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Ryōgen (912–985), the ritual was also performed for the aristocracy
as a remedy to cure illness (Groner 2002, 90–92).
It should be pointed out that the competing branch of Tendai, the
Jimon lineage, also created a ritual similar in nature and function to
the shijōkōhō: the Sonjōō. Its central deity, Sonjōō , a
Japanese creation, was the personification of the Polar Star. Indeed
the image of this deity largely resembles the representation of the
polar star Myōken. The ritual was presented as the secret liturgy
(hihō) of the Jimon lineage, transmitted by Enchin and not known
to others outside the lineage. Keihan, author of the Hōjiki, claimed
that Enchin had learned it in China, and while other schools knew
other Myōken liturgies, they did not known this (Misaki 1992a). The
ritual became a crucial element in the relation between Onjōji and the
court. Emperors Shirakawa and Toba sponsored the constructions of
sonshōōdō at both Miidera and Shirakawa. Here prayers for the
protection of the state were performed, officiated by princely abbots
after the mid-Heian period. The ritual, however, was also used to
assure safe childbirth, especially for aristocratic women of the Regent
house (Matsumoto 2008).