bodhisattva as warrior god the curious case of … 1...patricia yamada* bodhisattva as warrior god...

Patricia Yamada*

Bodhisattva as Warrior God The Curious Case of Shōgun Jizō**

Jizō veneration in Japan is mainly connected to childbirth, child rearing, long life and escape from the six possible states of rebirth (rokudō) to a Buddha’s pure land. In the cult presented here, Jizō wears armor and a helmet, carries a banner and sword (sometimes the monk’s staff and jewel) and often is mounted. First mention of Shōgun Jizō appears in the late Kamakura period in esoteric rites performed by monks and next in imperial victory petitions. His veneration as a war god (gunshin) and personal protective deity (nenji butsu) spread rapidly and widely among the warrior class (bushi) during the Muromachi and Edo periods. With dissolution of the bushi and severance of the ties between Shintō and Buddhism at the beginning of the Meiji period, his cult disappeared, and Shōgun Jizō assumed roles seen in Jizō cults popular among commoners, including protector against fire and disease, and guardian of the roads. A few new stone Shōgun Jizō images serve as memorials for soldiers who died in 19th and 20th century wars.

Keywords: Esoteric Buddhist rites – Tōnomine – Atago – War deity – Protector deity – War memorials.

How is it that a Buddhist bodhisattva considered the epitome of mercy and compassion came to be revered as a war deity? Understandably, Fudō-myō-ō with his sword, lariat and scowl and other menacing deities would be invoked by warriors.1 Why would a militant identity become an aspect of Jizō 地蔵, most

* Independent Researcher, Kyoto. I am indebted to the following people for their help in obtaining information about and access to images of Shōgun Jizō: Kojima Yoshimi and Natsuhara Jirō of the Nara Prefecture Department of Commerce, Industry and Labor; for the introduction to Shiroyama Itsuro head of the Kidera Kasaya-chō Association, caretakers of the Yoroi Jizō; Natsuhara Jirō, and Tsukamoto Yoshihisa of the Academic City Promotional Organization for Academic Research on Kansai Culture; and Nagaoka Chihiro, Official of Tanzan Shrine for their time and help with Fujiwara Kamatari as Shōgun Jizō; Catherine Ludvik, Research Scholar of Indian and Japanese Religions; Takeuchi Hiroya of Tokyo’s Minato Ward Library; and Harada Yoshiyuki for his patience and expert help with computer problems and photos.

** A preliminary version of this research was presented to the Kyoto Asian Studies Group in May 2008.

1. Others particularly revered as war deities were the syncretic Hachiman, Marishiten,

Japanese Religions, Vol. 34 (1): 25-51

26 Japanese Religions 34 (1)

often depicted in sculpture and paintings as a benign, young tonsured priest whose statues are petitioned for becoming pregnant, for safe childbirth and child-rearing, for help with business and daily and seasonal tasks, for protection of travelers, and for rescuing the dead from rebirth in the six realms of existence, particularly, from the many subdivisions of hell. When and how did this armored form of the compassionate bodhisattva2 come into being?

Sometime during the late Kamakura period, Jizō came to be considered a protector deity in a tale about the rescue of the early Heian period “barbarian-subduing generalissimo” (seii-tai shogun 征夷大将軍) Sakanoue Tamuramaro 坂上

田村麻呂 (758-811).3 Tamuramaro is credited with establishing Kiyomizu-dera 清水寺 for Enchin 延鎮, a monk of Nara’s Hossō 法相 school, shortly after Heian-kyō (soon renamed Kyoto) was founded in 794. Enchin, Tamuramaro and Kiyomizu-dera figure in a Shōgun Jizō 勝軍地蔵 tale, which legend originated near the end of the insei 院政4 years and is associated with “retired” emperors who controlled both the country’s politics and economy during others’ reigns.

There is no evidence of the Shōgun Jizō form in Buddhist sutras and writings in India. Nor is he present in Indian sutras translated into Chinese or in sutras and other writings that originated in China or the Silk Road countries of Central Asia, many of which eventually found their way to Japan. Shōgun Jizō is a unique form of the Indo-Sino bodhisattva Kṣitigarbha/Dizhang (地蔵 as in Japanese) which, like the Roku Jizō 六地蔵, Sai (or Sai-in) no kawahara Jizō 賽 (or 西院)の川原地蔵, and Mizuko Jizō 水子地蔵, was “made in Japan.”

The earliest historical references to Shōgun Jizō indicate that he emerged from an esoteric Buddhist meditation rite on the Jizō section of the Taizōkai 胎蔵

界 (Matrix/Womb World) Mandala practiced by Buddhist ascetics in mountains of the Kyoto-Nara area.5 Some eight hundred years ago his popularity spread

and historical Prince Shōtoku. (Conlon 2003: 173)2. The bodhisattva form originated early in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition.

Kṣitigarbha/Jizō is classed as a “celestial” type who chooses to work in this world to bring humans to enlightenment. For discussions of the types and functions of bodhisattvas see Kawashima (1981), Lancaster (1981) and Lopez and Rockefeller (1987: 23-29). Although a bodhisattva is considered to be without gender, given their sculptural forms, Jizō and Shōgun Jizō are here referred to as “he.”

3. Tamuramaro was granted the title in 797 11th month 5th day, and again in 801 4th month 10th day (Reischauer 1967: 223, 225, 227). He held various important positions in the Nara court and in Kyoto under its founder, Emperor Kammu (737-806, r. 782-806).

4. Literally, “cloistered government,” 1087 to 1192, begun by the retired Emperor Shirakawa. For details see Hurst (1976 and 1999: 576-643).

5. See Saso (1987; 1991a; 1991b) and Snodgrass (1997).

Yamada: Bodhisattva as Warrior God 27

throughout Japan, first in imperial prayers for victory in battles, then as a war deity adopted as the personal protector (nenji butsu 念じ佛) of leading members of the warrior class. Over time his worship filtered down to commoners in the guise of a series of indigenous “blocking” kami; averters of fires and epidemics and guardian deity of the roads.6 Few Japanese now recognize he was once an important, widely venerated war deity.7 In popular Jizō veneration his remaining armored images are now revered as types of the popular “long life” (enmei 延命) and “body substitution” (migawari 身代わり) forms of the bodhisattva.

Shōgun Jizō images survive nationwide in paintings, as well as in wood, stone and metal sculptures. He may be seated, standing, or mounted on a horse or white boar. These images carry various implements, may make a mudra,8 and may be accompanied by paired boy attendants (dōji 童子). Modern Shōgun Jizō sculptures, in stone or metal, are memorials for soldiers and sailors who died in 19th and 20th century wars.

The study which follows endeavors to trace what is known about the beginnings and dissemination of Shōgun Jizō veneration over the centuries and to document temporal changes in that veneration.

Beginnings

The earliest known written reference to a Shōgun Jizō is in a postscript to the Tōnomine9 ryakki 多武峰略記 (Brief Accounts of Tōno Peak),10 dated 1197.

