Research on the Legitimacy of En-no-Gyoja's Biography in Esoteric and Exoteric Temples in the Middle Period

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K02389
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese literature
• Research Institution: Shujitsu University
• Principal Investigator: Kawasaki Tsuyoshi 就実大学, 人文科学部, 教授 (70281524)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 仁木 夏実 明石工業高等専門学校, 一般科目, 准教授 (40367925)
• Research Collaborator: Okochi Tomoyuki ; Heather Blair
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 役行者 / 箕面寺縁起 / 修験道 / 灌頂 / 大峯

Outline of Final Research Achievements

From the late Heian Period to the late Kamakura Period, Shugendo gradually came to be be recognized as a stream of Japan’s Buddhism and became part of legitimate history for Japanese Buddhism transmitted from India. One of the most influential books was “Mino’o-dera Engi”, which told that En-no-Gyoja, the founder of Shugendo, had received abhiseka from Nagarjuna Bodhisattva in his dream, before Kukai. After that, some monks said that Yamabushi had received abhiseka from En, by their ascetic practices, through Mt.Omine, like En. Some monks in Exoteric and Esoteric temples, for example Onjoji or Todaiji Tonan’in, also accepted this view under their own existing conditions. As a result, En was generally recognized as a member of the legitimate genealogy of Japan’s Esoteric Buddhist teachings.

Free Research Field

日本文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

国内外を問わず、修験道は日本固有の山岳宗教とみられてきたが、その評価は古代以来変化し続けてきた修験道のありようの一面を伝えるに過ぎない。本研究では、中世には、顕教・密教と並ぶ正統な日本仏教の一道として修験道は存在し、そのありようにふさわしい修験の歴史や祖師の伝記が創出され定着したことを解明した。その成果は、日本固有という安易な評価を相対化し、歴史的な存在として修験道を再評価するのに寄与すると同時に、時々の状況を正当化すべく作り伝えられた伝記や縁起の機能の重さを再認識するのに寄与すると考える。