KoyaQuest
History of Mt. Kōya
History of Mt. Kōya
History of Mt. Kōya
Mt. Kōya, which celebrated the 1,200th Anniversary of its Founding in 2016, has a rich and vibrant history. As the spiritual center for one of Japan’s most influential religious sects, its story is entwined with the destiny of Japan’s most powerful people, many of whom will rest upon the mountain for eternity. But the history of Mt. Kōya is also linked with the lives of millions of men and women of faith who have made the once arduous journey to this sacred mountain in search of salvation and spiritual rejuvenation. To visit Mt. Kōya is to experience the collective legacy of its distinguished and dramatic past.
The earliest reference to Mt. Kōya contained in the historical records appears in a letter from Kūkai addressed to Emperor Saga (r. 809-823) in the year 816 AD. Written ten years after his return from China, Kūkai's letter praises the progress that Buddhism has made in Japan but expresses regret that the country still lacks a suitable location where priests could devote themselves to the practice of meditation.
According to scripture, such a place should be located on "an open plain deep in the mountains."
The 43-year-old Kūkai adds that he knows of such a place from his youth when he used to journey on foot through the mountains of Kinokuni (present-day Wakayama Prefecture). He describes it as a "quiet place called Kōya (literally 'high plain')" which is surrounded by peaks in all four directions and where there are no trails made by men.
Kūkai concludes his letter with a request for permission to establish a monastery at Kōya for the practice of meditation. In his petition, he avows that the monastery would benefit not only those seeking to practice Buddhist austerities in accordance with the teachings of the sutras; it would also be to the merit and benefit of the nation.
Kūkai sent his petition to Saga on the 19th day of the sixth month of 816.
In less than a month, Kūkai received Saga's permission to proceed with his plan. (It is from this year, incidentally, that the monastery recognizes the establishment of Mt. Kōya, which celebrated its 1,200 anniversary in 2016.)
Under the original terms of the grant, Mt. Kōya was entrusted entirely to Kūkai who would be free to build and conduct his rites beyond the control of the state. This, however, also meant that there would not be any support from the government. Kūkai would have to finance his project by himself.
Although Kūkai quickly dispatched some of his disciples to begin the work of clearing the land and building its earliest residences, Kūkai's duties in the capital prevented him from making the journey himself for almost another three years.
Finally, in the late spring of 819, Kūkai oversaw the formal consecration of his monastic complex which was given the name Kongōbuji 金剛峯寺 or "Temple of the Vajra (or Diamond) Peak."
The plans for the ceremonial center of the complex were drawn up by Kūkai himself. They called for a shrine to the local Shinto deities to the west, with a lecture hall, central gate, temple bell and great pagoda at the center. The structures that we see today at the Danjō-garan stand in roughly the same locations prescribed in Kūkai's original design.
Kūkai would not live to see the complex completed, nor would he be present for much of the construction as he was regularly called away by the imperial court for the performance of official duties.
The very first of these summonses — to serve within the Ministry of Central Affairs (Nakatsukasashō) — came soon after the dedication ceremonies at Mt. Kōya. It was followed in the year 821 by a commission to oversee repairs to a reservoir on the island of Shikoku. And in 823, he was given charge of Kyoto's Tōji Temple.
This was the most significant of many such appointments held at various temples throughout this period of Kūkai's life. (The iconic five-tier pagoda that rises above Tōji Temple today is a 17th century reconstruction of the original tower built by Kūkai. )
In addition to official duties, Kūkai also found time to establish a school called the Shugeishuchi-in 綜藝種智院. Located a short distance from Tōji Temple, it was the first school in Japan which, in Kūkai's own words, would give "sons of the poor the opportunity to seek knowledge." Sometimes known as the School of Arts and Sciences, the academy's innovative curriculum combined teachings from Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism.
Kūkai's service to the state in these various capacities was deemed so indispensable that even when a severe illness caused him to request a discharge from his directorship of Tōji Temple, Emperor Jun'na (r. 823-833) initially refused.
