hijiri during the present festival known as shoreisai, in front of his altar. This building is called the shitsuraya. All of the altar tools in the background are used in the rituals of the shoreisai. Taken December 31, 1963, during the celebration by Dewa Jinja. The shoreisai marks the end of the traditional fuyu no mine (winter peak).

FIG. 2.-Procession of the hana-matsuri (flower festival) performed at Dewa Jinja April 15, 1964. Included in the procession are the three mikoshi (palanquins) for the three mountains of Dewa Sanzan. The "flowers" for which the present festival is named appear as three bouquets of artificial flowers on the tops of tall poles.

FIG. 3.-Procession of yamabushi entering Mount Haguro at the beginning of the aki no mine (fall peak), August 25, 1963. Note the oi on the back of the man in the foreground; on top of the oi is an ayaigasa. Taken on the stone path and steps leading from Togemira at the foot of Mount Haguro, to Dewa Jinja at the top of Mount Haguro.

FIG. 4.-A night service during the week-long confinement of the fall peak at Kotaku-ji on Mount Haguro. Most of the indoor ceremonies of the fall peak take place in this room, called the toko. There is no electricity in the temple.

FIG. 5.-Concluding preparations for the saito goma, held outdoors the night of August 29, 1963 (during the fall peak). The altar is the stone block at center; the gorma itself is represented by the crossed lengths of wood and green leaves on the altar. A square around the goma is enclosed by saplings and straw rope.

its legendary beginnings, through its flourishing periods, and until the present, in its attenuated surviving forms, Shugendo has exhibited the composite character of various "foreign" traditions woven into the religious setting of local sacred mountains. It is worth noting that the term "Shugendo" means literally the way (or religion) of mastering magical or religious power. The more popular word for the practitioner of Shugendo is "yamabushi," meaning to lie down in the mountains, that is, to make one's home in the mountains according to the ideal of wandering asceticism (in the mountains) to gain religious power.

The legendary founder of Shugendo is En no Ozunu,3 who is recorded as having confined himself on a mountain named Katsu- ragi and having gained magical power, which he misused. The first record reports that he was banished for practicing evil magic, but the tradition cherished within Shugendo records him as having gained magical power through learning Buddhist magical techniques on Mount Katsuragi. At any rate, there is much reason to believe that this legend relates the combination of ancient Japa- nese forms of divination or oracle with newly introduced Buddhist magic. En no Ozunu is supposed to have lived in the latter half of the seventh century, but his tradition as the founder of Shugendo appears to have developed somewhat later. For although there had been various popular ascetics in the mountains, and even high- ranking Buddhist priests entered the mountain groves for "medi- tation," Shugendo did not develop into an organized form until after it had absorbed the esoteric teachings (Mikkyo) found in the Tendai and Shingon sects which emerged in and dominated the Heian period.4

Shugendo became organized into a somewhat uniform religious system in the Heian (794-1185) and Kamakura (1185-1333) periods. Gradually the religious center shifted from the area of Katsuragi and Yoshino to the Kumano area of the Kii Peninsula. In general, this whole area is included in the title "Yamato," revered as the land of mythology and ancient home of the Japanese. After the entry of Buddhism, imperial pilgrimages came to be quite

3 This name is also read En no Sh6kaku, or E no Ozunu, and later was revered as the founder of Shugend6 under the name En no Gyoja. This problem is treated more carefully in my dissertation.

4 It is significant that another term for En no Ozunu was En no Ubasoku, ubasoku being the Japanese form of the Sanskrit up&saka, a lay practitioner. Hori has analyzed the various kinds of hijiri and updsaka in the mountains, as well as the emergence and significance of Tendai and Shingon. See "On the Concept of the Hijiri (Holy Man)." He has suggested therein that ancient Japanese shaman- ism played a role in the development of Shugendo.

4-H.O.R. 95

Four Ritual Periods of Haguro Shugendo

noticeable, eventually giving rise to pilgrimages by the lower classes. The popular leaders who guided these pilgrims, the timing and duration of the pilgrimages, and the rites performed therein came to be organized after the pattern of the Tendai and Shingon traditions. Eventually the dress and apparatus of these figures were fixed and interpreted according to complex symbolism and doctrine.

At the same time that Shugend6 was being organized into a

religious body in the Yamato area it was being distributed to the outlying districts by the popular practitioners loosely associated with formative Shugendo. At this time there were many wandering types of religious figures who lived as self-styled ascetics and

magicians by serving the direct religious needs of the people. It should be remembered that the so-called six schools of Buddhism in the Nara period were not popular movements. They were aristocratic and monastic in character, and did not make much

impact on the people. By contrast, with the appearance of the Tendai and Shingon sects at the beginning of the Heian period, there was the tendency to develop a more indigenous or "Japanese" Buddhism. The popular (i.e., unordained) practitioners who had

already been disseminating Buddhism in earlier periods seem to have been given a great stimulus by the "new" Buddhism of the Heian period. As these wandering practitioners, their religious centers, and varied religious procedures came under the organizing power of Shugendo, they came to exert a tremendous force

upon the regional religious scene. At many local mountains there

appeared Shugendo organizations, formed by the union of the local religious traditions (in particular, the so-called sangaku shinko) with the Buddhist elements already adopted by Shugend6 in the Yamato area. Either En no Ozunu (by this time known as En no Gyoja) or some other saint is revered as opening up the mountain and founding that branch of Shugendo. The island of Kyishf had a large Shugendo headquarters at Mount Hiko, and Mount Haguro was a famous center in the northeastern part of Japan, to mention only two illustrious examples. But apart from several regional strongholds, Shugendo came to be controlled by two mainline traditions: the Tendai (or Honzan-ha) centered at Kumano and the Shingon (or Tozan-ha) centered at Omine.

