Rev. Riten Tanaka

Head of temple office of the Kinpusen Shugen sect and head-priest of Rinnanin Temple (Ayabe).

Mr. Riten Tanaka is a former head priest of Kinpusen Temple. He started his practice of Shugendo when he was a child under his father’s guidance. Thanks to Mr. Riten Tanaka efforts, the pilgrimage trails of Kumano became registered as a world heritage site ( cultural heritage) by UNESCO in 2004.

The Beginnings of Shugendo

Taken from A Way of Life Called Shugendo
Translated by Jishō Schroer

"Before the archipelago of Japan had any sense of national identity tied to the construct of a nation state, there existed, since ancient times, a belief born out of reverence for nature which dates all the way back to the Jomon period. This ancient belief is probably the basis of what is know understood as 'mountain-faith' (山岳信仰; sangaku-shinko) as well as the belief in kami (神信仰; kami-shinko).

This faith of the common people who lived in harmony with nature must not have been a faith in which they only sought to satisfy their own wishes. Such beliefs held by the common people are not easily found and are rarely preserved in documents and records.

I believe that the faith of Shugen was established on the basis of such popular beliefs. At the same time, I believe that the development of Shugendo during the times of En'no Gyoja ushered in a new stage of faith . It is said that the idea of a unified country, which had been called Yamato, began to be called Nihon during the time of Emperor Tenmu and Emperor Jito. These were the eras in which the Ritsuryo system was introduced. This system, which was introduced following the example of China, aimed at the creation of a centralised state and system of authority. En'no Gyoja lived exactly during these times. In other words, as this nation-state was being established from above, it was En'no Gyoja who symbolised the beliefs and cries of the common people, who gathered together in defiance. What was it that this identity of 'Nihon' aimed at? The nation-state was the idea of creating a large coalition subsumed under the power of the Emperor. In other words, this era marked the emergence of policies which favoured great power above others (大国主義; taikokushugi).

German philosopher Karl Jasper (1883-1969) argued that during the ages when smaller-scale domination transitioned towards the ideology of Great Power, Sakyamuni, Confucius, Jesus Christ and Muhammad all appeared as holy-sages who carried the logic of the common people. The anthropologist-philosopher Shinichi Nakazawa has also written that during the era of Emperor Tenmu and Emperor Jito, the ideology of great-power over others emerged from a situation where powerful clan groups competed to dominate one another.

During this period, En'no Gyoja appeared as a holy-sage who carried the logic of the common people on his back. As En'no Gyoja responded to the people, ascetic practices can be said to have taken root in a new way. I've been holding on to this theory for a long time. Although nothing definitive written by En'no Gyoja remains with us, we find that he is enshrined all over Japan and that Shugen continued to have great power and influence among the common people.

Even when Shugendo was destroyed by government policies and the 'separation of kami and buddhas' during the Meiji period, its roots could not be completely pulled out. Not only could it not be rooted out, but Shugendo's way of life continues to be transmitted to this day. I think the reason why Shugendo couldn't be completely destroyed is because from the time when the great power of the nation state first emerged, En'no Gyoja appeared as a holy-sage on the side of the common people. That is, the aspirations and wishes of the common people continued to be tied to and symbolised through En'no Gyoja. Taking into account Karl Jasper's theory, I believe that En'no Gyoja lives on as the echo of common people's desires for something different from the logic of great-power and the nation state. History can be viewed from both the perspective of the logic of the nation state and the perspective of the logic of the common people. It is only when we review history from these perspectives that we can come to a proper evaluation of En'no Gyoja and understand why Shugen has continued to resonate throughout history with the common people.

As described in the imperially-commissioned Japanese history text, the Shoku Nihongi (続日本紀), I think the fact that En'no Gyoja was exiled and sentenced to death in the remote island of Izu-Oshima is proof that there was a holy-sage (聖; hijiri) named En'no Gyoja who embodied the ideals of the common people and the anti-establishment sentiments which existed against the logic of great power and domination."

See also Rev. Riten Tanaka`s introduction here. 

 —ubasoku |  what is shugendo?