Eventually, however, Kūkai's deteriorating health forced him to curtail his official activities and return to Mt. Kōya to prepare for his death.
In the following two years, he successively entrusted the administration of Tōji Temple and then Kongōbuji to two of his closest disciples. He subsisted on a restricted diet and spent most of his days in meditation.
On the fifteenth day of the third month in the year 835, Kūkai passed away surrounded by his followers at Mt. Kōya. He was interred in compliance with his wishes at the Gobyō of Oku-no-in. As is often pointed out, the Shingon faithful do not refer to this as Kūkai's death but as his entrance into a state of perpetual meditation (or samadhi) known as nyūjō 入定. This belief, as we will see, was an important factor in the growth of Mt. Kōya and the popularization of its Shingon teachings in later centuries.
Just before Kūkai left this world, he was granted authority to ordain priests under state sponsorship. Kongōbuji, which began as a private temple, was now recognized as a quasi-state sponsored institution (jōgaku-ji 定額寺).
It is traditionally believed that, before his death, Kūkai designated his nephew Shinzen 真然 (804-891) as his successor. And it is this man who is credited with completing many of the important buildings that make up the Danjō-garan, including its Great Pagoda. Shinzen is also said to have introduced several important educational regimens for the training of Shingon priests. As a testament to his important role, Shinzen's mausoleum stands at the end of a short corridor off the main visitor's route through present-day Kongōbuji Temple.
No sooner had the monastic complex attained a state of completion in conformity with Kūkai's wishes than it began to descend into a period of decline.
In the year 994, a lightning strike led to a fire that engulfed many of the major halls and temples of Mt. Kōya, including the monastery residences. Left without a place to live, the priests of Mt. Kōya fled to the hamlet of Amano, halfway down the mountain.
While the fire of 994 was one of many conflagrations to beset the monastery over the centuries, it posed the greatest threat to its continued existence for a number of reasons.
First of all, in its earliest stages, Mt. Kōya was rarely inhabited year round. During the coldest months of the year, its priests would often abandon the monastery to seek shelter at lower elevations.
It is also important to understand that Mt. Kōya, at the beginning, was not the center of Shingon Buddhism as it is today. That role was played by Kyoto's Tōji Temple, which was closer to the center of political and cultural influence. Furthermore, the relations between these two temples were not as fraternal as one might expect. The refusal of Shinzen, in 876, to return a set of scrolls borrowed from Tōji Temple spawned a long-enduring friction between these two institutions.
A more systemic impediment for Mt. Kōya was that the directorship of Kongōbuji was often held as a dual post by the head priest of Tōji Temple, who typically resided in Kyoto. (It was not until the 12th century that the head of Kongōbuji would be required to actually live on Mt. Kōya.)
Finally, there was the ever-present matter of money. Although Kongōbuji was a quasi-state sponsored temple, it could not count on the state to automatically assume the cost of repairs.
Mt. Kōya may have remained a deserted monastery were it not for a vision that caused a priest from Nara's Kōfukuji Temple to journey to Mt. Kōya in the year 1016. Lighting a lamp before the mausoleum of the great teacher — who had since been given the posthumous name of Kōbō-daishi — the priest dedicated himself to the daunting task of rebuilding the ruined pagodas, halls and residences of Mt. Kōya.
The priest's name was Jōyo 定誉 (957-1047) but he is better known to visitors to Mt. Kōya as Kishin-shōnin 祈親上人, for that is the how he is identified on the lamp he lit more than one thousand years ago. That lamp, which is said to have remained lit all these years, can be seen today behind the altar of the Tōrōdō Latern Hall.
Jōyo sent out a call to numerous Buddhist temples throughout Japan urging them to contribute to the restoration of Kōbō-daishi's temple, and he installed himself on the mountain to oversee the repairs.
The changes that Jōyo brought to Mt. Kōya went beyond the effort to rebuild what had fallen to ruin. As his appeal for assistance crossed denominational lines, priests from various sects soon came to settle at Mt. Kōya, and they brought with them the distinct practices and beliefs of their respective sects. One in particular was the recitation of the nembutsu (calling upon the name of the Buddha Amida) which was a core practice of the Pure Land School of Buddhism.