Tōnoraku-in, Shōgun-dō 勝軍堂. Item, the above-mentioned temple person, Daihōshi Saigon 大法師済厳11 had it built, a Shōgun Jizō enshrined, and there underwent severe ascetic practices for the birth of his maternal grandfather, Gyōkan 堯観, in Amida’s Pure Land 往生極楽.

6. Michibiki 道導き and sai no kami 賽の神. For a discussion of ‘sae’ vs. ‘sai’no kami, dōsojin and their connection to Jizō, see Czaja (1974: Ch. II and passim).

7. An ad hoc poll of Kyoto residents aged 50 and above (100 plus persons questioned so far) has shown that very few know of the shōgun form of Jizō. One taxi driver was particularly well informed about him being the honji butsu 本地仏 of the Shintō deity of Mt. Atago, as was a woman met at the 2007 honji-suijako exhibition in the Nara National Museum. General knowledge of the existence and historical importance of Shōgun Jizō images in Kyoto and elsewhere in Japan, however, has all but disappeared.

8. Esoteric Buddhist ritual signs made with the hand or fingers. Also seen in images of buddhas, bodhisattvas and lesser deities. See Saunders (1960: passim)

9. The literal reading of 多武峰, “many warriors peak,” refers to the ‘remarkable’ military practices engaged in by many of its priest-ascetics.

10. Shudō (1970: 3), Guelberg (2001).11. Tōnomine ryakki data base translation (possibly read Saigen). A Tendai monk of

Fujiwara clan descent, about whom little is recorded. He appears to have had fairly


The Tōnoraku-in 多武楽院 , a sub-temple (betsu-in 別院 ) of the Myōraku-ji 妙楽寺 12 which from the 900s was a Heian “outpost” of Kyoto’s powerful Tendai center, Enryaku-ji, was administered by its sub-temple Mudō-ji 無動寺 , a hub of esoteric practices. Monks of the Tōnoraku-in are recorded as having engaged in “remarkable” (kenchōna 顕著な ) practices and having intermittently fought with militant priests from Yoshino and Nara’s Kōfuku-ji 興福寺 .

In the Tōnomine ryakki, the Tendai monk Saigon is recorded as having reconstructed a tahōtō 多宝塔 in 1069 at the Byōdō-in 平等院 (a Myōraku-ji betsu-in) and, at an unrecorded date by imperial decree of the cloistered Shirakawa-in, to have erected a tiled-roof sutra repository (kyōzō 経蔵) which was destroyed by fire in the warfare of 1108.13

Based on its Mudō-ji ties and esoteric practices, meditation (samadhi) on the Jizō section (‘court’) of the Taizōkai mandala 胎蔵界曼14 appears to have been a particular practice at the Tōnoraku-in, familiarly called the Jizō-dō or Shōgun Jizō-dō.

high status given his family, description as gakutō 学頭 and daihōshi 大法師, and his association with the powerful emperor Shirakawa-in. The data base states that sometime after 1108 he was disgraced and banished (配流) to the island of Ōshima 大島 (off of Okayama Prefecture) where he soon died 不帰る而去 (date unknown).

12. The Myōraku-ji is said to have been founded by the Hōsso cleric Jōe 定恵 (643-714), son of Fujiwara Kamatari (progenitor of the powerful Fujiwara clan) in the mountainous Tōnomine area. Its Shōryō-in 聖霊院 was a center of Nara Hōsso Buddhism where syncretic Buddhist-Shintō beliefs were promulgated and esoteric rituals practiced. Eventually it became the final resting place of Kamatari’s remains (under the 13-storey pagoda at what is now Tanzan Shrine) where he was venerated as the clan’s ancestral deity and later as a manifestation of Shōgun Jizō. For its ties to Tendai see Ashida (1980), Gatten (1998) and Kokubo (1972).

13. Guelberg (2001). See also Grapard (1984 and 1992) for Tōnomine’s fights with the Kōfuku-ji.

14. This entails deep concentration on and recitation of the names and dharani (mystical syllables) of the nine members of the Kṣitigarbha/Jizō court, the bodhisattva, seven ‘relatives’ representative of his virtues, and the extra figure of Gakkō 月光, (Candraprabha), for which bodhisattva see Inagaki (1984: 58). For the members of Jizō’s ‘court’ see Snodgrass (1988). For discussions of Tendai Taizōkai Mandala samadhi see Saso (1987: 1991a, 1991b). None of the figures in the court are ascribed the character 勝 or are depicted in armor. See Sawa (1976). The esoteric Bussetsu jizō bosatsu darani-kyō 佛説地蔵菩薩陀羅尼経, one of eight sutras on Jizō, and the Dharani-shū 陀羅尼集, however, describe him as “overcoming (勝) the forces of the evil deities of worldly desires and averting troubles when fighting battles.” Shudō (1979: 6) During the Nara period, meditation on Jizō’s name and dharani was frequently combined with that of his opposite, Kokūzō 虚空蔵, the bodhisattva of boundless space. In the mid-700s dedications of both as attendants of a Thousand-


That Shōgun Jizō originated in Kyoto in the early Heian period is based on the tale of Tamuramaro being hemmed-in by foes and rescued by the appearance and aid of a Shōgun Jizō and a Shōteki 勝敵15 Bishamonten picking up spent arrows, recorded in the 1322 Genkō shakusho 元亨釈書16 Enchin-den 延鎮伝 section. A much earlier account of the history of Kiyomizu-dera,17 written in the latter half of the Heian period by the courtier Fujiwara no Akihira 藤原明衡, makes no mention of a Tamuramaro-Shōgun Jizō tale. Moreover, the Kiyomizu-dera konryū-ki 清水寺建立

記 (Annals of the Construction of Kiyomizu Temple), compiled in 1207, states only that a Jizō and Bishamonten attended the Kiyomizu Kannon.18 Nor does the late 1200s story collection, Konjaku monogatari 今昔物語 provide a tale of a Shōgun Jizō, although there is one about a priestly, yatori (arrow-collecting) Jizō.19

The Jōkyū sannen yonen nichiji-ki 承久三年四年日次記 (Daily Accounts of Jōkyū 3 and 4) of the Ninna-ji, Kyoto,20 records

28th day: Kiyomizu residents and followers held a service21 and enshrined a standing Shōgun 勝軍 Jizō and a Shōteki 勝敵 Bishamonten. Seikaku hōshi 聖覚法師22 officiated. His role was to dedicate the images and the ganmon 願文23 written in grass script by the state minister Sugawara Tamenaga 菅原為長… (Shudō 1979: 3)

armed Kannon were made at the Lecture Hall of the Tōdai-ji. (Matsushima 1986: 20; Tanaka 1989: 69) During the Heian period a rite for acquiring good memory, the Kokūzō gumonji hō 虚空蔵求聞持法 which utilizes Kokūzō and Jizō dharani sutras (possibly introduced to Kūkai by Hōsso practitioners), was performed at the Kōnin-ji 弘仁寺 in Nara, and the Jingo-ji 神護寺 and Hōrin-ji 法輪時 in Kyoto and rapidly spread to Shingon temples in other areas. In that rite, Jizō’s role is subordinate to that of Kokūzō. (Tanaka 1989: 58-72)