In the Middle Ages, when Shinto and Buddhist priests and institutions mixed freely, Shugendo flourished as one of the extreme cases of mutual borrowing. The Shugend5 headquarters at various mountains, especially in the northeastern part of Japan, practi-

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cally controlled the religious life of that area. Like their contem- porary religious institutions, they assembled large bodies of fighting priests to defend their growing wealth. They suffered politically at the expense of the growing power of the Tokugawa Shogunate (Bakufu; 1603-1867), which came to arbitrate the frequent quar- rels between competing sects. Religiously they had declined long before the Meiji era (1867) dawned: Hereditary rights or religious control were sold as commercial monopolies, and the wandering representatives of Shugendo degenerated into extorters. Early in the Meiji period the dual policies of separating Buddhism and Shinto, and elevating Shinto at the expense of Buddhism, sounded the death knell for Shugendo. There were specific orders abolishing Shugendo as a religious organization. Accordingly, Shugendo, as such, officially ceased to exist (until after World War II). Japanese scholars say at one time there were more than 170,000 official Shugendo leaders, and innumerable unofficial leaders. Such people as these had three possible choices: first, they could choose (as did most of them) to return to secular life; second, they could choose to become Shinto officials (in other words, government officials) at the Shugendo headquarters made into Shinto shrines; third, they could choose to "return" to Buddhism and enter the ordained priesthood of either the Shingon or Tendai sects. In spite of the natural decline of Shugendo and its forcible repression, its traditions continued within the guise of Shinto and Buddhism. In fact, enough survived so that after World War II, when any religious group could organize independently, a number of independent Shugendo groups were recognized. Mount Haguro is one place where Shugendo survives (in attenuated form) to the present day.5 The local development of Shugendo sects, including Haguro Shug- endo, has not been studied carefully. In recent history Haguro Shugendo has been known in the context of the three sacred mountains of the former province of Dewa-the so-called Dewa Sanzan. The other two mountains, besides Haguro, are Gas-san and Yudono-san.6 The antiquity of religious faith in this area is

5 Aside from the problem of sangaku shinko, four major Japanese works have been utilized for the above summary: Enki Uno, "Shungendo," in Vols. IX, XI, and XVII of Nihon Shaky5 Daikoza ("Lectures on Japanese Religion") (Tokyo: Toho Shoin, 1927-28): Tar5 Wakamori, Shugendoshi Kenkyu ("A Historical Study of Shungendo") (Tokyo: Kawade Shobo, 1943); Toshio Murakami, Shugendo no Hattatsu ("The Development of Shugendo") (Tokyo: Unebi Shobo, 1943); Ichir6 Hori, Wagakuni Minkan Shinkoshi no Kenkyu ("A Historical Study of Japanese Folk Religion") (Tokyo: Sogensha, 1953), Vol. II.

6 From this point, instead of the English word "Mount," we will give the Japanese place name in full. The pronunciation of Gas-san combines the words gatsu (moon) and san (mountain) to make the shortened form Gas-san,

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Four Ritual Periods of Haguro Shugend5

attested by the tenth-century record of the Engi Shiki, which cites a Tsuki-yama Jinja in the Dewa area.7 When the religious system of three mountains-Dewa Sanzan-developed, is still a matter of controversy. Nevertheless, it appears that Shugendo was brought to the Tohoku area (northeastern Japan) by persons of the Kumano area at the same time that Kumano was developing as a center of Shugendo practice and dissemination.8 It seems that Haguro Shugendo received more direct influence from the Kumano (Hozan-ha) tradition than from the Omine (Tozan-ha) tradition, but the matter has not yet been sufficiently studied. At any rate, Haguro Shugendo reveres its own founder (de-emphasizing En no Gyoja's importance) and claims distinctive rites.

In Dewa Sanzan, which developed in late medieval times, there was a very explicit mixture of Buddhist and local religious systems. Gas-san was considered the seat of Amida (Amitabha), Yudono-san the seat of Dainichi (Vairocana), and Haguro-san the seat of Kannon (Avalokitesvara). At least in the popular mind, there was little difference between these figures of Buddhist mythology and the kami (the Japanese name for spirit or "deity") associated with each of these three mountains. Although "gongen" is a Buddhist word meaning avatar or incarnation, when the reference is to Gas-san gongen, Haguro-san gongen or Yudono-san gongen it actually means both the Buddhist form and the local kami.

Ichiro Hori has introduced an extremely interesting type of Shugendo found at Yudono-san. Hori has pointed out that at Yudono-san there developed the rare Japanese phenomenon of "self-mummified Buddhas."9 The highly complicated character of Shugendo is revealed by the fact that two mountains within the same Shugendo triad of holy mountains-Dewa Sanzan-exhibit quite different patterns of religious organization and practice. As Hori has pointed out, the differences between Haguro-san and Yudono-san have a long history and constitute a long-standing source of controversy.10 Not only did Yudono-san feature unique ascetic practices but it also was a center of pilgrimage. The holiest

which cannot be rendered in English. The Japanese for Mount Haguro is Haguro- san.

7 "Tsuki-yama" is the Japanese way of pronouncing the Chinese characters alternatively read as Gas-san. Jinja is a Shinto shrine. The former province of Dewa is the present prefecture of Yamagata.

8 See Takeshi Toyoda, "Tohoku Chisei no Shugendo to sono Shiryo" ("The Medieval Shugendo of the Tohoku Area and Its Historical Materials"), Memoirs of Institute of Tohoku Culture, No. 4 (Sendai [Japan], March, 1962), pp. 1-11.

9 "Self-mummified Buddhas in Japan," loc. cit., esp. pp. 233 ff. 10 Ibid.