In later periods, the introduction of practices from other sects was not without opposition from more conservative Shingon priests of Mt. Kōya, but this ecumenical trend would prevail and give Mt. Kōya a distinct characteristic that it maintains to this day.
Along with Pure Land teachings came another important idea that would greatly enhance Mt. Kōya's reputation. This was the idea known as mappō 末法 (literally, "the cessation of the dharma"). According to the Lotus Sutra, which was central to Pure Land and several other sects, the era after Shakyamuni (a.k.a., Siddhārtha Gautama) would be the third of five major epochs. The end of this period would come when Shakyamuni's teachings had lost their power to lead people to salvation; it would be characterized by conflict and natural disasters.
Many Japanese in the 11th century believed that they were living in the age of mappō and turned their attention to the Buddha of the Future, Maitreya (Miroku, in Japanese), whose appearance on earth would lead humanity to paramārtha, the "supreme truth."
A promise made by Kūkai before his death that he would remain in meditation on Mt. Kōya until the appearance of Maitreya led to a belief that the vicinity around his mausoleum was the place where the future Buddha would be revealed.
In 1023, Fujiwara no Michinaga 藤原道長 (966-1028), the most powerful man in Japan and a devotee of the Pure Land faith, made a pilgrimage to Mt. Kōya. This was followed by the donation of an estate to help underwrite continuing repairs. It also prompted many other high officials and even emperors to make their own journey to the mountain.
Toward the end of the Heian Period in the late 11th century, several retired emperors who had entered Buddhist orders upon their abdication took an active interest in the expansion of Mt. Kōya. Shirakawa 白河(1053-1129) made no fewer than four visits and the donation of several estates. Some of the important buildings belonging to the Danjō-garan began as structures that were originally completed through his generous and enthusiastic patronage. A lamp said to have been lit by Shirakawa and to have been burning continuously ever since is featured prominently at the Tōrōdō Latern Hall alongside that of Jōyo.
Two important customs that have contributed to the popularization of Mt. Kōya as a religious destination and which also help explain its significance are the practice of burying handwritten copies of sutras and the practice of consigning human relics before the mausoleum of Kūkai. Both of these customs can be traced back to the example of Fujiwara no Michinaga's famous visit in 1023. Before he left Mt. Kōya, Michinaga had several sutra, including one he had copied himself, buried at Oku-no-in. Three years later, his daughter, Empress Shōshi 彰子 (988-1074) would leave a lock of her hair to be interred before Kūkai's mausoleum. At the time she had already taken the tonsure as a Buddhist nun and was known as Jōtōmon-in 上東門院. (Students of Japanese literature will remember her as the empress served by Murasaki Shikibu, the author of the Tale of Genji.)
The consignment of Jōtōmon-in’s hair was the earliest recorded instance of a human relic being enshrined at what would grow to become the vast necropolis of Oku-no-in.
The practice of copying sutras to be buried there, or mainōkyō 埋衲経, finds its analog in the modern-day custom of shakyō 写経 which is offered (for a small fee) at various locations around Mt. Kōya. (See here for details.)
All of these practices speak to the belief in Mt. Kōya as Buddhist Pure Land where the future Buddha will one day appear to lead men to salvation.
The popularization of Mt. Kōya as Buddhist Pure Land also gained momentum at this time through the activities of a group known as the Kōya-hijiri 高野聖.
These were itinerant priests, typically belonging to the common class, who first came to Mt. Kōya shortly after its restoration under Jōyo. The hijiri divided their time between residence on the mountain and travels throughout Japan during which they spread the story of Kōbō-daishi and his miraculous powers. They collected funds for the maintenance of the temples and transported relics of the dead for interment at Oku-no-in.