15. Enemy-defeating Bishamonten.16. Genkō shakusho roll 9. In: Shintei zōho kokushi taiken 新訂増補国史大糸 (Great National

History: New Enlarged Edition) vol. 31 cited by Shudō (1979: 3).17. In the late Heian period, Fusō ryakki 扶桑略記. (Hayami 1975: 133) Nor is Shōgun

Jizō found in the 1318 history Keiran shūyō-shū 渓嵐拾葉集 (Collection of Leaves Gathered in a Stormy Valley). (Hayami 1975: 133)

18. Shudō (1976: 5).19. For a brief English version see Tale 3 in Dykstra (2001: 4-5). 20. Ninna-ji Archives (Shudō 1979: 3) and Dai nihon shiryō 大日本史料 (vol. 4: 16).21. The main hall and other buildings had burned down in 1191, and rebuilding under

imperial auspices probably had just finished. Up to this time there is no record of shōgun and shōteki images flanking the main Kannon.

22. 1167-1235 Jōdo sect, abbot of the Anyō-in 安居院. (Nihon bukkyō jinmei jiten 1992: 419)23. A written prayer of entreaty. This imperial one was for the destruction of Gotoba’s

adversaries.


The reason for this event was the Jōkyū 承久 war24 of 1221 waged by cloistered emperor Gotoba-in against the Kamakura shogunate and its leader Hōjō Yoshitoki 北条義時 . Shudō Yoshikie considers this imperial ganmon the first clear instance of Jizō being worshipped as a war deity (gunshin 軍神 or “ikusa” no kami 戦神 ). The two-roll Kiyomizu-dera engi 清水寺縁起, compiled in 1517, and later writings wrongly relied on the 1322 Genkō shakusho story that the Kiyomizu Shōgun Jizō cult originated in the Heian period.

Kyoto and Shōgun Jizō

Kyoto and its mountains, however, had a major role in the popularization of this form of Jizō. The Kyoto basin, referred to in historical accounts after the founding of Heian-kyō as Yamashiro 山城, “mountain castle,” originally was written 山背 “back of the mountains;” apparently not a place name elegant enough for the site of the new capital. Surrounded by mountains on three sides Kyoto is, however, at the back of Mt. Atago whose “front” is on the west in Kameoka,25 and at the back of Mt. Hie whose “front door” is to the east at Sakamoto on Lake Biwa in modern Shiga Prefecture. Both mountains were considered to guard dangerous directions (kimon 鬼門) from which evil, human or spirit, might enter the capital, and both have had close associations with Jizō in his priestly and mounted-warrior forms.26

Atagosan 愛宕山

It is not clear when Shōgun Jizō appeared on the Kyoto side of Mt. Atago as the “true ground” (honji butsu 本地仏) of Atago Daigongen 愛宕大権現, the inclusive title for the enshrined fire and thunder deities. In 1868, at the start of the Meiji Restoration (Meiji ishin 明治維新), when syncretic kami-buddha worship at sacred mountains and temples throughout Japan was proscribed (shinbutsu bunri 神仏分離), all the records of Atago’s jingu-ji 神宮寺27 (the Tendai Haku’un-ji 白雲寺)28 and the

24. See Ponsonby-Fane (1962: 134-150) and McCollough (1964 and 1968) for that war. Another reading of 承 ‘shō ’ is used by McCollough (1964, 1968); Shōkyū-ki 承久記.

25. In modern Kyoto Prefecture, but in Heian and earlier times its kuni 国 was Tanba, not Yamashiro. The “front” side of Mt. Atago had the earliest worship sites for its fire and thunder deities. It also was considered the abode of ancestral spirits. See Bouchy (1978, 1987) and Yagi (2006).

26. Jizō in priestly form was the “true ground” of Jūzenji 十禅師, a guardian deity brought to Mount Hiei from China’s Mount Tientai by Ennin 円仁, and of [at least] 24 other deities. (Matsunaga 1969: 237, n18)

27. A Buddhist temple located within or abutting the precincts of a Shintō shrine. It controlled certain major rites performed at the shrine.

28. What little is known of the Haku’un-ji comes mainly from Edo period sources.


residences (bō 坊) of ascetic monks (shugenja 修験者) and holy men (hijiri 聖)29 which also served as accommodations for members of Atago support groups (kō 講) on their regular monthly or yearly pilgrimages, were destroyed.30

Heian period chronicles and courtiers’ diaries state that the mountain’s deities were propitiated both as guardians of the imperial palace and capital and as feared agents of severe weather, but make no mention of Shōgun Jizō being their true ground.

The Tendai influence on Mt. Atago is seen in the Heian presence of “retiree monks” who wished to spend their remaining days in retreat and esoteric practice and later by shugenja and hijiri from Mount Hiei31 who remained in seclusion among the five Atago peaks for long periods.32

In the Kamakura period Shōgun Jizō veneration was practiced mainly by esoteric recluses and by retired emperors seeking to conquer their enemies.33 During the long, chaotic Muromachi period,34 however, his cult spread across the country as successive warrior class (bushi 武士) members, hoping for victory in battle and long life, adopted him both as their ikusa gami and nenji butsu.

The Shōgun Jizō cult disseminated rapidly from 1336, spurred by the Ashikaga line of shōguns and their chief officials (kanrei 管領) claiming him as nenji butsu. Ashikaga Takauji 足利尊氏 (1305-1358) took complete control of Kyoto in 1336 after three years of hard-fought battles in and around the city with Southern Court forces of the deposed Emperor Godaigo. In 1338 Takauji assumed the title seii-tai shōgun and made Kyoto the seat of his government. In the years that followed he and his descendants appropriated many previous imperial prerogatives, including the presentation of ganmon.35

29. Although there are distinctions (Earhart 1970: 161-173), in this paper I use the terms hijiri, yamabushi and shugenja interchangeably.

30. For a discussion of Atago veneration in English see Bouchy (1987: 255-276) and in Japanese Bouchy (1978: 103-139) and Yagi (2006).

31. Bouchy (1978: 109-111). 32. The five peaks are Asahi 朝日 (site of Atago Shrine), Daishū 大鷲, Takao 高尾,

Kamakura 鎌倉, and Ryūgami 竜上. They were believed to replicate the sacred peaks of China’s Wutai-shan 五台山 and were sites where monks venerated the Lotus Sutra and underwent various austerities. (See also Tōru 2006)

33. Kamakura shogunate leaders erected temples to and dedicated images of Jizō to placate the spirits of defeated foes but apparently not the armored form.

