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difference. Temples could switch from one affiliation to another
depending on the training of the resident abbot, regardless of which
lineage affiliation the temple previously held. There were also examples
of temples belonging to both schools, with the branch temple or sub-
temples divided among the two (Kushida 1964, 872–73; Kushida 1979,
670–771). In Sagami province, for example, the Shingon temples at
the Tsurugaoka Hachiman complex in Kamakura were split: eighteen
belonged to the Kogi Shingon school and six were affiliated with the
Shingi Shingon school.
All temples were ritual-lineage branches of Ninnaji, but while the
Kogi Shingon temples were affiliated with Kōyasan as their doctri-
nal head temple, the Shingi Shingon temples were linked to Negoroji
(Ashida 1977, 6: 221–23; Jiinhonmatsuchō kenkyūkai 1981, 37–38,
1603). In the mid-eighteenth century, a temple might have officially
belonged to the Kogi Shingon school but if the abbot was affiliated
with the Shingi Shingon school, the temple was under the control of
the Shingi Shingon furegashira in administrative matters. Gradu-
ally, however, the distinction between the two schools solidified in the
eighteenth century. By the early nineteenth century, appointments of
abbots were generally segregated between the two schools (Kushida
1964, 873–74).
Little research has been done on the actual training of early mod-
ern Kogi Shingon clerics, but recently Ogasawara Hiromichi examined
the equivalent training mechanism in the Shingi Shingon school. The
Shingi Shingon school mandated that in order to attain the status of a
teacher (nōke ), provincial clerics from the Kantō were required
to complete twenty years of study, of which a minimum three years
had to be completed at the sectarian headquarters. Only those who had
completed more than three years’ study at headquarters were allowed
to give lectures at provincial academies. Even then, those who had just
completed the required three years could only give a single lecture;
those who had completed four to five years could lecture occasionally.
Only those who had studied at the sectarian headquarters for at least
six years could become regular lecturers at the provincial academies.
In addition to residency at the central head temple, clerics also had
to participate in biannual retreats, hōonkō , held in the winter
and summer, in order to deepen their learning and advance in rank.
As the number of participants for the Kantō region increased during
the Edo period, mandating exclusive participation at the central head-
quarters became impractical. Trainees could instead attend equivalent