The Kōya-hijiri were one of three separate ecclesiastical communities at Mt. Kōya. The smallest of the other two groups was made up of the more orthodox priests known as the gakuryo 学侶, who dedicated their energies to the maintenance of traditional Shingon teachings and practices. They were joined by the gyōnin 行人, who handled the day-to-day administrative business of the monastery.
While the activities of the Kōya-hijiri assisted in the expansion of the monastic complex and increased its fame, their presence was also a source of discord. Not only were the hijiri regarded as the least prestigious community on the mountain, their prioritization of Amida Buddha instead of Dainichi Nyorai placed them at odds with the Shingon doctrine followed by the more traditional priests of Mt. Kōya. Similarly, while the hijiri may have done more than any other group to popularize the name and reputation of Kōbō-daishi, their simplification of his complex teachings was controversial.
Another major figure to bring important changes to Mt. Kōya at this time was Kakuban 覚鑁 (1095-1144). This priest, who first came to Mt. Kōya at the age of 21, rose through the ecclesiastical hierarchy to become the head of Kongōbuji Temple in less than 15 years.
Convinced that Shingon beliefs and practices had deteriorated, Kakuban sought to reinvigorate the sect through an assimilation of Pure Land belief. This attempted synthesis centered on Kakuban’s conviction that Dainichi Nyorai and Amida were merely two different names for the same essential essence. Applying esoteric exegesis to the practice of the nembutsu, he attempted to reveal the secret meaning in the syllables used in the mantra of Amida.
As part of his reforms and with support from imperial patrons, Kakuban established two new centers of learning at Mt. Kōya. The first was the Shō-Dempō-in 小伝法院 in 1130 and the second was the Dai-Dempō-in 大伝法院 in the following year.
While Kakuban was interested in achieving a deeper assimilation of different doctrinal currents and practices, his actions, ironically, contributed to a schism between the more conservative priests of Kongōbuji and his newly founded temple-academies, which soon came to be seen as rival institutions. The discontent over doctrinal issues was exacerbated when estates once belonging to Kongōbuji were transferred to Kakuban's new establishments.
The fact that Kakuban had secured Kongōbuji’s ultimate independence from Kyoto’s Tōji Temple did little to assuage the growing resentment.
In 1134, Shirakawa named Kakuban the head priest of the Dai-Dempō-in to which he later added the directorship of Kongōbuji, making Kakuban solitary head of these two institutions.
In 1140, while Kakuban was in seclusion at Mt. Kōya’s Mitsugon-in, his temple and educational centers were attacked by warriors dispatched by Kongōbuji.
Kakuban escaped and relocated to Negoro-dera Temple (across the Kinokawa River valley from Mt. Kōya) where he remained for the rest of his life. In time, his successors would establish at Negoro-dera the sect known as Shingi-Shingon-shū (新義真言宗 or “New Shingon”), of which Kakuban is regarded as the founder.
Mt. Kōya experienced a period of reconstruction and expansion through the patronage of emperors and powerful members of the Heian aristocracy. This interest would continue in various forms during the era when the samurai class would rule Japan.
The country’s first great warrior clan was the Taira, who rose to unprecedented political prominence by providing both financial and military support to successive emperors. Two critical rebellions in the middle of the 12th century saw the family under Taira no Kiyomori 平清盛 ( 1118-1181) become the de facto rulers of the entire nation. In the year 1149, when another lightning strike caused yet another catastrophic fire at Mt. Kōya, it would be Kiyomori who provided the funds for the immediate reconstruction.
A famous legend regarding Kiyomori's patronage at this time claims that he used some of his own blood to color a portion of the Womb Realm mandala of the Kondō. While it is certain that Kiyomori dedicated this mandala on the occasion of its restoration to the temple, it is not clear if his actual blood was used to complete this so-called "blood mandala."
In any event, his choice of medium was apt for a warrior whose political and military ascendency ushered in a centuries-long period of bloodshed.
The hellish death of Kiyomori and the tragic downfall of the Taira are chronicled in The Tale of the Heike (平家物語 Heike monogatari). The memorable opening passage of this tale describes the tolling of a temple bell as a reminder that nothing lasts forever and that the mighty are soon fallen.