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site of Yudono-san is a hot spring suggesting the shape of a woman, and photographs may not be taken at this site. Gas-san, the highest of the three peaks (about 2,000 meters) is supposedly the holiest of the three, but it is mainly an object of pilgrimage during the summer, the only season when snows do not make it inaccessible. It boasts only a small shrine on its summit, tended only in summer. This is in sharp contrast to the large and numerous buildings around Haguro-san and Yudono-san. Haguro-san came to develop the most widespread network of "parish" believers.

In a short essay such as this it is impossible to cover all the varied aspects of Shugendo religious life. For example, popular leaders form just one interesting aspect. The practitioners of Shugendo, called "shugenja" or more often "yamabushi," were originally wandering ministers to the everyday religious needs of the people. Even after they settled in villages as married yamabushi, they did not lose their hold on the life of the people, but, on the contrary, became all the more closely related to the religious life of the people. Ansho Togawa, the leading authority on Haguro Shugendo, has shown how at one time yamabushi had complete charge of a person's religious life. The yamabushi was consulted even before the birth of a child to determine the midwife, he was visited at the many crucial stages and events of life (such as the name-giving ceremony), and, finally, he was in charge of one's funeral.ll

If it is impossible to introduce here the many aspects of religious life within Shugendo, we will first try to clarify the general ethos of Shugendo, which defines it as a distinctive movement within Japanese religious history. Next we will analyze four seasonal rituals of Haguro Shugendo to present a concrete illustration of Shugendo.

The basic ethos is rather simple and has already been suggested in the preceding historical sketch. From its legendary founder En no Ozunu (or En no Gyoja) to its present surviving forms, Shug- endo has featured as its basic character the practice of asceticism and the learning of magical formulas while wandering or remaining confined in the mountains. The qualifications for being recognized as a yamabushi included the physical training and learning of such powerful religious techniques as darani (dhdrani in Sanskrit) and

11 Ansho Togawa, "Shugendo to Minzoku" ("Shugend5 and Folklore"), in Nihon Minzokugaku Taikei ("Japanese Folklore Series") (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1962), VIII, 343-58. This is a good general article on the interrelationship of Shugend5 and folk religion. Togawa has been associated with Shugendo for a half-century and has also been active in folklore research. The article is written in modern Japanese in a readily available series.

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in-musubi (mudrd in Sanskrit) while in mountain retreat. Other Shugendo forms of incantation and exorcism were freely borrowed from Onmyodo, the yin-yang magic which came from China. One's personal prestige and rank in the hierarchy depended directly on the accumulation of participation in the (annual) mountain training periods. The people (usually the parishioners of specific yamabushi) accepted the yamabushi due to the power of his person and the efficacy of his prayers and charms, both of which were ac- quired in annual or periodic retreats within the mountains. On this point there is considerable local variation, but in general the yamabushi made the rounds of their distant parishioners in spring and fall, being obliged to frequent the mountain in summer to guide and serve the many summer pilgrims. In his periodic visits the yamabushi performed such prayers (kito, incantation) as driving out sickness and invoking the house's fortune. The permanently settled village yamabushi (sato-yamabushi) was always on call for even such minor crises as divining the whereabouts of lost items. (In recent years success in school entrance examinations has been a favorite request.)

The concrete phenomena of Shugendo rites and festivals present a much more complex picture than is suggested by the foregoing summary of the basic ethos of Shugendo. Any actual religious performance within Shugendo may contain highly individualized ex-

pressions of several diverse traditions: the symbolism, rituals, and doctrines of one branch of Mikkyo (esoteric Buddhism); the customs, festivals, and holy sites of the locale in question, revealing the local forms of sangaku shinko; various other elements, such as

aspects of Shinto and Onmyodo. It is because of its diverse make-

up that Shugendo is so difficult to study and has not been studied

adequately even in Japan. Furthermore, the few Western references to Shugend5 have tried to define it as a branch of either Shinto or Buddhism, but the writer feels that Shugendo deserves attention as a religious unity or religious phenomenon in its own

right. Therefore, it seems fitting to draw up this general under-

standing of the ethos of Shugendo, remembering all the while the

complexity and diversity within Shugendo.

THE FOUR RITUAL PERIODS OF HAGURO SHUGENDO

The ritual year in Haguro Shugendo is divided into four seasonal

periods. As has been indicated previously, there is a rich and varied

religious life within Shugendo. The present essay deals only with the formal seasonal rituals as they occur within Haguro Shugendo.

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Specifically, this paper does not deal with Shugendo outside of the Haguro sect or with other aspects of private prayers and rituals within Haguro Shugendo.

The setting for these rituals is Dewa Sanzan, in general, and Haguro-san, in particular. The form of the rituals is mainly that preserved prior to the separation of Buddhism and Shinto, and prior to the proscription of Shugendo in the fifth year of Meiji (1872). The writer has seen and photographed much of the remaining customs of Haguro Shugendo, but the main source for the treatment is found in the publications of Ansho Togawa.12 He has analyzed the old ritual handbooks of Haguro Shugendo, and has given a running account of these festivals.

In order to understand these four ritual seasonal periods, it is necessary to recognize that in Japanese they are called mine (mountain) peaks. That is, a mine or peak is taken as an annual period of religious activity that may include such religious activities as confinement, asceticism, training, and pilgrimage. Being divided according to the four seasons, they are called fuyu no mine (winter peak), haru no mine (spring peak), natsu no mine (summer peak), and aki no mine (fall peak). In Japan, religious activity of various sorts has been associated with entering the mountains. Shugendo, the Japanese mountain religion par excellence, discloses its basic ethos in distinctive rituals within the mountains. Only a bare outline of these four ritual periods can be given here.

