Paper short abstract:

A discussion of Oyashiro kanjō, a little known form of Shinto consecration ritual that was related to a unique set of secret teachings, such as Shingon embryology and visualization of the five organs, waka kanjo (knowledge on Kokin wakashu), military techniques, and even horse veterinary.

Paper long abstract:

Shintō kanjō (Shinto consecration rituals) are rituals belonging to various lineages of medieval Buddhist Shinto (Ryōbu Shinto, Sannō shinto, etc.) that were performed in occasion of transmission of secret teachings and secret texts; several types existed, such as Reiki kanjō, Nihongi kanjō, Ise kanjō, and Oyashiro kanjō. The actions and visualizations in these rituals are deeply related to Esoteric Buddhist teachings about the body-mind complex such as the visualization of the five organs (gozōkan) and the five stages of the development of the embryo (tainai goi). This influence, however, comes only in part directly from Shingon Esoteric Buddhist texts; instead, it is often inspired by contemporary medieval arts such as poetry (kadō) and military techniques (archery, horse riding), which incorporated organ visualization and ideas about embryo development and turned them into secret teachings.

This paper focuses in particular on a late medieval ritual, the Oyashiro kanjō, and explores its connections with the Esoteric Buddhist discourse on the body-mind complex on the one hand, and - much less predictably - with waka kanjō (the secret transmission of Kokin wakashū poetry collection), the secretly transmitted teachings of military techniques in Ogasawara-ryū (archery) and Jigenryū (which developed in Satsuma), and the secret teachings of horse veterinary on the other hand. By doing so, it aims at outlining the extension of Esoteric Buddhist discourse of the body-mind complex in medieval religion and the arts.