34. Dates vary according to the historical source and author. (Hall and Toyoda 1977: 11-14) I have adopted the inclusive years 1336-1573 for the Ashikaga/Muromachi 足利･室町 period, starting with Takauji’s securing Kyoto and ending with Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 establishing his shogunate at Edo 江戸 (Tokyo), and as subdivisions 1336-1392 Nanbokuchō 南北朝 (Northern and Southern Courts), 1473-1573 Sengoku 戦国 (Country at War) and 1573-1603 Momoyama 桃山.

35. See Conlon (2003) for an overview of 14th century warfare, and his Ch. 6, “Sacred War” for the Ashikaga as ‘would-be’ universal Buddhist kings.


Takauji considered Jizō, in all his forms, a particular protector36 and later believed himself to be an earthly manifestation of the bodhisattva. Existing records show that he painted many Jizō images (including the shōgun form), commissioned Jizō statues for temples of various Buddhist affiliations and when on campaign carried Jizō images in his war chest and on his body.37 At the founding of the Tōji-in 等持院 in 1339,38 the Ashikaga clan’s first Kyoto tutelary temple (bodai-ji 菩提寺), he dedicated a Shōgun Jizō painting,39 for whose enshrinement he wrote, “I wear a 3 shaku [91cm] sword and my destiny under heaven has been to be mounted and to have helped more than a hundred thousand to their deaths.” (Hayami 1975: 132) As an act of repentance he is said to have had that number of Jizō images (some the shōgun form) enshrined in temples throughout Japan.

He and subsequent Ashikaga shōguns also had a rite called the Shōgun Jizō hō 勝群地蔵法 performed.40 Moreover, a 1336 record exists of his presenting a ganmon at Kiyomizu temple41 before its Kannon, Shōgun Jizō and Shōteki Bishamonten for the subjugation of his enemies—the deposed Gotoba and army of his Southern

36. His mother, Shōshi 清子, was of the Tamba branch of the Uesugi 上杉 clan which particularly venerated Kannon 観音. Her personal belief, however, was in Jizō to whom she prayed for the safe birth of her first son, Takauji. She is said to have instilled his deep reverence for the bodhisattva. Throughout the Muromachi period, the Ashikaga maintained close ties with the Uesugi family temple, the Kōfuku-ji 光福時 in Tamba (Kadokawa nihon chimei daijiten 26, Kyoto-fu 2. 1982: 465-466). In 1339 Takauji had an Ankoku-ji 安国寺 (national prayer temple) built (now in Ayabe City 綾部市). (Kyoto dai jiten: fuikihen 1994: 28) It was one of the first of sixty-six, one per province. See also Conlon (2003: 184-185). This Ankoku-ji is Shōshi’s final resting place. It enshrines the 1.5m, hanka Jizō she petitioned for Takauji’s safe birth. (Matsushima 1986: 56, plate 89)

37. In 1349 for the 7th anniversary of his mother’s death, among the many paintings he personally produced for dedication at various temples was (at least) one Shōgun Jizō. (Shudō 1979: 7) During the New Year holiday of 1349 he presented a favored ally a painted Jizō scroll whose image had come to him in a dream. (Hayami 1975: 131-132)

38. For brief histories of the Tōji-in and Tōji-ji see Ponsonby-Fane (1956: 193-197).39. See Morisue (1939). That painting may have gone to the Tōji-ji, the second more

elaborate bodai-ji, completed after his death. It is not at today’s Tōji-in which has Takauji’s grave in its garden and a worship hall that enshrines a standing priestly Jizō image, effigies and memorial tablets (ihai 位牌) of all the Ashikaga shōguns, and a statue of Tokugawa Ieyasu. Both bodai-ji were attacked and burned repeatedly in battles against the Ashikaga in the 1400s and 1500s. The Tōji-ji was never rebuilt, and the Shōgun Jizō scroll may have perished with it.

40. Takauji ’s 1346 Shōgun Jizō hō was conducted by the hijiri Seishun 聖俊, in which prayers were said ‘against heavy disasters.’ (Hayami 1975: 132)

41. It also was read at temples throughout the provinces. (Shudō 1979: 7)


42. Rules for this ritual are in an Edo period document kept at the (Tendai) Eizan Bunko 叡山文庫. (Shudō 1979: 8)

43. Military governor (1356-1400) of 6 provinces in the Chūgoku (Central Japan) region. He led the short, unsuccessful Ōei Rebellion (1399-1400). (Kodansha Encyclopedia of Japan 1983: 7, 135; Conlon 2003: 148) After Takauji’s death, his successors found themselves repeatedly in battle against their own officials and allied clans. The situation escalated into the disastrous ten-year Ōnin war (1467-1477) followed in the Sengoku era by constant warfare between rival military clans for control of the shōgun, Kyoto and country. (Grossberg 2001: 13-64)

44. Shudō (1979: 7). Although the Ashikaga shōguns are remembered for their Zen connections, in their manipulation of Buddhism they supported various sects, notably Shingon.

45. Described in the Shōgo-in’s Shōgun Jizō engi as being of green stone (ao ishi 青石), 30.3 cm high and holding the sword of victory and banner of aspiration. See below the section Iconographical sources for these attributes.

46. See Kyoto no chimei kenshō 2 (2007: 47-51). Known familiarly as Uriuyama.

Court—an ironic echo of Goshirakawa’s imperial 1221 petition for defeat of the Kamakura shogunate army. The second, third and fourth Ashikaga shōguns also had Shōgun Jizō hō42 conducted for “tranquility under heaven” (tenka seihitsu kitō/tenka antai kitō 天下静謐祈禱・天下安泰

祈禱. Yoshiakira 義詮 held the ritual in 1350 at five Kyoto temples of various affiliations, Yoshimitsu 義満 held one in 1399 at the Jissō-ji 実相寺 (an important sub-temple in the Tō-ji 東寺 Shingon complex whose main image was Jizō) for the subjugation of Ōuchi Yoshihiro 大内義弘,43 and in 1408 Yoshimochi 義持 also held this rite, again at the Jissō-ji.44

Uriuzan 瓜生山

The tiny stone45 Uriuzan 瓜生山46 Shōgun Jizō, in a small, former Buddhist hall on Maruyama off the road to Mt. Hiei and the Enryaku-ji, is tied to clashes between the Ashikaga clan and its presumed allies. Characters (See Fig. 1) on its paper talisman are a phrase from the Enmei Jizō sutra which roughly translated says, “Every morning [he] enters and teaches in the six realms of existence rokudō 六道 saving [souls] and giving comfort.” The Shōgo-in’s 1773 copy of the 1762 Shōgun Jizō engi states Fig. 1 – Old Uriuzan ofuda

(Author’s Collection). See also, Manabe (1960, plate p. 16).


47. Although the name Gokōgon-in 後光厳院 (4th emperor of the Northern dynasty, r. 1353-1371) is inscribed, it is not clear whether he dedicated the image. (Shudō 1979: 17)

48. Shudō (1979: 17). The original stone base of its shrine has been excavated at the site of that temple. Also, the site has the name of a Wu tai-shan peak.