In the aftermath of the war, many warriors who had awakened to this fundamental Buddhist truth found their way to Mt. Kōya to live out the rest of their lives in pursuit of salvation. They included both vanquished samurai who had fought for the Taira as well as warriors from the winning Minamoto side.
This gathering together of former foes within a common religious community is another example of the inclusivity maintained at Mt. Kōya throughout the centuries.
The story of a famous warrior named Kumagai Naozane 熊谷直実 (1141-1208) illustrates the power of spiritual reconciliation afforded at Mt. Kōya.
Kumagai fought for the Minamoto in the Gempei War that brought an end to Taira rule. At the battle of Ichi-no-tani, as the Taira were fleeing by boat, Kumagai spotted one of their generals riding his horse into the surf. In response to Kumagai’s challenge, the two men fought and the Taira general was defeated.
As Kumagai prepared to cut off his victim’s head, he noticed that the general was a young man of only sixteen or seventeen, with the powdered face and blackened teeth of an aristocrat. Moved to pity by the that fact that the boy was the same age as his own son, Kumagai wished to let him live. But with more soldiers from his own side approaching, he realized that it would be best if did the killing himself as quickly as possible. Before he did, however, he promised the young man that he would dedicate his life to offering prayers for the young man’s salvation.
The identity of Kumagai’s victim was later revealed through a flute that the youth carried with him into battle. He was Taira no Atsumori 平敦盛 (d. 1184), the son of Taira no Tsunemori.
After the war, Kumagai became a disciple of the holy man Hōnen 法然 (1133-1212), the founder of the Pure Land sect. He changed his name to Renshō 蓮生 and dedicated himself to the recitation of the nembutsu.
In 1190, Hōnen instructed him to go to Mt. Kōya to the mortuary temple of Kumagai’s family and to add a memorial tablet for Atsumori along with those of his own father. According to the origin story provided by the temple itself, Kumagai remained on the mountain for the next 14 years.
The temple where Kumagai lived is now known as Kumagai-ji and is located not too far from the entrance to Oku-no-in. A gorintō monument to both Kumagai and Atsumori can be found within the Oku-no-in cemetery itself (a few steps beyond the Nestorian Stele)
Another important person associated with Mt. Kōya and a contemporary of Kiyomori (they were born in the same year) was the poet-priest Saigyō 西行 (1118-1190). Born to a samurai family as Satō Norikiyo, Saigyō turned his back on his professional career to devote himself to a life of religious and poetic practice. He became one of the most famous poets of his day and is still admired as one of Japan’s greatest literary figures.
Saigyō, who is known for his extensive travels throughout Japan, settled at Mt. Kōya in his early 30s and remained there for most of the next thirty years. Despite his commitment to a life in the mountains away from the cares and distractions of the mundane world, he is known to have made frequent visits to the capital where he remained active in poetic circles.
His personal collection of poetry is called the Sankashū 山家集, or “Collected [Poems] from my Mountain Home,” and contains many reflections on his eremitic life in places like Mt. Kōya. Among the selections in the Sankashū that we can be sure were composed at Mt. Kōya is a set of poems — many that begin yama fukami ("deep in the mountains") — sent from Mt. Kōya to Saigyō’s friend and fellow poet-priest Jakuren 寂蓮 (1139–1202).
yama fukami
naruru kasegi no
kejikasa ni
yo ni tōzakaru
hodo zo shiraruru
Deep in the mountains
the close approach of
indifferent deer
tells me how far removed
I am from my former world
The slight hint of nostalgia for the life he has renounced is common to many of Saigyō’s poems where he sometimes seems to struggle with the conflict between obedience to his Buddhist vows and a lingering attachment to the things of beauty in this world.
A tree known as Saigyō’s Cherry stands today in front of the Sammai-dō at the Danjō-garan. The story goes that the original tree was planted there by Saigyō himself when the temple was moved to its present location.
Changes to Japanese aesthetics brought by the rise of the samurai can be seen in some of the remarkable wooden sculptures found at Mt. Kōya.
