Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses the ritual embryology developed in the Suwa-ryū Shinto, a reinterpretation of kami worship of Suwa Shrine that adopted the thought and practice of esoteric Buddhism in medieval times. The study provides a unique case for the dissemination of ritual embryology in medieval Japan.

Paper long abstract:

The Suwa Shrine, famous for its Great Pillar Festival, is often understood as symbolizing the ancient nature worship characteristic of native Shinto thought. A historical analysis, however, shows that it developed a unique Buddhist-Shinto syncretization in medieval times.

The Shrine historically consisted in a dual system of the ōhōri (大祝) and the jinchō (神長), who together reigned over the Suwa religious community. The ōhōri, generally a young child, was regarded as a kami in human form (arahitogami), descended from the clan kami to govern the Suwa county. With this ōhōri resided another religious leader called the jinchō, the shaman who alone was believed to have an ability to communicate with the kami of Suwa with his esoteric technique. Traditionally, the role of jinchō was inherited by members of the Moriya family, the native inhabitants, while that of ōhōri was held in succession by the Kanazashi family, who migrated to Suwa around the 6th century.

It is Moriya Mitsusane, the jinchō in the 15th century, that contributed to developing what he called the Suwa-ryū Shinto, a radical reinterpretation of the kami worship of Suwa that actively adopted the thought and practice of esoteric Buddhism. He adopted the esoteric initiations focused on the kami world (jingi kanjō) for the initiation rituals of the ōhōri. In the text called Suwa daimyōjin shinpi gohonji daiji (諏訪大明神深秘御本事大事), Mitsusane describes the “Suwa method of initiations” in detail by providing various mudras and mantras for the initiate. What should be emphasized is that, in the Suwa method of initiations, the ultimate kami, with which one should attain union, was not Dainichi, but Mishaguji – the kami of Suwa worshipped by the jinchō Moriya family since the ancient time. It is in this initiation rituals that we can find various embryological ideas connected with the kami of Suwa, Mishaguji.

The paper analyzes this text written by Moriya Mitsusane, explores how the embryological ideas were developed in the Suwa-ryū Shinto, and thus provides a unique case for the dissemination of ritual embryology in medieval Japan.