49. 城 usually translated ‘fortress’ rather than ‘battle camp’ or ‘castle.’50. For Takakuni and the Byzantine conditions of that time, see Berry (1982: 19-21 and

1994: 74, 75, 135-142).51. In 1763, the imperial abbot Shōgo-in no miya Chūyō shinnō 聖護院の宮忠誉親王

(1722-1728) moved the image down to Jizō Valley 地蔵谷 on the southeast side of Uryūzan and had a small hall built for it. (Shudō 1979: 16-17; Kadokawa chimei daijiten, Kyoto fu 1982: 247-248). Its present site farther down at Maruyama 丸山 (established in the mid-Edo period) made it more accessible to the city and popular with residents seeking protection from small pox.

52. In Kaitaishi seki shoran 改史籍集覧, book 13 as cited by Shudō (1979:17).53. Shudō (1979: 2). There is no record of the leading war lord Oda Nobunaga revering

Shōgun Jizō. 54. Kenshin is recorded as having affixed his seal to a Marishiten gatten ko shōgun jizō 摩利

支天月店勝軍地蔵 at Togakushi. (Shudō 1979: 15-16 )55. Takauji dedicated prayers and a sword to the Kyoto Atago deity.56. Mitsuhide climbed Mt. Atago before attacking Nobunaga and asked its Shōgun

Jizō for a positive omen but did not receive one. Seventeen days after assassinating Nobunaga, he was killed in a bamboo grove at Ogurisu (southern Fushimi, Kyoto) by

that this image was dedicated in 1361,47 much higher up at Eagle Ridge (washi-o 鷲尾) in the precincts of the Jōgan-in 乗願院,48 a temple on the shugendō circuit around Mt. Hie.

In 1521 a ‘battle camp’ (yamashiro 山城)49 was erected by Hosokawa Takakuni50 on Uriuzan 瓜生山 close to an important access road linking Kyoto, Mt. Hie and Shiga Prefecture. Takakuni’s troops are believed to have taken the image from the Jōgan-in and installed it above the entrance to their fort for protection. Thereafter, people called the area Shōgun Jizō yama or Shōgun yama.51 The Ashikaga kiseiki 足利季世記 (Last Ages of the Ashikaga) section 5, under Shōgun Jizō gunki 勝軍地

蔵軍記,52 mentions other mid-1500s battle camps set up nearby by the Ashikaga shōguns Yoshiharu 義晴 and Yoshitane 義植 in 1547, Yoshiharu [again] in 1550 and Yoshiteru 義輝 in 1558, by which time the right to succession as shōgun was under severe challenge by once subordinate military leaders.

During the years of the Country at War, the cult of Shōgun Jizō spread widely among warrior leaders.53 Uesugi Kenshin 上杉謙信 (1530-1578), whose nenji butsu was Fudō-myō-ō, also had ties to the Atago Shōgun Jizō installed by Atago hijiri at Togakushi54 in Shinano (now Nagano Prefecture). Principal warrior leaders of the Muromachi period considered Kyoto’s Mt. Atago Shōgun Jizō particularly efficacious: Ashikaga Takauji;55 Akechi Mitsuhide 明智光秀 (1528-1582),56 the vassal and


peasant marauders while escaping defeat by Hideyoshi at the battle of Yamazaki. His head was exhibited in Kyoto on the bank of the Kamo River at Sanjo Street.

57. Hideyoshi prayed to the Kyoto Atagosan Shōgun Jizō and the shrine’s treasure sword, Bamboo Cutter (sasa kiri 笹切), for victory in his invasion of Korea, which was not granted.

58. Mitsunari climbed the Mt. Atago of Ōmi (Shiga Prefecture) and asked its Shōgun Jizō image for victory at Sekigahara but was killed after losing to Ieyasu’s forces and his head exhibited on a pole on the bank of the Kamo River at Sanjo Street.

59. Yagi (2006) and Bouchy (1987: 109-111).60. Nihon bukkyō jimmei jiten (1992: 489).61. Also called En-no-gyōja.62. In Japanese, Ryūju 龍樹. He is considered the founder of Mahayana Buddhism. In

Tendai iconography 5-image sculptures and scroll groupings he is paired with Jizō, Seishi and Kannon as attendants of Amida. (Matsushima 1986: 45-47, plates 70-75)

63. 愛染明王 of fierce countenance but considered a deity who confers love. (Inagaki 1984: 3) 64. In Japanese, Furuna 冨楼那. One of the Buddha’s 10 great disciples, renowned for his

eloquence. (Inagaki 1984: 55-56)65. Student of Kūkai, he was steward (bettō 別当) of the Jingo-ji and engaged in esoteric

practices for many years among the Atago peaks. (Nihon bukkyō jimmei jiten 1992: 402)

66. Tendai monk (1190-1266). He founded the Otagi (same characters as those for Atago) temple at the foot of Kyoto’s Eastern Mountains in the area of modern Matsubara Street. He is said to have had deep reverence for and dedication to Jizō. (Nihon bukkyō jimmei jiten 1992: 204) Otagi-dera is now in Saga at Tōrinomoto near the base of Mt. Atago.

67. For treatment of tengu as evil see Wakabayashi (2006).68. In the 1658 Kyōwarabe 京童 6. (Shudō 1979: 6)

assassin of Oda Nobunaga 織田信長; Toyotomi Hideyoshi 豊臣秀吉 (1536-1598);57 Ishida Mitsunari 石田三成 (1560-1600),58 a major commander of Toyotomi forces after Hideyoshi’s death; and Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 (1543-1616).

When Mount Atago became a shugendō mountain sacred to Shōgun Jizō is far from clear. Accounts in existing documents and engi as to who ‘opened’ (kaisan 開山) it to syncretic Buddhism are confusing.59 It has been attributed to Taichō 泰澄,60 an eminent Nara period Hossō priest who opened Hakusan 白山; to the semi-legendary En-no-ozuno61 founder of shugendō; to the group of five Buddhist deities Jizō, Nāgārjuna,62 Bishamonten, Aizen-myō-ō63 and Purna;64 to the Shingon priest Shinsai 真済;65 and mistakenly to the Tendai priest Keishun 慶俊.66 Even the Nara period Korean priest Illa (Nichira 日羅) is said to have appeared on Mt. Atago in the guise of an evil tengu67 and, during Kammu’s reign (781-806), to have been seen in a dream as Atago Daigongen in the form of Shōgun Jizō.68


69. Shudō (1979: 15). 70. In the Atago mandala shown in this article (Fig. 6), Tarōbō replaces Taichō. 71. They commonly flank Jizō in Tendai groupings of sculpture and painting.72. This kami has yet to be identified.73. For the creation story of Japan and fire deities see Herbert (1967: 268-273, 484-485)

and Nihon kami-sama jiten (2005: 50-53 and passim).74. As early as 1571. (Bouchy 1987: 260)

The Wabuku sansai zuden 倭漠三才図伝69 lists five platforms (za 座) in Atago Shrine’s main hall with Shōgun Jizō 勝軍地蔵 in the center. In back left, is Nāgārjuna and right, Taichō Daishi 泰澄大師.70 In front left is Bishamonten 毘沙

門天 and right Fudō-myō-ō 不動明王.71 For the Okuno-in 奥院 it lists three za. In the center is Tarōbō Eijutsu 太郎栄術 with Shishitoshisen 完戸箭72 on his right and En-no-gyōja 役の行者 on his left.