The powerful realism of the early Kamakura sculptors Unkei 運慶 (1150-1223) and his contemporary Kaikei 快慶 (dates unknown) associated with Nara’s Kōfuki-ji Temple evince the tastes of the ascendant warrior class. Notable examples at Mt. Kōya include the Kongō-rikishi of the Daimon.
One can easily imagine how the ferocious expressions, muscular physiques and aggressive poses of these figures found favor with men who devoted their lives to combat.
Other masterpieces from the same Kei-school of sculpture are the Eight Attendants of Fudō Myō-ō now on display at the Reihōkan Museum.
The defeat of the Taira gave way to rule by the Minamoto under Minamoto no Yoritomo 源頼朝 (1147-1199) who established the Kamakura Shogunate headquartered in the eastern (Kantō) region of Japan. The era of Japan's first military government brought many changes including several religious innovations that would have a lasting effect on the country.
The Kamakura Era saw the addition of several important Buddhist sects to the eight that had already existed in Japan. These included the establishment of the Pure Land School as an independent sect (Jōdoshū 浄土宗), followed by the True Pure Land School (Jōdoshinshū 浄土真宗).
These two influential branches of Buddhism were founded, respectively, by the priest Hōnen 法然 (1133-1212) and his disciple Shinran 親鸞 (1173-1263), both of whom were former members of the Tendai order of Mt. Hiei.
Each of the Pure Land schools stressed salvation through faith alone — specifically in the principal vow (or hongan 本願) of Amida Nyorai, which could be expressed simply through the sincere intonation of the phrase, “I take refuge in the Buddha Amitabha.” Amitabha’s vow was to lead anyone who called on his name to rebirth in the Pure Land.
The simplicity of this path to salvation was an explicit repudiation of the rigorous religious training and indoctrination espoused by the other established schools of Buddhism. It made Pure Land belief extremely popular among the masses, but it also made it a target of criticism and censure. Both Hōnen and Shinran would be temporarily exiled by the state.
Another school of Buddhism to rise to prominence during the Kamakura Era was Zen, which — through its emphasis on meditation and intuitive apprehension of the truth — similarly posed a challenge to more established teachings and practices. Zen, of course, goes back to 7th century China and was known in Japan in the Nara Period. It was not, however, until the Kamakura Era and propagation by priests like Eisai 栄西 (1141-1215) and Dōgen 道元 (1200-1253) that Zen began to attract interest among the wider Japanese populace.
By the time that these newer sects were gaining popularity, Shingon and the monastery at Mt. Kōya would certainly have been seen as part of the establishment. But, unlike the powerful temples of Nara and Mt. Hiei which participated directly in the efforts to suppress the newer branches, Mt. Kōya seems to have remained above the fray.
It is important to remember that Kūkai himself presented a challenge to the established (and often corrupt) temples of his day and was a strong advocate for bringing salvation to the common man.
During their travels throughout Japan, both Hōnen and Shinran would spend time at Mt. Kōya, and each now has a grave located at Oku-no-in.
With the rise of a military government, the power of the nobility back in Kyoto waned. But patronage of Mt. Kōya by both groups continued. As a result, Mt. Kōya grew significantly in popularity and wealth during the Kamakura Era.
One very famous benefactor from this period was Hōjō Masako 北条政子 (1156-1225) known to the Japanese as the "nun shogun." The wife of the first Kamakura shogun as well as the mother of the second and third (Sanetomo 実朝 [1192-1219] and 頼家 Yoriie [1182-1204]), Masako herself would rule the nation for a six-year period after the assassination of Sanetomo in 1219.
A rather gruesome episode at this time caused Masako to become an ardent supporter of Mt. Kōya.
A year after Sanetomo’s assassination, Masako tracked down a son of her late husband born to one of his other consorts. The son, who had been born and raised in obscurity out of his father’s concern for Masako’s jealousy, had taken the name Jōgyō 貞暁 (1186-1231) and was living as a priest at Mt. Kōya. Despite his reputation as a devout priest, Masako wanted to make sure that Jōgyō had no intention of renouncing his vows and staking a claim to political power. When confronted by this question, Jōgyō promptly took a small dagger and gouged out his left eye.
