Rev. Miyagi Tainen

Head Priest (gomonshu) of Shogo-in Temple Honzan Shugen Honshu (Kyoto)

Miyagi Tainen was born in 1931. In his youth he worked for a newspaper company and was active in Anti-War campaigning. As part of his Anti-War work he became close to the Buddhist community in Vietnam, a connection which he maintains to this day. In 2007 Miyagi became the head of the Honzan Shugen lineage based out of Shogoin temple.

Shogo-in is a headquater of Shugendo, a harmonised religion of Buddhism and mountain (and other animist faith) worship. The temple had changed sites several times in Kyoto due to fire disasters; the present building was reconstructed in its birthplace in 1676.

The temple has had an intimate relationship with the royal family due to numerous members of royalty serving as head priest (monzeki). In 1788 the emperor at the time stayed in Shogo-in as his temporary imperial palace in order to avoid fires which had burnt down most of the city. The building consists of a Shinden, the ceremonial and administrative center of the temple, which was originally transferred from the imperial palace.

Inside the building more than 130, 300 year old sliding door paintings (fusumae) are preserved. These are the works of Kano Masunobu and Kano Einou, both belonging to the school of Kano, which is most celebrated in Japanese history. The paintings of the temple are full of vivid colours, gold, natural plants (pine trees), birds (peacocks and cranes) or Chinese historical facts. Plenty of statues related to Shugendo are conserved in the temple, such as Fudomyo-o, En no-Gyoja and Zao-ou-Gongen. Fudomyo-o is considered the fundamental image of worship of Shugendo, known by his facial expression of anger. However, his hair style, wrinkles on the face, physical features, posture, belongings etc all stand for some Buddhist preaching.

The temple conserves not only a statue of Fudomyo-Ou, but several others that were rescued from abandoned temples. Ennogyoja was alive around 1350 years ago and the founder of Shugendo. Kongo Zaou-Gongen is a consolidated form of three differed forms of Buddhist worship, namely Shaka-Nyorai, Kannon-Bosatsu and Miroku Bosatsu.

From ancient times, people in Japan believed that deities inhabit any place - mountains, sea etc. In other words they believed in nature itself as being the deities. In the 6th century, Buddhism was introduced to Japan, but the previous deities were not expelled. The deities were worshiped in a position with the Buddhas instead. Specifically, they assumed that the deities were the temporary appearances of the Buddhas. Shugendo was formed as a result of this unique form of faith, influenced by Confucianism, Taoism and so on.

Shugendo aims to train the mind and the body through mountain practice. The practitioners are called Yamabushi and they wear the traditional uniform named 'Suzukake'. Not only do they perform rites for the deities and the buddhas, but traditionally they also utilised their knowledge about medical herbs and so on learned through mountain life.

"The teachings of Shugendo are to seclude oneself in the mountain-forests and to cleanse our obscurations, to construct an appropriate practice ground and engage in the disciplined practices of the school, to worship the Principal Image (本尊; honzon) and to give praise and practice according to the Law of the Dharma."

Japan was familiar with Shugendo for a long time, but in the Meiji era, Shugendo faced too much oppression. In 1868 the government issued the ordinance to distinguish Shinto and Buddhism, and in 1872 they constituted a law banning Shugendo. In addition, an anti-Buddhism movement brought more difficulty to Shugendo. After that matter, Shogo-in's branch temple, which had amounted to 25000 in the past, decreased sharply to 500. And then, only 150 branch temples are in existence now.

We can hardly ever see Yamabushi in today's Japan. But their existence are well known to people, and they still continue to practice in various places.

— ubasoku | what is shugendo?