Today the purely Shintō deities enshrined are the fire deity Izanami no mikoto (one of the two creator deities of the Japanese Archipelago) and several of her children,73 including her son, Kagutsuchi no mikoto whose fiery birth killed her. As well as being a war deity, Shōgun Jizō became accepted as the ‘true ground’ (honji 本地) of Kagutsuchi and Izanami, thereby gaining the role of protector against fire.

Shōgun Jizō Elsewhere in Japan

The rugged Togakushi mountain area above Nagano City is one of several places in Japan that claim to be the site where Izanami and Izanagi descended and “stirred the primal essence” to create the Japanese archipelago. It was a flourishing shugendō site (See Fig. 2) until the dissolution of syncretic deity worship. Modern highways and sites built for Olympic skiing events in 1998 have made it a popular tourist area in winter and summer. Even so, its deep recesses and sharp peaks retain the feeling of numinous power, and it remains a place of esoteric practice for both men and women.

Its lower and middle shrines combined were called the Hōkō-in 宝光院 and Kyoto’s Atago Shōgun Jizō was the honji of their kami. Farther away at Lake Suwa in Nagano was another syncretic complex. Its remaining temple the Jizō-ji, the tutelary temple of the Suwa clan, enshrines an Atago Shōgun Jizō whose talismans (See Fig. 3) ref lect the historical connection of Kyoto’s Atago Shōgun Jizō to mountains sacred to shugendō throughout Japan.

Shudō (1979) and Bouchy (1987) speculate that Kyoto Atago hijiri were actively spreading Atago Shōgun Jizō as the true ground of other indigenous kami in areas throughout the country as early as the late Sengoku years,74 perhaps even earlier in Yamato (Nara), Tamba and other areas near Kyoto.


75. The 24th of the month is Jizō’s “special day” (ennichi 縁日, literally “connection day”). Special celebrations called Jizō bon are held on or close to that day in areas around Kyoto during the month for remembrance of the dead (o-bon お盆) celebrated in July or August, depending on whether the old lunar or modern solar calendar is followed.

Fig. 2 – Remnant of syncretic kami-buddha worship at Togakushi. Atago Shōgun Jizō in relief on an undated stone Buddhist monument near the Okuno-in. (Photo courtesy of Catherine Ludvik)

Yoroi Jizō Atago Daigongen

A Muromachi period stone statue called the Yoroi Jizō 鎧地蔵 (armored Jizō), kept in a small hall in Kidera-chō 紀寺町, Nara City, shows Shōgun Jizō flanked by Bishamonten and Fudō. Sanskrit characters giving their names and efficacy for averting fire are incised below the figures. Another grouping in wood, believed to be Edo period (provenance unknown), is positioned in front of the stone monument (See Fig. 4).

This small building, cared for by the Kidera Kasaya-chō neighborhood association, is open to the public only July 24 for Jizō bon.75 I was fortunate to have been introduced to the head of the association and allowed to photograph both sculptures.

Over the centuries, Nara City has been ravaged by fires that radically altered temple boundaries. Worship halls have vanished and images been displaced or destroyed. Modern widening of roads and redistricting also contributed to changes

Fig. 3 – Two Suwa Atago-san Jizōji o-fuda. Bold characters (left) say, “six hundred turnings of the Heart Sutra.” Other characters say “for protection against f iery death and disease, and for tranquility in the home and warding off fires.” (Author’s collection)


76. Haku’un-ji was the Tendai temple on Kyoto’s Mt. Atago that oversaw the shrine’s pilgrimage associations (kō 講). The supposition is that Nara’s Haku’un-in was one of its many subordinate temples (matsu-ji 末寺).

77. I am grateful to the Kasaya-chō Association for copies of the available information from the prefectural archives, the undated Nara bōmoku sekkai (Unskillful Commentary Monks’ Dwellings in Nara Prefecture), about this Shōgun Jizō.

78. A paper talisman and cotton ‘belt’ ( fukutai/hara obi 腹帯) to be worn during pregnancy are obtained to ensure a safe delivery.

79. Item in the Nara-ken bō mesetsu kai, Kidera Kasaya-chō copy. The nearby Fukuchi-in (JTB Shin Nihon Guide #15 1975: 44-45), enshrines a massive, seated Jizō with “1000” small Jizō images in its large, lotus petal-shaped, mandorla (kōhai 光背). The temple was closely associated with shugendō practitioners in the Yoshino area. Today a recently dedicated, mounted metal Shōgun Jizō with two attendants stands in a small shrine to the left of the temple’s gate.

80. Nara, Takatori-chō, near Tōnomine on the route to Yoshino (JTB Shin Nihon Guide #15, Nara 1975: 188). The extremely knowledgeable head priest’s wife at the Fukuchi-in stated that the Kojima-dera owns an Atago Shōgun Jizō mandala (now kept in the Nara National Museum).

in the location of the Yoroi Jizō. There is little available documentation, but according to what does exist, this stone monument once was enshrined at the now defunct Haku’un-in 白雲院76 and cal led Yoroi Jizō Atago Da igonge n 鎧地蔵愛宕大権現. 7 7 In time, this image became venerated for miracles associated with protection against diseases, particularly those caused by harmful insects (doku-mushi 毒虫), rather than with esoteric Buddhist practices or warfare. Today the Kidera Kasaya-chō Yoroi Jizō also is petitioned for safe childbirth by young neighborhood wives.78

A n o l d u n d a t e d m a p o f t h e precincts of the nearby Fukuchi-in 福智

院79 shows a small Shōgun Jizō shrine (hokora 祠) in the fourth corner and

notes that it “traditionally benefitted” both the Fukuchi-in and Kojima-dera 小島

寺.80 This may have been a later site of the Yoroi Jizō or yet a different Atago Shōgun Jizō image.

Fig. 4 – Yoroi Atago Daigongen Shōgun Jizō groupings. Nara City. Stone triad Muromachi, wooden images Edo period. (Author’s photo)


81. 26m high.82. According to my source at Tokyo’s Minato Ward Library, the Enpuku-ji was destroyed

during the persecution of Buddhism (shinbutsu-bunri 神仏分離) at the beginning of Meiji. All its images and the Shōgun Jizō of Atago Shrine were moved to the nearby Shingon temple, Shinpuku-ji 真福寺. This temple was heavily damaged in the 1923 Tokyo earthquake, rebuilt and again badly damaged by fire during World War II. The original Tokyo Atago Shōgun Jizō image disappeared sometime during those years. In 1995 the Shinpuku-ji was rebuilt in its present ferro-concrete, semi-high rise form. A bronze image of a mounted Shōgun Jizō was dedicated in 1934 at the 1000-year memorial rites for Shingon’s founder Kōbō Daishi 弘法大師 (Kūkai 空海). It currently stands in back of the modern temple close to the winding approach to today’s Atago Shrine. Miyoshi (1973: 166-167) says there was a nearby cast-clay lantern with Shōgun Jizō whose inscription called it a 1-meter-high seat for a ‘wheel-turning’ valiant migawari figure dedicated by neighborhood people whose sons died in the military during WWII. Its eye opening was held in 1963. I have yet to locate the site of that memorial.