The fuyu no mine, or winter peak, is a one-hundred-day period of confinement and asceticism, lasting from the twentieth day of the ninth month13 until the last day of the twelfth month. At the foot of Haguro-san is a village called Toge-mura, formerly headquarters of Haguro Shugendo, as evidenced by the fact that once there were here 336 shukubo (lodging temples) to accommodate

12 The major book on Haguro Shugendo is Dend5 Shimazu, Haguro-ha Shugendo Teiyo, ("A Manual of the Haguro Sect of ShugendS") (Tokyo: Koyukan Shoten, 1937). Shimazu's son, Ansh5 Togawa, has written extensively on the subject, including the small book, Haguro Yamabushi to Minkan Shinko, ("The Yamabushi of Haguro and Folk Religion") (Tsuruoka [Yamagata Prefecture]: Shonai Kyodoshi Hakkokai, 1950). Of his many articles, the one bearing directly on this problem is "Haguro Shugen no Nyubu Shugyo" (hereafter, "Nyuibu Shugy ") in Shukyo Kenkyii, (Tokyo: Journal of Religious Studies, No. 136, [October, 1953], 37-56. The article title is translated in the English table of contents as: "Shugens religious training on Mt. Haguro." In general, in this article the terminology of Haguro Shugend5 is transliterated and understood according to Togawa's "Shugendb Haguro-ha Goi Ryakkai" ("A Concise Vocabulary of the Haguro Sect of Shugendo"), in Kokugakuin Zasshi, XLVI (November, 1940), 143-69.

13 At present the surviving rituals have been adjusted according to the solar calendar, but most of the dates in this article will follow the earlier custom of numbering according to the lunar calendar. References to the solar calendar are made only for recent phenomena, especially those witnessed by the writer.

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pilgrims visiting Dewa Sanzan. This village is divided into halves of four buraku (smaller administrative units) each. For the winter peak they chose one person from each half of Toge-mura, according to their seniority of initiation into Haguro Shugendo. These two persons became the matsu hijiri (literally, "pine saints"), the most important officials of the winter peak. Originally these two observed almost one hundred days of confinement, abstinence, and purification by setting apart an inner room of their houses. Taking daily ablutions, using a "separate fire," and avoiding all contact with women and defilement (such as death) was an absolute re- quirement. Later the custom changed so that the two matsu hijiri spent this period together in a special hall at the summit of the mountain. Now, somewhat like previous customs, special daily prayers are offered to the three respective kami (spirits or "deities"), sometimes known as gongen or avatars,14 of those three mountains.

The matsu hijiri continue their confinement and practices in the special hall almost to the final day of the lunar year. (Shortly before the hundredth day the matsu hijiri move to a special rect- angular building called "shitsuraeya," 15 which is partitioned into two parts, containing altars for the respective halves of the village. Another activity of preparation is the lighting of torches with a

spark from the Jizo-do of Arasawa, the Jizo-do appearing also in the natsu no mine, or summer peak.) Until this time, the only noticeable activity is that of the matsu hijiri. But the day of the fulfilment of their hundred days' confinement, the last day of the

year, unfolds with a bustling and complicated festival lasting from mid-day to the beginning of the new lunar year. About a week before this day the matsu hijiri have helpers gather many materials for the festivals from the surrounding area. The many aspects of this festival overlap and present a confusing array.

One of the most conspicuous aspects of the festival concerns two 6-foot high "insects" (tsutsugamushi) made of rice straw and

grasses. These are prepared before the festival; in former times they

14 The writer observed some daily practices of the matsu hijiri during their confinement in 1962 and observed the festival on the final day, December 31, 1963. (At present the solar calendar is observed, so that the last day of confinement coincides with the day before New Year's Day.) At present the shrine on Haguro- san, known as Dewa Jinja, oversees the confinement and conducts the climactic festival under the name shoreisai. Naturally, Buddhistic elements have been eliminated or replaced.

15 The shitsuraeya is used only for this festival and-until 1962-on the occasion of the spring festival known as haru yama (spring mountain). The haru yama is an interesting example of sangaku shinko and the folk beliefs of this area, but it does not fit into this pattern of four ritual periods. The writer participated in the haru yama of May 4 and 5, 1964, visiting Haguro-san, Gas-san, and Yudono-san.

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were located at the top of the shrine steps. When night came the two matsu hijiri threw down thirty-three 16 rice balls (nigiri meshi) and poured unrefined sake (rice wine) on the people below. At present the tsutsugamushi are drawn up in front of the pond before the main shrine of Haguro-san (now called Dewa Jinja). Early in the afternoon each of the matsu hijiri and his respective helpers climb up on one of the two tsutsugamushi and throw to the milling crowd sections of the huge rope or hawser used to construct the tsutsugamushi. Much sake is imbibed before this event, and the ensuing skirmishes and jostling are quite rough. The objective of getting the rope is to take it home and hang it under the eaves. This rope, gracing houses for some miles distant from Haguro-san, is believed to cause prosperity of the family in general, and especially is thought to ward off fires from the building. The meaning of the word is related by an old legend, according to which the insect known as tsutsugamushi once ravaged this area and caused deaths by its bite. To ward off the insect and to produce bountiful crops, an imperial prince (who reportedly founded this shrine) instituted such ceremonies. Nowadays, on the day of the festival (shoreisai) the shrine distributes leaflets giving this explanation.

