. shingon buddhism in the early modern period 1013
retreats at regional academies and still continue to advance in rank.
The repeated issuance of admonitions against failure to participate
seems to indicate that some clerics neglected to attend retreats regu-
larly or misrepresented the training they had obtained at provincial
academies. Furthermore, provincial academies did not always offer
regular retreats, in part because the resident abbots were incapable of
conducting the proper lectures, thus limiting training opportunities
for provincial clerics (Ogasawara 2007, 395–417). While the system
was not completely immune to subversion, in general it ensured a
standardized level of training for provincial clerics.
A similar system appears to have existed in the Kogi Shingon school.
Sectarian regulations (hatto) from 1609, such as Kantō Shingonshū
kogi shoji hatto issued by the bakufu and
the Kantōchū honji hōrongi shokeshū okitegaki
issued by Mt. Kōya, recognized academies in the Kantō
region as places of study for provincial novices from that region, but
a minimum three-year residency at Mt. Kōya was mandatory to attain
the status of a qualified teacher (nōke), who were then dispatched to
staff provincial temples (Kanagawa-ken kikaku chōsabu kenshi hen-
sanshitsu 1979, 671–72).
The training period was intended to educate novices in the teach-
ings and rituals of their school. Ideally, novices were to study the major
Shingon scriptures and commentaries as well as the writings of Kūkai,
the sectarian founder. In addition to esoteric texts, novices were also
encouraged to study the Buddhist canon at large, including the com-
mentaries and treatises of the Hossō, Sanron, Tendai, Kegon, Ritsu,
Kusha, Zen, and Jōdo schools. Students were to internalize this knowl-
edge through practice and debates. In addition, they had to master
Siddham calligraphy and learn rituals, including initiations. Regular
attendance at the two annual retreat periods in the winter (9.15–12.1)
and the summer (4.15–7.1)^4 were of particular importance for advanc-
ing in seniority (Kanagawa-ken kikaku chōsabu kenshi hensanshitsu
1979, 671–74; Shoshū kaikyū 1907, 1: 375–76).
Sectarian regulations enacted in 1609 and expanded in 1802 stipu-
lated an ideal career for Kogi Shingon clerics on Mt. Kōya: from the
age of ten to forty, they were generic clerics (shubun ), either
novices ordained on the mountain or clerics from the provinces who
(^4) Dates given according to traditional lunisolar calendar.