Sannō Shintō Also Known As “Tendai Shintō”
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DOI: URL: https://religiondatabase.org/browse/896 Poll: Religious Group (v6) Published on: 02 August 2020 Sannō Shintō also known as “Tendai Shintō” Data source: Own research (PhD) and secondary literature By Emanuela Sala, SOAS * Data Source entry, prepared based on data sourced from an external project. Entry tags: Buddhist Traditions, Japanese Religions, Shintō, Religious Group, Kami worship Sannō shintō refers to narratives, doctrinal analyses and artistic depictions related to the “mountain sovereigns” (jp. Sannō), the deities of the Hie shrine, now Hiyoshi taisha, in Sakamoto at the foothills of Mount Hiei. In Sannō shintō, the identity of the Hie deities is chiefly conceptualised with the vocabulary and semiotic framework of Tendai Buddhism, and in special (but not exclusive) relation to the lineages residing at the Enryakuji on Mount Hiei, to this day the main Tendai centre in Japan. While the first extant sources relating the Hie deities to the Enryakuji date back to the ninth century, Sannō shintō reached its apex as a discourse in the middle ages (12th-15th century), throughout which the majority of the material extensively treating the identities of the deities was collected. More concretely, Sannō shintō can be defined in two ways. In a narrow sense, it only indicates discourses produced at the Enryakuji, mostly mythological and doctrinal, which establish correspondences between the deities of Hie and specific Buddhas and bodhisattvas. Although Sannō is a collective term for the whole host of deities enshrined in the twenty-one shrines of Hie, most often the “mountain sovereigns” are three of them: Ōmiya, presiding over the western compound of the shrines; Ninomiya, presiding over the eastern, and Shōshinji, also a deity of the western compound. In the “strict” definition of Sannō shintō, these are considered as emanations of, or identical to, three Buddhas: Śākyamuni, the main Buddha of the Western pagoda area of the Enryakuji (saitō), Yakushi (sskr. Bhaiṣajyaguru), presiding over the Konpon chudo in the Eastern pagoda area, and Amida (sskr. Amitabha), presiding over the Yokawa area. Such correspondences are sanctioned by monastic treatises such as the Keiranshūyōshū (14th century). At a broader level, however, we can say that Sannō shintō is also made up of discourses on the deities of Hie that do not quite befit the narrow interpretation. For instance, these might be mythological accounts produced at the Hie shrine, touching upon subjects such as the origin and enshrinement of the deities; accounts of the festival held each year for the deities, as well as monastic discourses which do not quite conceptualise the deities within the same correspondences of the narrow definition. In this entry I shall adopt the broader definition for three reasons. Firstly, because the medieval Hie shrines and Enryakuji were closely intertwined from an institutional point of view. Secondly, because the correspondences of the narrow definition do not represent the full extent of the diachronic evolution of Sannō shintō. Thirdly, because the “narrow” definition of Sannō shintō presupposes the “broader” one, especially from a mythological perspective. Thirdly, because textual material that presents the correspondences of the “narrow” version of Sannō shintō often also includes accounts produced not by monastics, but by priestly lineages at the shrines. Such is the case for two of the the texts which are considered synonymous with Sannō shintō, Yōtenki (13- 15th century) and Sange Yōryakki (13th century). Taking account of this, in consulting this entry one should keep in mind at all times that Sannō shintō was not a conscious religious group, but a discursive field comprising various mythologies, ritual and devotional aspects, all joined together by being centred on the same deities and the same place. Please note that this article focuses on the medieval discourse on the Hie deities, but not on Sannō ichijutsu shintō, the pre-modern discourse issued from Sannō shintō but focused on the Tōshōgū, in Nikko. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Please see our Terms of Use here: Page 1 of 43 Attribution 4.0 International license. https://religiondatabase.org/about/credits © 2020 Database of Religious History. For any questions contact The University of British Columbia. [email protected] Date Range: 800 CE - 1571 CE Region: Lake Biwa area, Kyōto and Mt Hiei Region tags: Japan Kyōto, Sakamoto, Mt Hiei, and the Lake Biwa area, where the origin tales on the deities are set, and where the festival dedicated to the Sannō deities is conducted. Status of Participants: ✓ Elite ✓ Religious Specialists ✓ Non-elite (common people, general populace) Sources Print sources for understanding this subject: — Source 1: Sugahara Shinkai 菅原信海, Sannō Shintō no kenkyu ̄ 山王神道の研究, Tōkyō, Shunjus̄ ha, 1992 — Source 2: Satō Masato, “Sannō shintō no kyōri” 山王神道の教理, Kokubungaku kaiyaku to kanshō 国文学解 釈と鑑賞, vol. 52, pp. 32-38 — Source 3: Grapard, Allan G. “Linguistic Cubism: A Singularity of Pluralism in the Sannō Cult,” Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 14, 2/3, 1987, pp. 211–234 Notes: For a history of the Hie shrine in English see Breen, John, and Teeuwen, Mark, A New History of Shinto, Chichester; Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Online sources for understanding this subject: — Source 1 URL: http://eos.kokugakuin.ac.jp/modules/xwords/entry.php?entryID=362 — Source 1 Description: Encyclopedia of Shintō entry by Satō Masato General Variables Membership/Group Interactions Are other religious groups in cultural contact with target religion: — Yes Is the cultural contact competitive: — Yes Is the cultural contact accommodating/pluralistic: — Yes Notes: Sannō shintō mythologically relates to other shintō lineages and institutions in different ways. Firstly, on the level of relations among deities. The deities (kami) of the Hie shrine are recounted to uphold family relations with the deities of other shrines, for instance the two Sala, Database of Religious History, 2020 Page 2 of 43 Kamo shrines in Kyoto and the Matsunoo shrine, south of Kyoto. The specific relations vary in different sources. In the Yōtenki (12-15th century), the deity of Matsunoo is said by one shrine priest to be the grandfather of one of the deities of the Western compound of Hie, whose mother is the deity of the Kamo shrine. This mythological kinship reflects kinship claimed within the priestly groups. A second kind of relationship is of identity. The deity of the main shrine of the Western compound of Hie, called Ōmiya, is considered identical to the deity of the Miwa shrine, in Yamato, especially in sources issued from a monastic environment. This identity is also claimed in sources issued from the kami-worship tradition of the Miwa shrine (see reference for the latter). Reference: Anna Andreeva. Assembling Shinto: Buddhist Approaches to Kami Worship in Medieval Japan. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Asia Center. Is the cultural contact neutral: — Yes Is there violent conflict (with groups outside the sample region): — No Does the religious group have a general process/system for assigning religious affiliation: — Yes Notes: There is an ordination platform for Tendai monastics and high ranking priests are hereditary, but there is no affiliation procedure for those who worship at the shrine or attend the festival. Assigned at birth (membership is default for this society): — Yes Notes: Only in the case of high ranking priests at the Hie shrine (Hafuribe family) and only in the sense that their position (for instance as high priest, or negi) is hereditary. Assigned by personal choice: — Yes Assigned by class: — Yes Notes: Hafuribe family belongs to a group of priestly families. No such thing for laypeople worshipping at the shrine (in which case affiliation is not required). Assigned at a specific age: — No Assigned by gender: Sala, Database of Religious History, 2020 Page 3 of 43 — No Notes: But monastics and priests are overwhelmingly male, while there are oracular roles at the shrine which employ the expertise of shamanesses. Assigned by participation in a particular ritual: — Yes Notes: In the sense that Enryakuji monastics have ritual initiations (kanjō) whereby they are affiliated to one or many specific tradition (in this case within Tendai), and there exists a sannō kanjō and other ones related to, among other things, knowledge of kami matters. Assigned by some other factor: — Yes [specify]: Legends on ancestors of priestly lineages tell how their role came about after a manifestation of the deity. Does the religious group actively proselytize and recruit new members: — No Does the religion have official political support — Yes Notes: The primary aim of the Enryakuji/Hie shrine is to protect the imperial palace and the "state". High ranking priests at the shrines from the Hafuribe family are part of an official priestly ranking sanctioned by the Bureau of kami matters (jingikan). The shrine received imperial donations as part of an imperially-sanctioned system of twenty-two shrines with state sponsorship. Monastic rank (sōi) was also sanctioned by the polity. In the Heian period, monastic expeditions to China were funded by the government. This, however, does not mean that the government supported "sannō shintō", and relates more broadly to the institutional landscape from which sannō shintō issued but of which it is one aspect. Are the priests paid by polity: — Yes Notes: The Hie shrine received imperial offerings. Is religious