Just as there are two matsu hijiri and two tsutsugamushi, so there continues through the other aspects of this festival a division into two sides. In the evening there are several events of competition and gen-kurabe17 (matching power) which follow the same lines of division. The halves of the village form opposite sides, as do the matsu hijiri who also hail from different divisions of the village. The series of matches begins within the main shrine, when two groups of lower ranking yamabushi imitate the dance of the crow, sacred to Haguro-san, under the scrutiny of the rabbit, sacred to Gas-san. At the point when the person disguised as a rabbit enters the main shrine, a signal is given for another match to begin outside the shrine.

In front of the pond before the shrine, where the tsutsugamushi were located, there are two huge straw and grass torches. These torches are to be pulled with ropes by two teams (from the two

16 The number 33 probably symbolizes the thirty-three heavens in Buddhist mythology, for the same imagery is clearly identifiable in the aki no mine (fall peak) as currently practiced in the sect of Haguro Shugendo (which is predomi- nantly Buddhist). Although all such small details convey significant religious meaning, there is no opportunity to discuss them herein. It is to be expected that such Buddhist elements are not found in the present Shinto performance. 17 "Gen" of gen-kurabe is the same as the "gen" of Shugendo, indicating especially the religious power gained through ascetic training and confinement in the mountains.

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halves of the village) to goals (15-foot saplings) about 150 feet distant. At the signal, the first side to pull its torch to its goal and erect and light it wins. Preceding this match the two sides have gathered in their respective parts of the shitsuraeya for a drinking bout which lasts into the night. Within the respective parts of the shitsuraeya, representatives of the four buraku vie as to which buraku will pull the first, second, third, and fourth ropes of their torch.

Later, just after midnight, there is a gen-kurabe between the two matsu hijiri to see who can first kindle the new fire of the New Year with flint and steel. The rationale of the gen-kurabe is that the matsu hijiri who has gained the most power will demonstrate it by being the first to kindle a fire.

Superficially, the upshot of the whole festival is that one of the two matsu hijiri, and his side of the village, "wins" the general competition. If the one side wins, they say farming will be good throughout the coming year; if the other side wins, fishing will be

prosperous. Many interesting features of the winter peak have necessarily been excluded, but the general outline is clear. This ritual period involves private confinement and semi-ascetic practices on the part of the matsu-hijiri, and culminates in a very lively New Year's festival. The competition (especially the tug-of-war), the divination, and the starting of fire with flint, are all features found in New Year's rites.18

The haru no mine, or spring peak, is the ritual period beginning on the morning of the new year and ending on the ninth day of the first month. Because the ritual of the spring peak was last performed in the fifth year of Meiji (1872), it is no longer possible to observe it, but the written evidence suggests that it was more truly ritualistic than the gay festival of the winter peak immediately preceding it. The spring peak is much more difficult to summarize, for it involves highly complicated rituals by specific members of the Shugend6 hierarchy, and neither the rituals nor hierarchy can be fully explained here. Togawa sees three steps or levels of change in carrying out the spring peak.

The first level is defined by the three days beginning with day- light of New Year's Day. During these three days several high members of the hierarchy (including the mountain's betto and the

18 Togawa, "Nyubu ShugyS," pp. 159-61. Togawa has also written a very de- tailed account of the winter peak, especially concerning the culminating festival of shoreisai (or toshiya matsuri) as practiced in recent years ("Haguro-sanjo no Toshiya Matsuri" ["The New Year's Eve Festival at the Summit of Mount Haguro"], Tabi to Densetsu, XIV, No. 6 [1941], 7-19).

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three daisendatsu), and also orthodox (ordained) Buddhist priests are in attendance to honor Haguro-san gongen. (In this formal setting gongen may be taken in the Buddhist sense of avatar, but in actuality is no different from the kami of Haguro-san.) The second level is defined by the three days from the fourth to the sixth days of the first month. On these three days they perform the ordinary Buddhist service (hoe).

The third level is defined by the three days from the seventh to the ninth days of the first month, during which time the distinctive features of the spring peak appear. On the morning of the seventh, white rice is offered up at the altar of the main shrine, and various sutras are read.19 Afterward the rice is scattered ceremonially by the gyonin yamabushi,20 ascetics who maintain the rule of "separate fire and abstinence" throughout their whole lives. The gyonin yamabushi recite: "If it be the Aryan Pure Land rice, though we scatter it and scatter it, it is not exhausted," and scatter the rice to the ten directions. At this signal two miko (shrine maidens) and male actors who have been waiting give a religious play called kagura. Together with blessing the peace of the country, they divine that year's harvest. After the Buddhist religious service the orthodox priests who have no connection with this ceremony return home. Those remaining are two yamabushi who serve as "readers," ten shugenja who perform a gen-kurabe, and a high officer called daidoshi. These thirteen carry out a gen-kurabe, similar to that of the winter peak, in the presence of the highest officials of Haguro Shugendo. The ten shugenja, lined up five opposite each other, represent the ten calendar signs, while the "readers," opposite each other, are considered as controlling the yin and yang of heaven and earth. The previously mentioned betto and three sendatsu control the kami of the four cardinal directions, while the daidoshi controls the chief kami. Nodarani, another type of life- time ascetic, control the hoseki21 of the four seasons. (It is noted

19 The actual word is "gongyo," indicating the reading of various selected sutras. But, as will be seen in the aki no mine, these gongyo also included such matters as invoking the gongen of Dewa Sanzan.

20 Gyonin yamabushi are also called Yudono-gy6 (Yudono-ascetics). For the distinctive ascetic tradition at Yudono-san, see Hori, "Self-mummified Buddhas in Japan," loc. cit.

