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Paper short abstract

This paper demonstrates that the late Heian period Buddhist statues preserved at local cultic centers near the main sutra mounds of Katsuragi Shugendō played a symbolic role in sanctifying the periphery of the Katsuragi mountain range during the formative period of the Katsuragi Shugendō tradition.

Paper long abstract

Katsuragi Shugendō formed around the veneration of Mount Kongō and Mount Kazuraki, later establishing twenty-eight sutra mounds corresponding to the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sūtra along the coast from Tomogashima to Kamenose. The Shōzan engi (Origin story of various mountains), compiled in the early Kamakura period, outlines the overall layout of these ascetic sites. However, the precise timing and methods involved in the creation of each sutra mound and ascetic site remain unclear. This paper examines those Buddhist statues that were transmitted to temples adjacent to major ascetic sites. By identifying a distinct period of statue production in the late Heian period at these local cultic centers, I aim to obtain clues for inferring the formative phase of Katsuragi Shugendō. One subject is the late Heian period Amida Nyorai triad and the seated Fudō Myōō statue transmitted to Gokurakuji Temple (Nakatsugawa Gyōja-dō) near the seventh sutra mound. Located on the northern edge of the Kokawadera Temple domain, this site appears to have been established as a sacred place for mountain ascetic practices by the holy-man Kokawa Hijiri, who was also revered at court. Another focus is the Buddhist statues transferred from Jinpukuji Temple, adjacent to the second sutra mound, to the nearby Sainenji Temple. Recent investigations have confirmed the presence of a late Heian period standing statue of the Eleven-faced Kannon, a seated statue of Daiitoku Myōō, and a standing statue of Jizō Bosatsu (transmitted as a kami-statue of Hachiman). A document placed inside the seated statue of Daiitoku Myōō (early Edo period) records a tradition attributing its creation to En no Gyōja himself. The creation and enshrinement of these Buddhist statues, crafted by Buddhist sculptors active in central areas, can be understood as having played a symbolic role in sanctifying—and thereby centralizing—the peripherality of the Kazuraki mountain range. Moreover, this may have been instrumental in the formation of Katsuragi Shugendō ascetic sites.