Glossary

Soliciting donations widely from the public to fund the building or repair of temples, pagodas, images or bridges; the monks who undertook it were called kanjin hijiri.

A general term for the smaller shrines within a shrine precinct other than the main shrine, including subsidiary and auxiliary shrines, standing around the sanctuary or in a corner of the grounds.

A school of Buddhism founded by Nichiren in the Kamakura period that holds the Lotus Sutra to be the one true teaching and stresses chanting its title, Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō; its head temple is Kuonji on Mount Minobu in Yamanashi.

The Buddhist teaching of rebirth in the paradise of Amida, a broad current of faith rather than a single sect, embracing the Jodo and Jodo Shinshu schools among others.

Thirty deities believed to guard the Lotus Sutra, each taking one day of the month in turn; in Nichiren temples they are enshrined in a banjindō, and are also called simply banjin.

A single Sanskrit letter standing for a Buddha or bodhisattva, also written with a different second character; carved on stone memorials such as itabi and hōkyōintō and on ritual objects, it identifies the deity honoured.

A school of Zen Buddhism brought from Song China by Dogen in the Kamakura period and centred on seated meditation; its two head temples are Eiheiji in Fukui and Sojiji, founded by Keizan.

The esoteric Buddhist school founded by Kukai in the ninth century, centred on Mount Koya and divided into many branches, named in records to characterise a temple.

The fusion of kami worship and Buddhism that shaped Japanese religious practice until the two were separated by government order in the early Meiji period, leaving traces in guardian shrines within temples and bell towers within shrines.

The periodic rebuilding of a shrine and transfer of its sacred object to the new hall at fixed intervals, best known at Ise, from which retired halls are sometimes granted to other shrines.

The school founded by Saicho in the ninth century, seated at Enryakuji on Mount Hiei, combining esoteric practice with the teaching of the Lotus Sutra and giving rise to many later schools.