Gongen
Template:Short description Template:Italic title
Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". A Script error: No such module "Nihongo"., literally "incarnation", was believed to be the manifestation of a buddha in the form of an indigenous kami, an entity who had come to guide the people to salvation, during the era of shinbutsu-shūgō in premodern Japan.[1][2] The words Script error: No such module "Nihongo". and Script error: No such module "Nihongo". are synonyms for gongen.[3] Script error: No such module "Nihongo". is the term for belief in the existence of gongen.[3]
The gongen concept is the cornerstone of the honji suijaku theory, according to which Buddhist deities choose to appear to the Japanese as native kami in order to save them, which is based on the Mahayana Buddhist notion of upaya, "expedient means".
History
It is sometimes assumed that the word gongen derives from Tokugawa Ieyasu's posthumous name (Tōshō Daigongen). However, the term was created and started being used in the middle of the Heian period in an effort to harmonize Buddhism and indigenous religious practice in what is called shinbutsu-shūgō or "syncretism of kami and buddhas".[2] At that time, the assumption that Japanese kami and buddhas were essentially the same evolved into a theory called Script error: No such module "Nihongo"., which held that native kami were manifestations or avatars of buddhas, bodhisattvas and other Buddhist deities.[2] The theory gradually spread around the country and the concept of gongen, a dual entity composed of a buddha and a kami, evolved.
Under the influence of Tendai Buddhism and Shugendō, the gongen concept was adapted to religious beliefs tied to Mount Iwaki, a volcano, so that female kami Kuniyasutamahime became associated with Avalokiteśvara ekadaśamukha (Jūichimen Kannon Bosatsu, "Eleven-Faced Guanyin"), Ōkuninushi with Bhaisajyaguru (Yakushi Nyōrai) and Kuninotokotachi with Amitābha (Amida Nyōrai).[4]
The title "gongen" started being attached to the names of kami and shrines were built within the premises of large Buddhist temples to enshrine their tutelary kami.[2] During the Japanese Middle Ages, shrines started being called with the name gongen to underline their ties to Buddhism.[3] For example, in Eastern Japan there are still many Mount Haku shrines where the shrine itself is called either gongen or jinja.[3] Because it represents the application of Buddhist terminology to native kami, the use of the term was legally abolished in the Meiji Restoration with the Script error: No such module "Nihongo". and shrines began to be called jinja.[3]
Gongen of Japan
- Script error: No such module "Nihongo"., also called "Izuna Myōjin" and enshrined in Izuna Shrine in Nagano, is similar to a tengu and represents the kami of Mount Iizuna.[5]
- Script error: No such module "Nihongo". or Script error: No such module "Nihongo". is the spirit of a hot spring on Izusan, a hill in Shizuoka Prefecture, enshrined in the Izusan Jinja[6]
- Script error: No such module "Nihongo"., also known as Script error: No such module "Nihongo"..[7][8] The kami enshrined in the three Kumano Sanzan Grand Shrines and worshipped in Kumano shrines are the three Kumano mountains: Hongū, Shingū, and Nachi.[7]
- Script error: No such module "Nihongo". or Script error: No such module "Nihongo". is a guardian deity worshiped in Tendai spread from Mount Hiei. It is treated as a Buddhist title of Shinto Oyamakui no Kami.
- Script error: No such module "Nihongo". was enshrined in Jingo-ji in Takao as the tutelary kami of Shingon Buddhism by Kūkai.[9]
- Script error: No such module "Nihongo". is one of the most famous examples of gongen, representing Tokugawa Ieyasu posthumously enshrined in so-called Tōshō-gū shrines present all over Japan. The original one is Nikkō Tōshō-gū in Nikkō, Tochigi.
- Ishizuchi Kongo Zaō Dai Gongen (石鎚金剛蔵王大権現) one of two Zaō Gongen manifestations in Japan. The trio of Mount Ishizuchi is a manifestaion of Amitābha, Avalokiteśvara, and Mahasthamaprapta.
- Script error: No such module "Nihongo". or Script error: No such module "Nihongo". one of two Zaō Gongen manifestations in Japan. The trio from the Omine mountain range is a manifestation of Shakyamuni Tathagata, Sahasrabhuja Avalokitesvara, and Maitreya.[10]
Gongen-zukuri
Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Script error: No such module "Nihongo". is the name of a complex Shinto shrine structure in which the haiden, or worship hall, and the honden, or main sanctuary, are interconnected under the same roof in the shape of an H.[11][12] One of the oldest examples of gongen-zukuri is Kitano Tenmangū in Kyoto.[11] The name comes from Nikkō Tōshō-gū in Nikkō because it enshrines the Tōshō Daigongen and adopts this structure.[13]
See also
- The Glossary of Shinto for an explanation of terms concerning Japanese Shinto, Shinto art, and Shinto shrine architecture
Notes
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- ↑ Encyclopedia of Shinto, Gongen accessed on October 5, 2008
- ↑ a b c d Tamura (2000:87)
- ↑ a b c d e Encyclopedia of Shinto, Gongen shinkō, accessed on October 5, 2008
- ↑ Breen, Teeuwen (2000:194)
- ↑ Encyclopedia of Shinto, Izuna Gongen, accessed on October 6, 2008
- ↑ Jaanus, Izusan Gongen, accessed on October 6, 2008.
- ↑ a b Encyclopedia of Shinto, Kumano Shinkō, accessed on October 6, 2008
- ↑ Kumano Sanzan Template:Webarchive, World Heritage Registration Association, accessed on October 13, 2008
- ↑ Jaanus, Seiryū Gongen, accessed on October 6, 2008
- ↑ Encyclopedia of Shinto, Zaō Gongen, accessed on October 6, 2008
- ↑ a b Encyclopedia of Shinto, Gongen-zukuri accessed on October 5, 2008
- ↑ For details about these terms, see the article Shinto shrine.
- ↑ Jaanus, Gongen-zukuri, accessed on October 5, 2008
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References
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