Convinced by this display of sincerity and the spiritual conviction that made it possible, Masako was converted into an devoted patron of Mt. Kōya. She donated funds for the establishment of Zenjō-in 禅定院 for the memory her husband and son. This temple would later be re-dedicated as Kongō Sammai-in 金剛三昧院.
Benefitting from the growth of the newer sects and the well-established belief in Mt. Kōya as a “Pure Land,” many religious pilgrims, including reigning and retired emperors, flocked to the mountain. It was at this time (1285), incidentally, that the stone monuments known as chōishi were erected to mark the traditional path to the monastery.
The Kōya-hijiri remained active and continued to solicit donations from across the country. Significant revenue was also supplied by an increasing number of memorial services performed for the dead. The number of temples on the mountain swelled to nearly two thousand.
In addition to the donation of funds for the construction of new temples, wealthier patrons endowed Mt. Kōya with vast estates (shōen) which would provide a massive influx of wealth.
Material interests, even when they are necessary for the support of religious functions, can come into conflict with more spiritual concerns. The management and protection of Mt. Kōya's vast estates made certain concessions unavoidable.
To give one curious example, farmers living in areas adjacent to its properties were often in conflict with the monastery over issues like water rights. A solution which was carried out over generations was for these farmers to have their sons ordained and installed as monks at Mt. Kōya. The idea was that these priests would then be in a position to advocate for their family’s interests. Clearly, such motives for taking the tonsure were not the purest, but that was the reality.
A more unsettling reality, as it came in direct violation against established regulations for monks, was the formation of a private militia, presumably drawing on the skills and know-how of the many former veterans who had settled at Mt. Kōya after the Gempei and other wars.
As historians point out, the sōhei 僧兵 or “warrior monks” of Mt. Kōya were non-belligerent and constituted a strictly protective force. This noninterventionist policy was put to the test during the violent struggles that brought the Kamakura Era to a close.
At the end of the Kamakura Era, Japan was once again plunged into a period of strife. Beginning in 1324, Emperor Go-Daigo 後醍醐 (1288-1339; r.1318-1339) challenged the authority of the military regime, now controlled by the powerful Hōjō clan 北条家. His efforts eventually led to the Kenmu Restoration (1333-1336) when political power was once again restored to the reigning emperor. This brief period was followed by the establishment of the Ashikaga Shogunate and a decades-long split within the imperial house known as the Northern and Southern Courts Period (Namboku-chō 南北朝).
In 1333, the son of Go-Daigo — an imperial prince named Moriyoshi Shinnō 護良親王 (aka Morinaga, 1308-1335) — fled to Mt. Kōya after a defeat in battle. The priests provided him refuge, at one point even hiding Moriyoshi under the roof of the Great Pagoda to evade the troops that had come looking for him. The clergy of Mt. Kōya could claim that their effort to protect Moriyoshi fell under their obligation to provide sanctuary to anyone in need and that they were not taking sides in an external conflict. Yet they must have recognized that the move was a risky one. Two centuries earlier a similar episode at Mt. Hiei's Miidera Temple would provoke Taira Kiyomori to have that temple destroyed.
Go-Daigo’s ambitions came to an end in 1336 when a decisive military victory by Ashikaga Takauiji 足利尊氏 (1305-1358) forced the former emperor to take refuge among the monks of Mt. Hiezan’s Enryakuji Temple. Takauji himself settled in Kyoto under the recognition of the emperor of the Northern Court. While fighting between the two imperial factions would continue for several years, the establishment of the Ashikaga shogunate was a fait accompli. The Muromachi district in Kyoto where the Ashikaga lived gives its name to the era of their rule by military government.
