. sanskrit studies in early modern japan 989
but also providing a model for correct understanding of the world.^19
In this vision, language functioned as a microcosm for explaining the
phenomenal world. Central to his argument was the theory of the orig-
inal non-arising of the letter A (ajihonbushō ) found in the
Commentary on the Mahāvairocana Sūtra (Jpn. Dainichikyō-sho
) and Kūkai’s Voice, Letter, Reality ( Shōji jissōgi ).^20
He writes in the third scroll of his Benwaku Shinan ,
“Esoteric Buddhism takes the original non-arising of the letter ‘A’ as
the basis for all things” (quoted in Ueda Reijō 1979, 11). According
to this teaching, all letters form by differentiating themselves from the
original A, the origin of no origin; i.e., all letters have relational iden-
tity (dependent co-origination) rather than substantial independent
self-presence. Jōgon’s discussion of Siddham emphasized the potency
of language, and particularly Sanskrit, as a model embodying esoteric
Buddhist teachings.
In his Shittan Sanmitsushō, Jōgon makes this connection clear,
explaining the teaching of the original non-arising of the letter ‘A’ in
his introduction of a fifty-sounds chart.^21 Students of modern Japanese
will recognize the fifty-sounds chart as an arrangement of the Japanese
syllabary according to a-i-u-e-o and ka-sa-ta-na-ha-ma-ya-ra. Varia-
tions of this chart were used throughout Japanese history by esoteric
Buddhist scholars of Siddham, who were intent on maintaining the
correct pronunciation of mantra and dhāraṇī. Only in the early mod-
ern period was the fifty-sounds chart introduced to the study of Japa-
nese, and it did not replace the iroha poem^22 as the way of arranging
(^19) Ueda Reijō notes that whereas Kūkai had discussed this concept in terms of the
six elements, Jōgon tended to emphasize the teaching of the original non-arising of
the letter 20 A (ajihonbushō) (Ueda 1979).
For an English-language introduction to the concept of the original non-arising
of the letter A in the Japanese esoteric Buddhist context, see Abé 1999, 288–93. 21
The fifty-sounds chart that appears in the Shittan Sanmitsushō is based on tradi-
tional explanations of phonetics. However, pairing it with an explanation of the pro-
duction of sounds according to the Shingon philosophy of A as originally non-arising
is Jōgon’s innovation (Ueda 1979, 11). 22
Before the use of the fifty-sounds chart, the Japanese phonetic script was arranged
into a poem:
(1) I Ro Ha Ni Ho He To
Chi Ri Nu Ru Wo
(2) Wa Ka Yo Ta Re So
Tsu Ne Na Ra Mu
(3) U Yi No O Ku Ya Ma
Ke Fu Ko E Te