21 The word hoseki means literally "law-trace." A personal note from Ansho Togawa provided the following information concerning the interpretation of hoseki and nodarani. Heaven and earth and the natural seasons "move" according to a prescribed order, and according to this "movement," new phenomena or konseki ("root-traces") are born. The ones who oversee this process are the nodarani (who also are kami or incarnations of kami). Therefore all the aforementioned: the calendrical signs, the yin and yang, the several kami-as well as their corresponding ritual representatives-are "born" and set into motion by the

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that in the winter peak the shugenja number twelve, representing the twelve "branches" of the calendar.) When the ceremony of hoe ended on the fifth day, there was a gathering at the temple in charge of hoe for that year. At that time they inclosed the temple with a curtain, hung a picture of the three mountains (i.e., Dewa Sanzan), decorated a shimadai (an ornament on a stand representing the Isle of Eternal Youth), and offered up incense and sacred sake. On the fifth day, and every day thereafter until the ninth, after making the rounds of the temples of betto and sendatsu, they meet at the specially decorated temple for exchange of sake and

performance of en-nen, a ceremony for long life. They call these five days "perfecting the five stages within the womb and birth"; the ceremony is also called zasu-kai or zasu-e (meeting of the

leading priests).22 It is difficult to revivify this extinct ritual merely through an

outline of its procedures; the minutiae of ritualistic detail make it much more difficult to follow the dramatic movement so evident in the winter peak. Nevertheless, two obvious comments are in order. First of all, there is hardly any ascetic element in the spring peak, and the ritual tendency of greeting the new spring is strong. Not only is this period extremely ritualistic in character, but it is also a priestly and private rather than a public festival open to the

lay people. The natsu no mine, or summer peak, is a 120-day period of

rituals, ceremonies, and pilgrimages within all three of the mountains of Dewa Sanzan. For, although Gas-san and Yudono-san are

generally closed to visitors during the winter and spring peaks, the

beginning of the summer peak is marked by the ceremony of

"opening the door" to Gas-san. There are actually eight "en- trances" or climbing paths to Gas-san, but the route leading from

Haguro-san is opened at the place called Arasawa on the third day of the fourth month. The summer peak begins on this day and continues until the "closing of the door" to Gas-san on the eighth day of the eighth month.23 innate virtue of the nodarani. Accordingly, since all this is brought about by the original virtue of the nodarani, the primordial (taikyoku) n6darani neither move nor speak. Rather, those ritual representatives born of the four nodarani's virtue "move" on the authority of the nodarani. The daidoshi acts as the direct incarnation of the four nodarani. Thanks to this note, the rite itself and the spring peak become clear. To wit, the nodarani is the focus of the rite as the primordial potentiality on which the rite is based; and the spring peak is seen more clearly as the re-creation of the seasons out of this primordial potentiality.

22 Togawa, "Nyubu Shugy6," pp. 145-47. 23 In present-day Japan the yama-biraki or "mountain-opening" is essentially

the opening of the mountain-climbing season, but at various places rituals are still associated with this event.

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The summer peak, in contrast to the spring peak's highly con- densed short ritual period, is a long period full of rituals and other religious phenomena, such as pilgrimage. One of the predominant aspects of this period is the large groups of pilgrims who pay religious visits to Dewa Sanzan, accompanied by a leader (sendatsu) who usually is a yamabushi or Shugendo priest from their village. In many villages it was the custom for youths to pay their first visit to Dewa Sanzan at age fifteen. In effect, this symbolized becoming a man, and in many areas one was ridiculed and could not marry until he made this visit. These visitors lodged at a shukubo at the foot of the mountain, the specific shukubo and the right of guiding through the mountains being strictly controlled through a centralized hierarchy and local parishes (kasumi).24 Technically, the custom of popular pilgrimage does not enter into the ritual of these four periods, but it must not be overlooked as an important factor in the religion of Haguro Shugendo and Dewa Sanzan.

The specific rituals of the summer peak, of course, began on the third day of the fourth month at Arasawa.25 On this morning there gather at the Jizo-do26 of Arasawa a number of Shugendo officials, including the priests of the temples at Arasawa and special func- tionaries of Gas-san called oji, or princes.27 The opening of Gas-san is effected by a Buddhist service. It is said that in earlier times they performed a preliminary asceticism (zengyo) of fifty days at Arasawa before the actual ceremony of "opening the mountain," every day offering flowers, incense, food, and drink to Gas-san gongen.

Following this initial rite of the summer peak, a number of additional rituals and one major festival precede the final rite of "closing the door" to Gas-san on the eighth day of the eighth month. On the sixth day of the fourth month there was an interesting rite of drawing water from a temple called Aka-i-bo. Aka comes from the Sanskrit argha, or pure water, and i means well. Thus, this is the "pure-water-well temple." As we shall see, this water is used throughout the summer peak. The morning of the eighth

24 Even at present many people visit these shrines during the summer, from as far away as Tokyo. However, the parish system has largely died out.

25 Arasawa can also be read Kotaku, and indicates the site of Kotaku-ji (temple), so important even for the present aki no mine (fall peak) carried out by the Buddhist side of Shugendo.

26 The chapel of Jiz6 (Sanskrit Kshitigarbha), one of the most popular Japanese "saints." This chapel formerly maintained a perpetual fire tended throughout the year. The fire of this hall was used to light torches in the winter peak, as noted above. This hall remains today in the grounds of Kotaku-ji (but it seems that there was another Jizo-do near the main shrine).

27 Also called Gas-san's shintai-mochi, the "holders of the sacred object." 107


they call the beginning of the spring peak, at which time the shugenja from the foot of the mountain with the longest seniority draws water from the "pure-water-well," and offers live flowers in

ninety-six flower containers before the altar of the main shrine.