83. Atago Shrines were built throughout Japan, many on hills and mountains renamed Atago yama. Most of those syncretic Shōgun Jizō images have disappeared or been moved to nearby Buddhist temples or wayside shrines. See Miyoshi (1973, 1975 and 1976) for Shōgun Jizō images remaining in the Kanto area, the Shinhen nihon jizō jiten (1989: 174-180) for listings of 22 remaining Shōgun Jizō images in various parts of Japan; and Mori (1996: passim) for images in Osaka and Kyoto.

84. Such as the 1665 Hinami kiji 日次記事 (A Day by Day Account). 85. Miyako meisho zue 京都名所図会 (1780) and other editions. 86. Kyoto’s Ōtani University Library has manuscript copies of the Atagosan engi 愛宕山縁

起, dated 1656; Atagosan shintō engi 愛宕山神道縁起, late 1600s and the related Atago gongen reigenki 愛宕権現霊験記 (Tales of the Deity of Mount Atago), 1753. In addition, there is an earlier, Muromachi period novel, Atago jizō monogatari 愛宕地蔵物語 (Accounts of the Jizō of Mount Atago) in the Muromachi jidai monogatari-shū 室町時代

物語集 (Collection of Muromachi Period Stories). The Kyoto University Museum also houses a collection of Atago-related materials.

Tokyo’s Atago Shōgun Jizō

In 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu “invited” the Kyoto Atago deity to Edo to protect his new capital. A low hill81 was renamed Atago yama, and an Atago Shrine built on its top, which shrine was regulated by its jingu-ji, the Enpuku-ji 円幅寺.82 Thereafter, the cult of Shōgun Jizō spread rapidly among warrior clans in the Kanto area and throughout the north.83

During the latter part of the Edo period, when there was greater leniency toward travel, illustrated and written accounts of the histories of Kyoto’s temples and shrines and miracles of their deities (engi 縁起), as well as travelers’ records of visits to the city,84 and publications describing its famous places85 enjoyed broad circulation. These Edo period Atago engi,86 Atago mandala scrolls and woodblock


87. For descriptions of tengu see deVisser (1908: 25-100), Matsunaga (1969: 257-259), Blacker (1975: 181-185) and Wakabayashi (2006). The beaked-crow form is older than the long-nosed one. Tengu at Atago were associated with the mountain’s crows and dark thunder clouds that moved southwest over the mountains in Fushimi to Uji as seen in the folk tale, Atago no tengu to Asahiyama (undated).

88. The Lotus Samadhi Sutra. It contains dharani and provides an explanation of meditation on the void. (Inagaki 1984: 106)

89. The complex relationship between Shingon and Tendai and veneration of Shōgun Jizō is beyond the scope of this article.

90. For comparisons of the existing Japanese versions see Hayami (1975: 135-139) and Shudō (1979: 8-14).

91. The Shōgun jizō engi by Shōgo-in Chūyō 忠誉, dated 1762. It gives the history of the Uriuzan Shōgun Jizō and his iconography.

92. Hikkyō, the ‘utmost void,’ 9th of 18 voids distinguished in the Daibon-hannya-kyō 大品

般若経 (Makahannya haramitsu-kyō 魔訶般若波羅蜜経). (Inagaki 1984: 149-150, 202)93. In the Fuhenkōmyō-shōjōshijō-nyoihōin-shinmunōshō-daimyōō-daizuigu-darani-kyō 普遍光

明淨熾盛如意寶印心無能勝大妙王大隋求陀羅尼経 (abbr. Zuigu-kyō). (Inagaki 1984: 374)

prints (See Fig. 5) showing a mounted Shōgun Jizō and related deities in Buddhist, tengu87 and yamabushi forms also encouraged people to visit Kyoto’s Mt. Atago and its Shōgun Jizō cum fire prevention deity.

Iconographical Sources

What is the origin of the imagery of this most unusual representation of the bodhisattva Jizō? No precedent exists in the Buddhist canon, but various Japanese writings have tried to legitimate the form of Shōgun Jizō by linking it to Japanese versions of the esoteric Hokke zammai-kyō 法化[華]三昧

経 inherited from China.88 Only one of the three existing Japanese versions provides his iconography. (See Fig. 7 and 8, p. 42) It is thought to have been fabricated in the late Kamakura period, probably by a Shingon priest,89 although the sutra has strong links to the Tendai esoteric tradition.90

The Shōgo-in’s Shōgun Jizō engi 91 gives this description.

He wears the peacock void (hikkyō kūjaku 畢竟

空寂) helmet92 and wish-fulfilling spell armor (zuigu darani 93no yoroi 隋愚陀羅尼鎧). His left

Fig. 5 – Ōt su- e 大津絵 ex h ibit ion announcement, 1988, showing a mounted Shōgun Jizō. These folk art paintings produced in Ōtsu (Shiga Pref.) were popular souvenirs sold to travelers on the Tōkaidō, the main highway between Kyoto and Tokyo. (Author’s collection)


Fig. 6a – Kyoto Atagosan silk mandala, dated 1763. Dimensions 51×90cm, central section, 27×50cm. Central figure: Mounted Shōgun Jizō 勝軍地蔵 in red and black armor with the banner of victory. Upper left: Ryūju 龍樹 (Nāgārjuna); right, Tarōbō 太郎坊 as a beaked-tengu shugenja. Attendant on Shōgun Jizō: left, Bishamonten 毘沙門天; right, Fudō-myō-ō 不動明

王. Below center: En-no-ozuno 役小角, legendary shugendō founder, his two demon attendants and two lion dogs (koma inu 狛犬). (Author’s collection)

Fig. 6b – Back of the mandala: Characters say that on an auspicious day in the 8th month of Hōreki 寶暦 13 (1763) the Atagosan Nagatabō painter-monk (hōin 法印) Kankō 貫康 “opened the images’ eyes” (kaigen 開眼) for the 5 listed representatives of an Atago pilgrimage association (kō 講).