In the end, Mt. Kōya seems to have benefited from the external chaos as both the Northern and Southern Courts and their respective allies sought to form alliances with the now-powerful monastery of Mt. Kōya. To be clear, support from the great Shingon center was coveted not due to its spiritual influence but simply because it had become a major landholder.
By not taking a side in the imperial dispute, Mt. Kōya was able escape any dangerous entanglements. Moreover, it was actually able to leverage its neutrality to attract donations and other favors from both sides.
Another effect of the instability of the times was the development by the monks of Mt. Kōya of a streamlined system of managing its regional estates which was introduced at the end of the 14th century. Their simplified and innovative approach gave the monastery more direct control of its properties at time when the administration of such affairs was so very often the cause of conflict. Interestingly, the famous warlords of the succeeding centuries would adopt a similar model for their own estates.
While Mt. Kōya escaped the discord that had embroiled the nation as a whole, the monastic community was not sparred its own internal disputes.
In the two decades spanning the beginning of the 15th century, the priests Yūkai 宥快 (1345-1416) and Chōkaku 長覚 (1340-1416) led a revival of doctrinal studies of Shingon teachings at Mt. Kōya. While each scholar-priest established his own separate school of thought, their combined effort resulted in a revitalization of Shingon scholarship – one which was largely more conservative in its priorities.
This, in turn, resulted in further friction between groups like the Hijiri, who had adopted more innovative practices. One in particular that drew the ire of the conservative scholar-priests was the "nembutsu dance" 踊り念仏. This was a feature of the Ji-shū sect 時宗 founded by a former Pure Land priest named Ippen 一遍 (1239-1289). As its name suggests, "odori-nembutsu" was an actual dance in which participants celebrated their joy in Amida’s salvation with shrill flutes and clanging cymbals.
Despite the fact that the Hijiri had done more than anyone else to popularize the mountain among the general public, growing frustration with their unorthodox methods prompted the reformers to expel the Hijiri in the year 1413. (A century later, after another major fire destroyed most of the temples at Mt. Kōya, it would be the Hijiri who would once again make the greatest contribution to the reconstruction efforts.)
The two lines of Shingon scholarship established at this time (called the Hōmon 宝門 and Jumon 寿門, respectively) would continue to provide Mt. Kōya with its clerical leadership until the foundation of the Daishikyōkai 大師教会 in 1913. At that time, their respective temples were merge to form Hōju-in Temple 宝寿院.
In the second half of the 15th century, a succession crisis within the ruling Ashikaga family led to a protracted conflict known as the Ōnin Disturbance 応仁の乱 (1467-1477). This ten-year civil war is generally regarded as the beginning of Japan’s so-called “Warring States” period (Sengoku-jidai 戦国時代). It was characterized by the collapse of Ashikaga rule and the nation-wide power struggle to fill the vacuum. It concluded with the rise to power of Oda Nobunaga 織田信長 (1534-1582) — one of Japan's most notorious warlords and the man who would eventually pose the greatest threat to Mt. Kōya's continued existence.
During this time, many temples of Mt. Kōya began to form protective partnerships (known as shidan-kankei 師壇関係) with particular daimyō.
In a typical instance, a temple would rededicate itself as a mortuary temple (bodai-ji菩提寺）for the clan of a particular daimyō in return for support and security. A related arrangement to these partnerships was the shukubō 宿坊, or “temple lodging,” system which also emerged at this time with the same purpose.
A legacy of this practice is the continued use by many of Mt. Kōya’s temples of the family crest 家紋 of their former patron clan. So, for example, we find Seijō-in 清浄院 using the paulownia crest of Uesugi Kenshin 上杉謙信 (1530-1578), Rengejō-in 蓮華定院 using the six coins of Sanada Yukimura 真田幸村 (1567-1615) and Sōji-in 總持院 using the nine stars of the Hosokawa Clan 細川家.
Another reminder of this era is the present-day name of the main street that runs through Mt. Kōya. Odawara-dōri takes its name from the Odawara Hōjō 小田原北条 clan who had entered into sponsorship of Takamuro-in Temple, which is located on this street
To be continued...
© 2024, k. collins