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More recent scholarship has produced only a handful of key works.
Asai Endō’s remarkable study of early Japanese Tendai provides a
systematic chronological analysis of the writings and perspectives of
Taimitsu scholiasts up to Annen, with an in-depth treatment of topics
related to Lotus Sūtra thought (Asai 1973). Misaki Ryōshū investigates
different themes in Taimitsu textual, doctrinal, and ritual practices, and
to date has produced the most extensive work on distinctive Taimitsu
issues, such as the use of the Suxidi jing and the development of a
Buddhosṇ̣īṣa cult (1988, 1994b). Misaki’s research has been continued
by his student at Waseda University, Ōkubo Ryōshun, currently the
only Japanese scholar in an academic institution focusing on Taimitsu.
Ōkubo has concentrated on early Taimitsu material, shedding light on
a range of important doctrinal points (Ōkubo 2004), while Mizukami
Fumiyoshi has tackled medieval textual material (Mizukami 2008c).
Of some use also is Kiuchi (1990), which presents a basic outline of
the tradition.^11
Doctrinal Questions
Saichō and the Beginnings of Taimitsu
Saichō regarded esoteric Buddhism as equal to the Lotus-based Bud-
dhist system that had been developed in China by Tiantai, as both
embodied the soteriological idea of “one vehicle” (ichijō ). Accord-
ingly, he established it as one of the two courses (shanagō ) for
carrying out Tendai education, together with Chinese Tiantai (shikangō
) (Groner 1984b, 70–71). Mastery of both courses of study
were to become necessary to access the highest ranks of the monas-
tic community, as later sources prove (cf. Tendai zasuki, ZGR (1923–
1928) 4:572). Saichō also performed the first abhisekạ conferred to an
emperor in Japan (Groner 1984b, 66–68), thus introducing the prac-
tice of employing tantric rituals for the well being of the sovereign.
Yet Saichō did not leave any esoteric works, and hardly any of his
writings elaborate on either tantric doctrines or rituals. While he sug-
(^11) Until very recently, there is no single study devoted to Taimitsu in Western lan-
guages. Groner (1984a, 1984b, 2002) has discussed several aspects of Taimitsu history
and doctrine in his studies of Saichō, Annen, and Ryōgen; Michael Saso (1990) has
introduced the basic contemporary Taimitsu rituals; and this author (2002, 2006a)
has tackled questions related to the esoteric interpretation of the Lotus Sūtra and to
medieval rituals. Jinhua Chen (2009) is an extended critical analysis of texts that were
important in the establishment of Taimitsu as a discrete tradition.