Fig. 8 – Life-size, seated hanka 半跏, Shōgun Jizō in the main hall of the Shiga-in 滋賀院, Sakamoto, Shiga Prefecture. He wears a blue surplice over blue armor, both with colorful polychrome decorations. His monk’s staff (or banner) is missing. Originally the image of the defunct Taishaku-ji 帝釈寺, Sakamoto villagers safeguarded the statue and later transferred it to the care of the Shiga-in. (Author’s photo)

Fig. 7 – Atagosan Shōgun Jizō ca. 50cm high. Light green robe and armor with intricately cut gold leaf patterns (kirigane 截金). The complex design of his helmet (inset) reflects the iconography in the apocryphal version of the Renge zammai sutra. (Auction catalogue photo courtesy of Kogirekai)

Fig. 7 – Close-up of the helmet


94. They appear in the Japanese-composed Jizō bosatsu enmei kyō (see Ōshima and Watari 1985) and are present, but hard to see, at the bottom of the photo of Tokyo’s Anritsu-in monument (Fig. 10).

95. Reminiscent of Jizō’s role in the Kiyomizu-dera Shōgun Jizō tale.96. Normally attendant on Fudō.97. The myō-ō (vidyā rāja) are Indian divinities absorbed by Buddhism as protector deities. 98. Discussed in Shudō (1979: 9-10). For Ryōjo and Kamatari as Shōgun Jizō see Kuroda

(2004: 128-138).

hand holds the banner of aspiration for enlightenment through ascetic practices (hosshin shūgo no hata 発心修行幢), and his right one grasps the sword of victory over soldiers of the karma of evil deeds and passions (akugō bonnō no gun ni shō no tsurugi 悪業煩悩の軍に勝の剣). (Shudō 1979: 16)

Another writing given in Hayami (1975), the Yogan kongō jizō bosatsu hiki 与願

金剛地蔵菩薩秘紀 (Secret Record of the Diamond Vow of the Bodhisattva Jizō), says that the Daishō kongō himitsu zammai 大勝金剛秘密三昧 section of the Renge zammai-kyō 蓮華三昧経 states

He who is called Shōgun Jizō wears a helmet on his head and armor on his body. He carries a curved blade [sickle?] on his belt, bears a great sword, has bows and arrows on his back, and holds a bending to his will [conquering] banner in his left hand and a sword in his right one. He assists on the battlefield facing the enemy … swirling them about like autumn leaves before the wind. (Hayami 1975: 134)

The fabricated version of the Renge zammai sutra that explains Shōgun Jizō’s iconography has

… [he] wears the helmet of the virtual void [nirvana] and on his body the zuigū darani armor. He bears the great sword of diamond wisdom (kongō chi 金剛智) of victory over armies of evil deeds and passions, and carries the conquering banner of ascetic practice that awakens bodhi 菩提… At his left and right hands [respectively] are Shōzen 勝善 and Shōaku 勝悪, two child-like attendants.94 Shōzen is Kongara dōji 矜羯羅童子 who gathers up arrows95 and who’s honji is Fugen 普賢. He investigates and governs the Dharma nature hōshō 法性. Shōaku is Seitaka dōji 制多迦童子. His honji is Monju 文殊 [to whom] ignorance surrenders.96 Shōgun Jizō’s ‘helmet of the void and tranquility’ is the heavenly hiding place of the sun and moon discs. The jeweled star on his helmet becomes all stars, numbering three hundred sixty-eight trillion [See Fig. 7 and 8]. The sleeves of his armor are the Dual World ryōkai 両界 mandalas. His breastplate is Fudō-myōō, and his leg coverings the [other] four great myō-ō.97 (Hayami 1975: 134)

The apocryphal Yogan kongō jizō bosatsu hiki 与願金剛地蔵菩薩秘紀 (Secret Record of the Diamond Vow of the Bodhisattva Jizō)98 is connected to the Tendai priest Ryōjo


99. He was the 100th head, zasu 座主, of Enryaku-ji. The 8th son of Emperor Kameyama, he appears to have been involved in a plot against the Kamakura shogunate. While “visiting” the Mt. Fuji area, he learned of the arrest of his uncle Prince Munetaka 宗尊親王, then serving as the Kamakura shōgun. Ryōjo is said to have escaped dressed as a woman and fled directly to Tōnomine, where he lived out his life and promoted veneration of Shōgun Jizō. Kuroda (2004) considers the aged figure in court costume and armor shown in Tanzan Shrine’s Nichirin-no-miei 日輪御影 hanging scroll to be Ryōjo. His grave at Fuyu-no 冬野, about an hour’s hike from the shrine (accessible by road from Asuka), which is cared for by the villagers, receives yearly offerings from the Imperial Household Agency. Nagaoka Chihiro an official of Tanzan Shrine stated that Shōgun Jizō rites are still held there.

100. Kamatari usually is flanked by his sons Fuhito and Jōe. The shrine official also said that the two small attendant figures in the main hall are Edo period; whereas, the main image is much older and is said to have come from Fujiwara-kyō when the then capital was moved to Heijo-kyō (a site now in modern Nara City). For other scroll paintings of Kamatari with attendants see Shinto Art from Nara (2004: plates 5, and 7-12) and Kuroda (2004: plates 1-1 and 3).

101. See Robinson (2008) for ema as war memorials.102. See Schattschneider (2003) and Hendry (1998) for bride dolls for the dead at the

Osorezan Entsu-ji of the Shimokita Peninsula and the Kawakura Jizō-dō of the Tsuruga Peninsula in northern Japan.

良助 (1268-1318)99 and to the worship of Tanzan Shrine’s tutelary deity, Fujiwara Kamatari 藤原鎌足, as an avatar of Shōgun Jizō. The shrine’s grouping of Kamatari with his son Fuhito and Shōgun Jizō in Shintō guise (See Fig. 9) is exceptional.100

Clearly, Shōgun Jizō’s iconography and veneration originated in esoteric practices that show both Tendai and Shingon influences.

Conclusion

During the evolution of Shōgun Jizō from an esoteric religious practice to a cult deity of popular religion (minzoku shūkyō 民俗宗教) his functions changed. Modern statues sculpted in the 19th and 20th centuries are memorials for soldiers and sailors who died in modern warfare (See Fig. 10), indicative that his veneration evolved from that of war god to savior of the dead. Whether future Shōgun Jizō war memorials will be produced is doubtful as Japan’s current military is a non-combatant militia. Other types of military memorials also exist; steles honor the collective war dead, votive plaques (ema 絵馬),101 which may serve as memorials for individuals who died in wars, and bride dolls for the dead like those at the Kawakura Jizō-dō.102 In the future, existing images of Shōgun Jizō may be viewed only as historical curiosities or works of art.


Fig. 10 – Stone Shōgun Jizō memorial in the grounds of the Tendai temple Anritsu-in 安立院, Yanaka, Tokyo, dedicated to soldiers and sailors killed in WWII. Unusually, his mount is a boar, the tutelary animal of Kyoto’s Atago Shrine. He has two young esoteric multi-headed and multi-armed attendants. (Author’s photo)

Fig. 9 – Deities in the main hall of Tanzan Shrine 談山神社. Fujiwara Kamatari (left) flanked by his son Fuhito (left) and Shōgun Jizō (right and in the close up) as a Shintō deity. (Author’s photos)


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