1002 gaynor sekimori
have a regular schedule of sūtra recitations and goma performances,
especially during the pilgrimage season.
Since Jakkōji was a Taimitsu temple, rituals were carried out accord-
ing to both Lotus and goma rites. Goma platforms existed within the
main shrine and the honbō, as well as within all the sub-temples and
shugen lodgings. Indoor goma was not performed during rituals asso-
ciated with the four peaks of Shugendō practice; when performing
shugen ritual, outdoor goma (saitō goma ) was always
employed. Both indoor and outdoor goma were generally dedicated
to Fudō and were structured as rites of identification, whereby the
shugenja could, having first been purified by the symbolic quenching
of the flames of the passions, obtain the power of the deity and use it
for the realization of prayer requests (kitō ) of clients.
The Haguro saitō goma (performed during the Autumn Peak) was
considerably different: it was dedicated to the Founder (Nōjo Taishi/
Shōken Daibosatsu); mediated through the ritual leader, the daisen-
datsu ; and its purpose was to bring shugenja participants to
rebirth through ritual cremation. Though no goma services are recorded
specifically in the materials under examination, probably because they
do not lend themselves to mass participation, such as, for example,
sūtra chanting, they would have formed the core of “applied” ritual
that was performed by individuals for specific purposes.
Most services centered on the liturgy; both the Hagurosan nenjū
gyōji and the Nenjū hōyō tebumi place great importance on laying out
exactly which sūtras and so on were to be chanted during which rites.
The basic liturgy consisted of the Lotus repentance rite (Hokke senbō)
with the Heart Sūtra, the (sanbon or kyūhon) shakujō, the Kannon
Sūtra (either in full or just the verse section), and the recitation of the
names and shingon of the divinities of the Three Dewa Mountains, as
well as other shorter verses, such as the “Hymn to Original Enlighten-
ment” (Hongakusan) and the “Verse of the Tathāgata” (Nyoraibai).
This liturgy shares many features with the regular Tendai liturgy
(see Fig. 2). It was performed, with minor variations, at the regular
morning services at the main shrine (1st–7th, 12th–18th, 28th); at
the monthly services for Mt. Haguro (18th), Tōshōgū (17th), and the
Founder (20th); and on special occasions, such as New Year’s Day
and the sekku days. It was also performed each night of Autumn
Peak retreat (VII, 21–VIII, 1), which meant that shugenja were very
familiar with the sūtras and the verses they contained. An abbrevi-
ated version called hōraku , minus the Lotus repentance liturgy