1006 gaynor sekimori
The Winter Peak ritual was originally a cold-weather retreat practiced
by only the most experienced shugenja, but at Haguro the achievement
of spiritual or supernatural power was absorbed into popular New Year
divination rites, which were performed by two senior shugenja (matsu
hijiri) who oversaw festivities on the last night of the year. They were
required to complete one hundred days of ascesis (IX, 20 to XII, 30),
maintaining a separate fire for their food and performing thrice daily
bouts of ablutions (mizugōri ) and sūtra recitation. The powers
they attained were tested in proxy by genkurabe , enacted as a
form of divination. This involved both the young men from the village
and representatives of the shugen; the former fought a tug-of-war; the
latter, dressed as rabbits, vied in a contest to leap the highest that was
performed in the main shrine.
At the end of the Hagurosan nenjū gyōji, its editor noted that
service at the main shrine is the responsibility of the village shugenja and
branch temples. About one hundred and eighty people are rostered [over
the year] to attend one day and one night, and they receive the donations
made that day. The three duties [of all shugenja] are the Autumn Peak,
taigyō, and temple duty (bannori). Those who do not perform these are
not recognized as shugenja.This is a helpful indication of the relationship between the temple and
the shugenja as a whole. Though most rituals in the main shrine were
attended only by ordained priests, onbun shugenja were expected to be
present at a number of services, most of which were held at the honbō.
Since the latter comprised only around one-sixth of the total shugenja
population of Tōge, we might be tempted to think that the shugenja
as a whole were outside the ritual structure. Yet they were closely
involved in the Summer and Autumn Peak rites, at which they acted
as competent ritualists, alongside the temple priests themselves. The
rituals conducted by the Haguro shugenja derived from tantric modes,
but their interpretation and enactment was not related to the doctrine
of sanmitsu so much as to that of purification and possession.
Today, as a revival of Shugendō is occurring in a number of places,
the question of its relationship with the esoteric sects is exercising the
minds of practitioners, and the revival of combinatory religious forms
can be seen as one way of clarifying this relationship.