They continue offering flowers in water of this well until the four- teenth day (or morning of the fifteenth day) of the seventh month. Calling the "summer peak" by the alternate name, "Peak of Flower Offerings" (hana-ku-no-mine), seems to have originated from the fact that the aforementioned offering of flowers formed the heart of the ceremonies for this period. On the sixth day of the fourth month there is also a feast served for many of the Shugendo officials, and there is a popular festival on this day as well. From this day on there is a daily observance of flower offerings, two Buddhist services, and bell-ringing. At Haguro-san on the four- teenth day of the sixth month they have a festival, with entertain- ment such as a dance with a lion's mask (shishi-mai). Several other ceremonies lead up to the carrying of the sanzan mikoshi 28

(palanquin) from their special hall to the main shrine. At the main shrine they carry out the sacred rite of transferring the divine

spirits of the three mountains to each of the three palanquins. These three palanquins are carried around the various shrines in a colorful procession featuring many artificial flowers. At the end of the procession there is a scramble to make off with these artificial flowers. It is thought that these flowers will bring bountiful crops when placed in one's rice field or will protect against evil forces when hung at the house entrance. At present this festival is called the flower festival, but it is held one month later, on July 15.29 This is all that is now practiced of the summer peak, and the mikoshi do not descend the mountain but merely circle the pond in front of the main shrine on Haguro-san.

Several other ceremonies within the summer peak could be noted, but the high point of these ceremonies is the saito goma performed west of the main shrine on Gas-san on the thirteenth day of the seventh month. (The saito goma is an outdoor version of the

28 Mikoshi, often called "portable shrine," is quite common to Shinto shrines. The special feature here is to have three mikoshi, each sacred to one of the three mountains of Dewa Sanzan.

29 The writer observed this festival on July 14 and 15, 1964 (now observed by the solar calendar). At present many members of ko (religious organizations) organized around faith in Dewa Sanzan come from as far as Tokyo to see this festival. A children's festival on July 14 with miniature mikoshi has been introduced at TSge-mura (below Haguro-san) to publicize the festival. The actual festival is quite simplified, but the struggle to make off with the artificial flowers is still a mad scramble (at least once within this generation's memory it resulted in death).

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fire ritual learned from esoteric (Mikkyo) Buddhism, linguistically traced to the homa or soma of India.) After the saito goma30 the officials and oji visit Yudono-san for a short period. On the four- teenth (or fifteenth) day of the seventh month, the offering of flowers ends, and on the eighth day of the eighth month they perform the "door closing" festival of Gas-san gongen at Arasawa. This officially marks the end of the summer peak.

Just as the summer peak is defined by the "opening" and "closing" of Gas-san, so it is obvious that this peak's most promi- nent feature is the presence of so many pilgrims within the mountains. There is a minimum of confinement and ascetic practices but a profusion of ceremonies-notably the continued offerings of flowers. The saito goma and the "flower festival" mark the climactic point toward the end of this period, just before the "closing" of Gas-san.31

The aki no mine, or fall peak, is a period of confinement and asceticism. In ancient times it lasted for seventy-five days, gradually became abbreviated, and at present spans the ten days from August 25 to September 1.32 The writer treats the fall peak last for several reasons. It is indispensable for the functioning of Haguro Shugendo's hierarchy and is perhaps the clearest instance of Shugendo's religious character. Moreover, the activities and scenes of the fall peak form a rather self-contained religio-dramatic movement still fresh in the writer's memory.

The aki no mine is also called the shusse no mine (promotion peak) for the regional yamabushi, since participation in this peak was a requisite for advancement in the Shugendo ranks. Just one of the innumerable facets of the organization of Haguro Shugendo is a list of ranks corresponding to the number of mountain entries (nyubu) in the annual fall peak. (The highest rank is for thirty-six entries.) As the fall peak is mainly for "professional" shugenja or yamabushi, so it is a period of training through confinement and ascetic practices in the mountains. It is paramount that the confinement is within Haguro-san, naturally the holy center of Haguro Shugendo. Observing special abstinence and semi-ascetic activity while in the sacred mountains, they invoke the gongen of these mountains. Confinement (komori) includes the process of paying visits to special holy sites and places of ascetic practice (gyoba).

30 This rite of saito goma is almost the same as that of the aki no mine, fall peak, and will be described briefly in the discussion following.

31 Togawa, "Nyfbu ShugyS," pp. 147-54. 32 The writer participated in and observed the fall peak from August 24 (the

night of preliminary preparations) until September 1, 1963.

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Having recognized the general purpose of the fall peak as that of religious training and promotion, we may now examine briefly the interesting symbolism of the fall peak.33

The fall peak begins with the gathering of the regional yamabushi at the temple called Shozen-in, in Toge-mura on August 24. At this time preliminary preparations are completed, a Buddhist service and meal is shared. The most important process is the de- termination of the order of rank (and seating order) for the fall peak. This is determined according to seniority in nyitbu and hierarchy. On the morning of August 25 all gather and form a religious procession which observes rites at many shrines and temples before finally reaching Kotaku-ji, the temple of confinement for the fall peak. In each of the four peaks, "entering the mountain" (nyubu) includes an element of leaving this world for a holy world or "otherworld," but this element is especially noticeable in the fall peak. The beginning of the aforementioned procession is marked by manipulating and offering a long pole (bonten), with the apparent significance of beginning conception. Later this day those entering the fall peak for the first time undergo a ceremony of death and impending rebirth. At any rate, entering the mountain signifies leaving this world: dying and either entering Buddhist hell or returning to the womb.34

The symbolism of the fall peak embraces both the movement through the ten Buddhist worlds (jikkai) to become a bodhisattva (bosatsu in Japanese) and the foetal growth within the mountain or womb (tainai) to be reborn. Unfortunately, only the bare outline of this twofold symbolism can be indicated.

