The kaihōgyō practice of Mt. Hiei
1987; Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture; Volume: 14; Issue: 2-3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.18874/jjrs.14.2-3.1987.185-202
ISSN0304-1042
Autores Tópico(s)Urban and spatial planning
ResumoThe kaihogyo 回峰 tjis a unique form of Tendai mountain asceticism carried on at Enryaku-ji 延暦寺 on Mt.Hiei, the headquarter temple of the sect.It is a practice in which one walks around a prescribed nineteen mile (30 km.) route around Mt. Hiei and its environs, offering prayers at the various halls, shrines, and other holy sites along the way.Th e kaihogyo has recently caught the imagination of m a n y Japanese people interested in religion and spirituality.A number of books and articles, some scholarly but m a n y popular, have been published on it,1 and N H K , the Japanese national public broadcasting company, has aired a critically ac claimed program on the subject.In the pages below w e will attempt to give a short introduction to tms practice, first outlining its history and then briefly descriomg h o w it is practiced today. 1There are very few scholarly works on the k aih o g y o , probably because so little is known about its history.The most comprehensive work so far is Hiramatsu 1982.1 have drawn heavily on this work in w riting this paper.Kodera 1979 is the best work on the various phases in the development o f this practice; I have relied almost exclusively on this paper in w riting the his torical section below.Kageyama H aruki and Murayama Shuichi have written extensively on the k aih o g y o as it relates to m ountain asceticism in general.In particular, Kageyama^ work on the Katsuragawa Myoo-in (1960Myoo-in ( , 1975) ) has helped clarify the im portant role this temple played in the development o f the k aih o g y o .Hoshimiya's article (1973) also provides a good overview of the k a ih o g y o .The recent "boom " in the interest in the kaih o g y o has led to the publication o f many pop ular books on the subject.A s far as I can tell this "boom " was sparked by a N H K television program focusing on Sakai Yusai, who was then in the midst o f his thousand day practice.The director o f this program, W azaki Nobuya, wrote a book (1979) based on his experiences.Sakai is also the subject o f Shim a's book (1983).U tsum i Shunsho, another kaih og yo practitioner, is taken up in Hayashi 1986.This book is o f special interest, since it is a collection o f photographs recording the entire course o f his thousand day practice.H agam i 1974 is a collection o f talks by this former k aih o g y o practitioner.2
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