1020 barbara ambros
entry (nyūbu ) retreats was mandated by bakufu regulations of
Tōzanha Shugendō from 1613 and 1722, though the latter regulations
also noted that this stipulation was ignored by some (Ishii 1981, 63,
65). Sectarian regulations from 1802 stipulated that Tōzanha shugenja
could rise in rank, culminating in hōin , based on the number of
mountain entries observed at Ōminesan in Yamato (Shoshū kaikyū,
2:441–442).
Unlike Buddhist clerics, most shugenja were not celibate and relied
on family relationships for succession. According to the 1722 Tōzankata
shugen gojōmoku (Articles for the Tōzan Shugen),
shugenja could appoint their offspring or designate disciples as suc-
cessors (Ishii 1981, 65). Similarly, regulations from 1802 noted that
shugenja were usually married and passed their profession on to their
sons, whom they took as their disciples (Kosho Hozonkai 1907, 2:
444).^2
Another important institutional difference from Buddhist clerics was
that the shugenja claimed no funeral parishes but instead held so-called
kigan danka. This referred to patron households that chose
habitual but voluntary affiliation with a particular shugenja, who con-
trolled a territory where he distributed amulets and performed prayer
rituals, divinations, exorcisms, and so on for his patrons. Because indi-
vidual contributions from patron households were quite small, prayer
parishes tended to be much larger than the funeral parishes of Bud-
dhist temples, which were usually limited to a village or neighboring
villages where the temple was located. In contrast, a shugenja’s prayer
parish could span a much wider territory across a region. Members
of these parishes were also greater in number than those of the aver-
age funeral parish. A document listing Shingon temples and shugenja
temples and their parishes in Western Sagami province in 1872 shows
that while the average Shingon temple had about thirty funeral parish-
ioners, Tōzanha shugenja in the area had five to ten times as many
prayer patrons (Chikan 1984).
Before the dissociation of kami and buddhas, this patron income
would often have been supplemented with funds obtained through the
administration of village shrines and participation in regional shrine
festivals. For example, several Tōzanha shugenja scattered through
(^2) The same applied to Honzanha shugenja (see Kosho Hozonkai 1907, 2: 438).