798 brian o. ruppert
chroniclers (kike ) at other great medieval temple multiplexes
such as the fourteenth-century Mt. Hiei (Abe Yasurō 1998, 130).
Meanwhile, Shukaku was also extremely prolific in preaching
(shōdō ) and in collecting preaching literature. He was especially
involved in writing and collecting ritual pronouncements (hyōbyaku
), which were presented in front of the object of veneration on the
occasion of assemblies (e ) and esoteric rites (shuhō ). While
the preaching lineage of Tendai’s Agui is well known, Shingon lineages
also featured preaching practices, and collections of ritual pronounce-
ments were prominent from the time of the abbot of Kajūji, Kanjin
(1074–1149), onward.
Shukaku’s own Jūhachidō shogyō hyōbyaku fea-
tured elaborate kunten marks for instructive purposes; he also gath-
ered his own pronouncements together in collected form in at least
two works, and his pronouncements were incorporated within large
collections such as the twelve- and twenty-two-fascicle versions of
the Hyōbyakushū, both of which may have been assembled within the
context of the cultural milieu surrounding the dharma princes at Nin-
naji (Abe Yasurō 1998, 125; Makino 1989).
A major portion of Shukaku’s corpus was his series of temple pro-
tocols (shidaisho ) for a variety of ritual assemblies (hō’e
) and court annual ceremonies (nenjū gyōji). Taken together, these
offer insight into not only the character of court Buddhist ritual of
the era but also into rites performed specifically on behalf of the royal
house, including the cloistered sovereigns, both male and female.
Prominent among these works were the so-called Deep Blue Booklets
(Konbyōshi kozōshi ), a massive set of ritual protocols
held in the Ninnaji collection that were in close relationship with the
large set of similar works called the Go-ryū sahō ( Rituals of
the Go-ryū; Kanazawa Bunkozō Shōmyōji shōgyō archives), which were
the protocols for rituals of the Tōji abbots (Tōchō gi ) as well
as of the official Buddhist administrative hierarchy (Hōgō gi )
(Zoku Gunsho Ruijū Kanseikai, ed. 1933, 360–79 [Hōgō gi], 455–92
[Tōchō gi]).
In particular, Shukaku’s corpus of writings and collections of ritual
works (often called jisōsho ) formed what might arguably be
described as the center of his esoteric world of belief and practice. These
works, listed in the catalogue (mokuroku) of his core compendium the
Mitsuyō shō (Mitsuyō kanjin shō ), formed the heart of
the esoteric lineage of the Go-ryū of which Shukaku saw himself as