The confinement or stay in the mountains at K6taku-ji is regu- lated by abstinence and ascetic practices appropriate for passing through the ten Buddhist worlds, from hell to bodhisattvahood. The most remarkable ascetic practice is the nanban-ibushi, breath- ing fumes of red pepper and rice bran thrown on red-hot charcoal. Aside from specific ascetic practices, eating and washing are re- stricted and sleep is at a minimum because of the long Buddhist services of chanting sutras and invocations to the gongen of the three mountains. The saito goma may be singled out as one of the most important and most interesting of the several ritual proce-

33 This description refers especially to the writer's experience in 1963. 34 The costumes and tools of Shugendo are full of symbolism. We may mention

just one example pertinent to the theme of growth within the womb. Throughout all the formal processions of the fall peak, one person shoulders and carries a box or portable altar called oi. The oi represents the womb, while the tools and ritual involving the oi reveal complex (Buddhist and) birth symbolism.

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dures within this short period. Performed on the night of August 28 and the morning of the next day, the saito goma is the burning of a ritually constructed fire on a special outdoor altar. In general Buddhist interpretation it may signify purification and the burning of evil passions. But in Haguro Shugendo the saito goma of the fall peak marks the achievement of the stage of bodhisattvahood in the ten stages. At the same time, the ninety-one pieces of wood used to construct the fire are likened to the same number of bones in the human body-the burning fire signifies becoming a human being in the process of growth within the womb.35

The various processions to holy sites and ascetic practice sites are important for the fall peak, but cannot be mentioned herein. When the full round of practices has been completed, the group assembles to proceed down the mountain. When on their way to Kotaku-ji on August 25 they stopped at the main shrine, and this visit was repeated during the descent. Each of the ten steps of the main shrine stands for one of the Buddhist worlds. Only after one has achieved the religious stages can one perform the physical act of climbing the ten steps. Therefore the yamabushi worship from the bottom of these steps at the beginning of the fall peak, and only at the end of this ascetic period do they demonstrate their religious achievement of the ten worlds by climbing the ten steps. At this point they gather once more at the bottom of the stairs and, crouching down, rise up while shouting their birth cry (ubugoe). To wit, they have arrived at bodhisattvahood through achieving the ten stages; they have been reborn through confinement in the womb of the mountain. The fall peak is at an end. They quickly descend to the foot of the mountain where they jump over a fire and receive certificates of their participation at a banquet.36

In the fall peak the elements of confinement and asceticism are very strong, but the yamabushi also pay visits to the important sites of the three mountains. During the peak new candidates are taught the essentials of Shugendo religious procedures, and thus the fall peak may be considered as crucial to Shugendo. (At present the aki no mine has departed from many historical practices in adapting to changed situations-many laymen and even women now participate-but within the remaining practices, the essential framework of earlier Shugend5 perseveres.)

35 Togawa provides a careful examination of Haguro's saito goma in "Haguro Shugen no Saito Goma ni tsuite," ("Concerning the Saito Goma of Haguro Shugen"), in Bunka (Tokyo [by the Bunka Gakkai], IV, No. 9 [September, 1939]), 2-8.

36 Togawa, "Nyibu ShugyS," pp. 154-59.

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These seasonal "peaks" constitute the four official ritual periods of Haguro Shugendo. Nevertheless, they relate only part of the total religious life found within Shugends. For example, the pilgrimage within the summer peak must be mentioned, even though pilgrimage is not a part of these official rituals. Likewise, it would be interesting to relate the religious activity of yamabushi who leave the mountain to answer the daily religious needs of the

people removed from Haguro-san. Therefore, the reader must keep in mind that the official ritual year of the four peaks is much narrower than the full religious year of Haguro Shugendo. The four

peaks have been selected to introduce Shugendo, showing how

Shugendo is deeply involved in religious practices within the mountains.37

SUMMARY

Shugendo is a very complex religious phenomenon, and only re-

cently has it come to be studied in Japan. The aim of this essay is to introduce Shugendo, both in its over-all development through a brief historical sketch and in its concrete character through an

analysis of selected rituals of Haguro Shugendo. This essay can do no more than provide a general understanding of the history and character of Shugendo. Nevertheless, several basic aspects of the

study are worth noting. The nature of Shugendo, although diverse in its origins and

complex in its development, may be said to constitute a religious movement in its own right. That is, rather than trying to view

Shugendo as an aspect of Shinto or Buddhism or folk religion, one must understand it as a religious phenomenon per se. Once Shug- endo is recognized as a religious phenomenon, it is possible to understand its organizing force, for, even if Shugendo has borrowed most of its rituals, doctrines, and paraphernalia, it has created from them a distinctive pattern of gaining religious power through confinement, asceticism, and pilgrimage in the mountains. Both the

general sketch of Shugendo and the concrete analysis of seasonal rituals at Haguro reveal a distinctive character. This leads to the

problem of the method for studying Shugendo. It follows that it is not enough merely to distinguish and label the elements within

37 The late Hideo Kishimoto has written an interesting analysis of these four peaks with special reference to his typology of "mountain asceticism," but it cannot be treated herein. See his "Sangaku Shugyo-Dewa Sanzan ni okeru Shukyoteki Shugyo ni tsuite," ("Mountain Asceticism-Concerning the Religious Asceticism within the Three Sacred Mountains of Dewa"), in his collection of essays, Shukyo Gensho no Shoso (Tokyo: Y6shobo, 1948), pp, 153-76.

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Shugendo if we wish to understand it as a religious unity. It is necessary to analyze the concrete religious forms-rituals, symbols, doctrines-in order to arrive at a general understanding of the total religious life. The author suggests that such an approach to Shug- endo will enable us to unify its many diverse elements and thereby to render comprehensible an important movement within Japanese religious history.

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Four Ritual Periods of Haguro Shugendō

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