. looking back and leaping forward 821
Kakuban and many of his disciples went to Mt. Negoro on
his Iwate estate , the first commendation he had received in
1126 from a local magnate, Taira no Tamesato. During the
medieval period Mt. Negoro developed into a large temple-shrine
complex.
Despite having been forced from Mt. Kōya, and with only three
years left to him before his death in the twelfth month of Kōji
2 (January 1144), Kakuban continued to teach, holding Dharma
Transmission Assemblies in the new Enmyōji structure built
with the continued support of retired Emperor Toba, other members
of the imperial family, the former Chancellor Fujiwara no Tadazane
, and the chancellor’s son, the then-current Chancellor
Tadamichi. This and the jingūji on Mt. Negoro
were designated as temples that offered rituals for the protection and
prosperity of the imperial household and the regental Fujiwara fam-
ily. In the assemblies Kakuban focused on central Shingon doctrinal
themes of enlightenment in this very body (sokushin jōbutsu
); the interaction of sound (voice), written symbol (syllabic charac-
ter), and reality (shōji jissō ), which are expressions of the
Dharmakāya Mahāvairocana (Dainichi Nyorai ); and the
seed mantra hūṃ (unji ), discussed by Kūkai in three of his key
texts.^10
Although Kakuban’s name has also been linked to the contempo-
rary concern for rebirth in Amida’s Pure Land and the practice of
the buddha-name repetition (ōjō nenbutsu ), he was not
interested in simply incorporating the pervading popular versions
of Amidist sūtras and practices or of Daoist traditions (Onmyōdō
; see Drakakis, “Onmyōdō and Esoteric Buddhism,” in this vol-
ume). He stood primarily on Shingon doctrinal ground as he addressed
the popular currents of his day.
Kakuban rejected the notion that the efficacy of the buddhadharma
declined over time.^11 Consequently, failure to be able to practice the
(^10) For a discussion of these texts by Kūkai upon which Kakuban expounded, see
Abé 1999, 275–304; Kiyota 1982.
(^11) This referred to the theory that the ability of sentient beings to receive and prac-
tice the Dharma declined over three to five time periods beginning from when the
historical Buddha began his preaching. By the mid-sixth century C.E. in China, the
three-period schema of the “right/correct” Dharma (shōbō ), the “image/form”
Dharma (zōbō ), and the “end/latter-day” Dharma (mappō /matsudai )